WWII Online 14day Trial

[Viin]

If anyone cares to poke their eyes out with sporks, here you are!

http://www.mmorpg.com/wwii_trial.cfm

[WayAbvPar]

I wish had the time...I have always enjoyed going back and checking things out. The game just takes too much time investment to really play properly.

[AOFanboi]

This is as godd excuse as any to ask what is the relationship between WW2OL and Beyond Blitzkrieg? Is there any?

[Strazos]

Apparently, WWIIOL is changing the name of the game when they release they upcoming expansion...probably to try and gain subs from people who kinda remember WWIIOL bombing, but don't know about the change.

Also, they must think BB sounds cool.

[WindupAtheist]

Hey, trucks can be used as mobile spawnpoints for infantry now.  That means you can just let that one catass drive all the way across Europe for you.

[SirBruce]

Beyond Blitzkrieg is a major relaunch of the product.  The game is still WWII Online and the WWII Online logo will be displayed on the box, but the obvious intent is to get consumers seeing this as a new product, and not associate it with the poor launch of the original WWII Online: Blitzkrieg.

And the game is completely different.  I mean, all the models are different, all the terrain is different, the UI is different, even the gameplay is different.  WWII Online now has things like depot spawning, mobile spawning, paratroops, R&D and production, tables of equipment, etc.  The mission system is much more robust.  Running across endless featureless plains looking for the enemy is a thing of the distant past.

Beyond Blitzkrieg not only relaunches the product in North America, but also serves to launch the product in Europe as well.  And this release will server as a springboard to the first real expansion pack, North Africa, which will hopefully come out next year if all has gone well.

Bruce

[Comstar]

This will probably be the LAST free trial for some time, due to the re-release (can't imagine the publishers will allow some for a few months). Download is about 150meg.

[Brolan]

The game is still hopelessly unbalanced as the poor Brits are expected to take on Panzer 4Gs and StugG (with 75mm guns) with the paper-thin armored Crusader III with a 57mm gun.  Fun.

Even more ridiculous are the plans to match the mighty Tiger tank against the M10.  Can you say 'Allied ass-rape'?  I knew you could....

[SirBruce]

The game is still hopelessly unbalanced as the poor Brits are expected to take on Panzer 4Gs and StugG (with 75mm guns) with the paper-thin armored Crusader III with a 57mm gun.  Fun.

Even more ridiculous are the plans to match the mighty Tiger tank against the M10.  Can you say 'Allied ass-rape'?  I knew you could....

You're right!  Hitler was so unfair for attacking when he did...

Bruce

[WayAbvPar]

So what you are saying is that the Allied side SHOULD get fucked in the ass on a regular basis until Lend/Lease and then the American entrance into the war is patched in 'soon'? Compelling gameplay...

[Big Gulp]

So what you are saying is that the Allied side SHOULD get fucked in the ass on a regular basis until Lend/Lease and then the American entrance into the war is patched in 'soon'? Compelling gameplay...

Remember, that's REALISM!  Please just ignore all the blatantly unrealistic things in the rest of the game.

That's the entire problem with this game.  One, the developers are incompetent. Two, they have a case of Visionitis that makes SOE back in their heyday look like rank amateurs.  Anything that could be considered fun is shot down by the jackasses that inhabit their boards as, "Go play BF1942, Quanker!"  Apparently people have taken that advice, and the 100 people that play WWII Online continue their little idiotic circle jerk.

Anyway, it will amuse me to see another round of recriminations and pissed off customers that result from people who don't know any better actually laying down cash for this piece of shit.

[SirBruce]

So what you are saying is that the Allied side SHOULD get fucked in the ass on a regular basis until Lend/Lease and then the American entrance into the war is patched in 'soon'? Compelling gameplay...

In my opinion, yes.  Ideally, it should be very rare for the French not to get defeated, and very rare for the Germans and Italians not to subsequently get defeated once the Americans and Russians arrive.  Of course, the game doesn't simulate even this yet, and it is important to proivide compelling gameplay in the meantime.  This isn't Red Vs. Blue, though.

