World War II Online: Blitzkrieg review (PC)

As stated earlier, many promised game features (like the persistent-rank scores and kill credits) are simply missing. In some cases, these missing features highlight the eternal problems of realism and its effect on gameplay enjoyment. For example, the game in its current state only lets infantry carry basic weapons like pistols and rifles. No machine guns, no grenades, no mortars, no antitank rifles. This may be unrealistic, but in some ways it's more realistic than the alternative, which would be to let everyone carry a heavy weapons arsenal. The fact is that in a real WWII infantry squad, there was usually only one soldier with a heavy weapon like a light machine gun. Antitank weapons (and satchel charges) were even more rare, especially during the 1940 blitzkrieg era currently being depicted in the game.

Over time, Cornered Rat plans on introducing new features into the game, like the availability of additional weapons. What will happen to the battlefield situation when these changes occur? This isn't just idle speculation: Since the intention is to open up new theaters of war with myriad new units and weapons, the potential for imbalance is enormous. As the game stands now, it seems like half of the participants are driving tanks. This is rather unrealistic, and the developers have suggested that in the future there will be some limitations on tank types so that only players of a certain rank can access the better vehicles. How this will go over with casual players who don't want to have to spend massive amounts of time playing just to earn the right to drive a Panther remains to be seen.

Perhaps the most engaging aspect of WWII Online is how it absolutely forces cooperation. Other massively multiplayer games allow for cooperation, which enhances gameplay but isn't necessarily essential. WWII Online completely demands it. If you spawn as an infantryman, you'll have to find a ride to the battlefield, or you'll find yourself walking. And that's not a trivial matter. If you spawn as an antitank gun, you'll need a tow, or you'll simply be stuck. In light of all this, the potential for team building is enormous--and not just for that one particular engagement, either. In WWII Online, a victory is a tangible contribution to a strategic situation that will persist for many months. Once you achieve a significant rank in one army, you'll probably stick to it, and the participants will become familiar to you. This unifying factor of the strategic element makes all the difference. Unfortunately, so do the technical problems and missing features.

On those rare occasions when the game is cooperating, and you're not in a position to notice some of the bad design and interface choices or the missing features, WWII Online does attain a sort of emotional peak. As an infantryman, watching an enemy aircraft swoop down on a tank while a friendly aircraft gives chase is something that hasn't quite been achieved in a computer game prior to this. You're physically disconnected from the scene, hiding on a hill a good distance away, yet you desperately want "your guys" to stick it to "their guys." Numerous accounts of World War II combat describe infantry watching a dogfight and cheering their pilot's victory or having their morale lifted by a flight of friendly aircraft passing overhead. It's this collective sentiment that WWII Online captures so well. Every enemy unit is a real enemy. Every friendly unit is a friend. There are no computer-controlled characters; it's just us against them. And it keeps going even after you disconnect. It's an atmosphere that hasn't been achieved in any massively multiplayer game to date. If only there weren't so many other problems.

WWII Online is a dangerous mess of a game that can't be recommended to any but the most hard-core game players in its current state. The real concern is that even if the technical issues are resolved, the design issues will remain. Would it be better to limit the number of vehicle types or simply let players spawn in whatever tank they wish? Can a single gameworld support all of the people who want to play and sustain a reasonable strategic situation and flow of play? These and countless other issues pertaining to the game warrant plenty of speculation--but in the end it all remains speculation, because right now there's no way to tell. And unless you're willing to bet $40 (plus an additional $10 per month after a month of free play) that Cornered Rat eventually gets it right some time in the far future, you'd be well advised to think hard before enlisting. The bottom line is, right now, it's not worth it.