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General information: World War II Online: Battleground Europe is a massively multiplayer online first-person shooter (MMOFPS) computer game. It was released was on June 6, 2001 for Windows, with the Apple Macintosh version being released in 3Q 2002. The game is set in 1940–1943 World War II Europe. It is a virtual battlefield, a combined arms war simulation. A player can command or crew a variety of accurately modeled aircraft, armored fighting vehicles, anti-tank guns, anti-aircraft artillery, and three naval vessels, or fight as a foot-soldier with a variety of infantry weapons. The game is played in real time alongside or against other players as German, British and French forces in a persistent world. Command structures and missions provide strategic and tactical layers while ranks provide a RPG layer by demonstrating leadership roles. WWIIOL online uses a ½ scale map of Western Europe with 30,000 km2 (11,583 sq mi) of accurate terrain (800 m resolution satellite data). It is commonly recognized as the first MMOFPS.
2013 trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=locvif2c5Ec&feature=player_embedded
Map of the supply lines for the middle section of the map, every square is a town you can walk into without a loading screen, and has been fought over by the players. This is the status of the campaign currently underway, has been for a few weeks now.
How it works: There are two sides: Axis vs. Allied. The Axis consists of the German forces and the Allies are the combined British (UK), French and US forces. The rest of Europe, the rest of the British Commonwealth, Soviet Union, China or Japan have not been introduced into the WW2 simulation yet. Players can choose to play Axis or Allies and may switch sides after waiting a mandatory period of fifteen minutes that begins when they resign from their current side. The German, British and French teams each have 3 different roles to play. Army, Navy or Air Force. The US forces are currently only playable when tier 3 equipment becomes available, and the only option with them currently is the Army. You can switch between any of these roles at any point in time, however you can not jump from Axis to Allies without a 15 minute waiting period.
Enough reading, lets see some videos:
Here is a review done by a new player on the new free to play option:
http://youtu.be/U3G9Nzx0wgM
Here is an older video, a much older video, but it shows the amount of detail taken into account with the damage model for all vehicles in the game:
http://youtu.be/BzpUVtVUBTI
Lastly, here's a battlecam recording from 2 years ago, with the tags turned on for easy viewing. In this one, as it was viewed from the Axis side of things, the Axis forces are the blue tags, and the Allies the red:
http://youtu.be/dZW8rdaUZaw
Last bit of reading, the strategy (part of it anyway): Strategic Layer (High Command)
Both sides in Battleground Europe have player-run groups, known as the High Command (HC), responsible for strategic management of the side's forces. High Command players have their own avatar and when they broadcast on the Ops channel a small "HC" symbol is displayed rather than the British/French/German side's symbol. An in-game list of all currently logged in HC players is available.
HC players have abilities that are not available to the rest of the playerbase, namely in the placing of Attack Objectives (AOs).
When an AO is placed on a town, the other side gets an automatic Defence Objective (DO) on that town allowing all players to know that it is under attack. 10 minutes after an AO is first placed on a town, the town's Depot Office building, City Office building, and Rail Road Office buildings all become captureable. These capturable buildings are collectively known as Capture Points (CPs). Entering the Flag building linked to an Office building (marked with a large flag) will show an attacker how long it will take for the building to become capturable, to capture a building, attackers must remain inside the Flag Building until the capture bar has hit 100%.
It's free to download and play at this point, with the option of subscribing if you enjoy it from here http://www.battlegroundeurope.com/. No harm can really come from downloading it and giving it a shot if this kind of game appeals to you. Yes, graphically it's dated. but the gameplay makes up for that in so many ways.
EDIT: for new 2013 trailer.
2013 trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=locvif2c5Ec&feature=player_embedded
Map of the supply lines for the middle section of the map, every square is a town you can walk into without a loading screen, and has been fought over by the players. This is the status of the campaign currently underway, has been for a few weeks now.
How it works: There are two sides: Axis vs. Allied. The Axis consists of the German forces and the Allies are the combined British (UK), French and US forces. The rest of Europe, the rest of the British Commonwealth, Soviet Union, China or Japan have not been introduced into the WW2 simulation yet. Players can choose to play Axis or Allies and may switch sides after waiting a mandatory period of fifteen minutes that begins when they resign from their current side. The German, British and French teams each have 3 different roles to play. Army, Navy or Air Force. The US forces are currently only playable when tier 3 equipment becomes available, and the only option with them currently is the Army. You can switch between any of these roles at any point in time, however you can not jump from Axis to Allies without a 15 minute waiting period.
Enough reading, lets see some videos:
Here is a review done by a new player on the new free to play option:
http://youtu.be/U3G9Nzx0wgM
Here is an older video, a much older video, but it shows the amount of detail taken into account with the damage model for all vehicles in the game:
http://youtu.be/BzpUVtVUBTI
Lastly, here's a battlecam recording from 2 years ago, with the tags turned on for easy viewing. In this one, as it was viewed from the Axis side of things, the Axis forces are the blue tags, and the Allies the red:
http://youtu.be/dZW8rdaUZaw
Last bit of reading, the strategy (part of it anyway): Strategic Layer (High Command)
Both sides in Battleground Europe have player-run groups, known as the High Command (HC), responsible for strategic management of the side's forces. High Command players have their own avatar and when they broadcast on the Ops channel a small "HC" symbol is displayed rather than the British/French/German side's symbol. An in-game list of all currently logged in HC players is available.
HC players have abilities that are not available to the rest of the playerbase, namely in the placing of Attack Objectives (AOs).
When an AO is placed on a town, the other side gets an automatic Defence Objective (DO) on that town allowing all players to know that it is under attack. 10 minutes after an AO is first placed on a town, the town's Depot Office building, City Office building, and Rail Road Office buildings all become captureable. These capturable buildings are collectively known as Capture Points (CPs). Entering the Flag building linked to an Office building (marked with a large flag) will show an attacker how long it will take for the building to become capturable, to capture a building, attackers must remain inside the Flag Building until the capture bar has hit 100%.
It's free to download and play at this point, with the option of subscribing if you enjoy it from here http://www.battlegroundeurope.com/. No harm can really come from downloading it and giving it a shot if this kind of game appeals to you. Yes, graphically it's dated. but the gameplay makes up for that in so many ways.
EDIT: for new 2013 trailer.
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