Differences in equipment and # of players should be easily balanced by differences in production.  Of course, I expect every war to play out differently -- in some, France may hang on in the Aquitaine; in others, America might find itself landing in Scotland rather than Normandy...

Bruce

[SirBruce]

You're right in that I'd much rather, from a business standpoint, have BF1942 instead of WWII Online.  But once the decision is made, there's no point now in turning WWII Online into BF1942.  Not only is it unlikely to succeed, even if you accomplish it, you'll just have a copy of BF1942, and you'll piss off all the other subscribers you do have in the meantime.

WWII Online will always be a niche game.  More people find WWII Online fun to play than A Tale In The Desert or Puzzle Pirates, and yet you aren't badmouthing those games for not being "fun" enough.  Just accept the fact that different people have different tastes.

Bruce

[Big Gulp]

Just accept the fact that different people have different tastes.

I'll accept that there are people out there who have bad taste.  Thing of it is that even as a simulator, WWII Online sucks hind tit.  It's so bad that it's not even successful in the supposed niche it inhabits.  It's a niche of a niche.

And frankly, when you perpetrate the kind of rank fraud that CRS did with the initial launch of that game you deserve to fail.  As in chapter 11, sell all the shit, you'll never work in this industry again, fail.  I've seen Serek Dmart games that displayed more competence than WWII Online at launch.  And yep, I understand that it's been improved, but when you're starting at something that most people would consider a pre-alpha state, that's not a difficult target to hit.

This game is like a fucking vampire.  JUST DIE ALREADY!

[HaemishM]

More people find WWII Online fun to play than A Tale In The Desert or Puzzle Pirates, and yet you aren't badmouthing those games for not being "fun" enough. 

Hey, way to totally say something stupid. WWII Online is so totally dissimilar to either of those games as to be not comparable at all.

Both of the games you mentioned had: 1) no box on the shelf at release (and only PP is getting one now), 2) had Internet-only distribution and marketing methods until recently, 3) had no large or small publisher financing them. At release, WWII Online had a retail box and a publisher financing them, and it shat itself, only managing to turn itself around by firing anything that wasn't needed to keep the game running, declaring bankruptcy and reogranizing.

I'll even further one up you by saying that ATitD had twice what it expected in subscription numbers at release, and it managed to not shit itself, pretty much ever. Yes, WWII Online was ambitious, I'll give you that. But it did't work.

[SirBruce]

Just accept the fact that different people have different tastes.

I'll accept that there are people out there who have bad taste.

In your opinion.  And I'm not arguing that.  I'm arguing your assertion that the game sucks because they don't want to turn it into BF1942, which would be more popular.  And that's stupid, because that's like saying they should turn Puzzle Pirates or ATiTD into WoW, because that would be more popular.

Bruce

[SirBruce]

More people find WWII Online fun to play than A Tale In The Desert or Puzzle Pirates, and yet you aren't badmouthing those games for not being "fun" enough. 

Hey, way to totally say something stupid. WWII Online is so totally dissimilar to either of those games as to be not comparable at all.

It's entirely compareable.  The fact that the latter two published titles is irrelevant.  Are you really suggest if ATiTD was in a box, it would get WoW numbers?  Or that Puzzle Pirates will now that it has a box?  No, they won't.  And yet, no one is saying, "Hey, those games should be more like WoW, because they'd be more popular!"  Because that would be stupid.

Just like it's stupid to say WWII Online should be more like BF1942.

But instead of simply admitting that, you'd much rather take this opportunity to bash the game some more.

Bruce

[Mesozoic]

Is this the part where someone accuses Bruce of shilling and he gets banned for 4 months until the forums vomit and we all stand around talking about how he's probably a cool guy now and we should let him back in, and then we do and he gets banned again?

No?

Just checking.

[Brolan]

So what you are saying is that the Allied side SHOULD get fucked in the ass on a regular basis until Lend/Lease and then the American entrance into the war is patched in 'soon'? Compelling gameplay...

In my opinion, yes.  Ideally, it should be very rare for the French not to get defeated, and very rare for the Germans and Italians not to subsequently get defeated once the Americans and Russians arrive.  Of course, the game doesn't simulate even this yet, and it is important to proivide compelling gameplay in the meantime.  This isn't Red Vs. Blue, though.

Differences in equipment and # of players should be easily balanced by differences in production.  Of course, I expect every war to play out differently -- in some, France may hang on in the Aquitaine; in others, America might find itself landing in Scotland rather than Normandy...

Bruce

CRS intent IS to create a Red vs. Blue games.  They have said many times that they are not trying to re-create WWII but create a WWII simulator that people battle in.  So in that way WWIIOL is not much better than BF 1942.  Sure the vehicles are modelled more realisticly but historical events will never unwind as they did because of the balancing factored into the game.

The best example of this is the Battle of France 1940. We have played and replayed it so often it is boring, but never have the Axis done as well as they did historically.

[HaemishM]

No, I'm suggesting that if ATitD or Puzzle Pirates had a box at release, they'd probably have garnered more subs than WWII Online currently has, would work better without the servers and client shitting itself, like WWII Online did at release, and not have sublimate the name of the product in a repackage in order to try to pay for an expansion.

BF1942 and WWII Online are comparable. ATitD and WoW are not, because they are two totally dissimilar type of games. No, making ATitD more like WoW wouldn't necessarily make it more fun for the people who play ATitD, because they just aren't the same kind of game at all. One is very combat-oriented, the other has no combat whatsoever. Sure, WWII Online may be a bit more simmy, but it isn't all that much of a stretch to make a simmy-FPS into a not-so-simmy FPS. And except for the hardnosed Grognards, you'd probably find more people saying it's a fun game.

[Sky]

As someone who was playing bf1942 competetively in league and ladder play...I would give my left nut for a persistant bf1942 that ran on well-administered servers. The public game of 1942 sucks ass, only when you get onto servers that are actively admin'd by a mature and observant admin does it become playable, imo.

Calling bf1942 Quankers is pretty funny, since we say the same thing. It's a huge difference from Quake-style UT-type games. You are rewarded with greater accuracy for crouching, more for going prone, we love bunny hoppers, easy shootin'. Also, bullet spread is handled pretty well, I now instinctually duck behind cover, crouch, and fire in small bursts, just from playing bf1942.

Now, the vehicles, yeah they are arcadey and could get more complexified without hurting the funplay much.

I'd say the key, much like in traditional mmogs, is trying to get disparate playstyles in the same game and having fun. There has got to be some esoteric stuff the grognards could do, hell, the game would need squad leaders and generals, anyway. But if you have some vague "classes" (or whatever) that take some refinement to play, and the average fps lover could just grab a grunt and blast stuff, with several degrees between...

I played bf1942 hardcore for almost a year when it wasn't a mmog. To say it's stupid to say WWIIOL should be more like BF1942 is exactly why I'm not playing it. It simply wasn't fun.

But you go with that. It's working great. And I'm not slagging WWIIOL, either. Just being honest. Hell, I'd like to play your game, but CRS needs to get over themselves and especially over their myopic fanbase first. A tough situation, sure. But there is NO WAY to find that middle ground? I just don't buy it.

[WindupAtheist]

They should do a version of the Pacific theater just to see the people playing the Japanese cry.

"OMFG the US has like 20 times our production ability!  CHEAP!  UNBALANCED!  Make Japan the same size as the continental US, you bastards!"

[Big Gulp]

Okay, so just to make a point, and actually check into the accusations of incompetency I've been making, I decided to suffer for my art and sign up for the trial:




So far, so bewildering.  These names mean nothing to me, so I go by the little icons.  I choose the vaguely infantry looking guy.




Oooh!  Should I choose between the PzKpfw 38(t) or the PzKpfw II C?  Decisions, decisions.  Hmm, okay, I recognize the term "rifle".  I choose that.




And here we witness the fruits of the labors of CRS's crack art staff.  I can't decide if this is supposed to be an actual person, or if I've perhaps wandered into that fake army the Allies set up to fool the Germans.




Let it not be said that these guys aren't versatile.  They come in two positions, bent in half or ramrod straight!




Okay, guys.  You do realize that if you can't competently model something in 3D that you could always make these rifles bitmaps, don't you?




Because stairs cost polys...




Spacious interiors...  You know, if you put a mirror on the other side of the room, it'll look even bigger than it really is!




Does that line represent a dimensional rift?  Am I stepping through a stargate into an alternate dimension?  Sadly, no.  That's in fact a wall.




Again we see why the Germans were so much more advanced than we were at the start of the war.  No lowtech stairs for them, no way.  That's the treadmill fire escape.  Oh, and check out the loving detail on that railing.  That, my friends, is craftsmanship.



Oh, and to top it all off, they still have the same shitty keymapper, the infantry still moves like dogshit, and using the radio is incomprehensible.  There are entire conversations that I can listen to, but apparently not engage in.  Sure, I know it's possible to do so, but I shouldn't have to search through message boards to do it.  The UI sucks, Bruce.  The graphics suck and wouldn't have been acceptable 7 years ago.  There's no tutorial to speak of.  All these little things count; they show that you give a fuck about your game.  They retain players.  CRS hasn't shown any willingness to do any of these things.

You guys put this hunk of shit in a box and try selling it for anything over $10 and you fuckers should be slapped with a fraud suit.

[Samwise]

That review deserves a frontpage.   

[Hoax]

Has Haem played this game?  Sweet Christ, I can't see how FoM is worse then that, that first ss almost made me piss myself...

[HaemishM]

No, Haem heard about flying fucking tanks and decided Everquest really wasn't as bad as all that.

[WayAbvPar]

Taxi to victory!

[Mi_Tes]

Taxi to victory!

I still love reading that!

[El Gallo]

Brilliant work, Gulp. 

[Paelos]

WoW, even Goldeneye had better models. That's sad.

[HaemishM]

Frontpaged. Because I am a bastard.

[Big Gulp]

Oh, man.   I've just said Serek Dmart three times, haven't I?

[Sky]

Beautiful, Gulpman. Well, not really, but you know what I mean.

Hilarious that the gun has more polys than the soldiers.

[SirBruce]

No, I'm suggesting that if ATitD or Puzzle Pirates had a box at release, they'd probably have garnered more subs than WWII Online currently has

Again, not the point.  The point is how many subs they have relative to what they could have in their genre.

BF1942 and WWII Online are comparable. ATitD and WoW are not, because they are two totally dissimilar type of games.

And that's what you don't understand.  BF1942 and WWII Online are NOT any more compareable.  They are dissimilar.

Bruce

[SirBruce]

CRS intent IS to create a Red vs. Blue games.  They have said many times that they are not trying to re-create WWII but create a WWII simulator that people battle in.  So in that way WWIIOL is not much better than BF 1942.  Sure the vehicles are modelled more realisticly but historical events will never unwind as they did because of the balancing factored into the game.

You're wrong on Red vs. Blue (in fact, they've said many times they don't want that), but you're right when you say it's not strictly a WWII re-creation, etc.  But Red vs. Blue is beyond that; it means things like balanced equipment, etc.  But as to historical events not unwinding due to game balancing, again, this is because the game right now doesn't have things like the Italians, the Russians, multiple theatres, etc.

But what I said before still applies to an ultimate vision of the game, and explains why they are still some imblances in the game that you do see in some areas.  But again, that's just my opinion -- nothing about the game's ultimate direction is written in stone.

Bruce