I've downloaded WW2OL, but i'm reluctant to try it because they need my cc # first. I'm more into the aviation aspect of these type of games, and i know there is a whole lot more to this game as far as tanks and soldiers go. Other games I've played: Fighter Ace: So far the best over all flight game i've found. Graphics are a seven, but game play and fun factor is a 10. I've played the game for about three months and so far its pretty cool. They have a forum and a dedicated staff to help new pilots get familiar with flight and how to play. Online, they have one arena that is always full of players with plenty of stuff to do, and a free for all arena for dogfight only scenarios. It leans more toward arcade, than simulator, but they do have monthly and weekly events (battles) where the flight models are more realistic. You get 300+ players turning out for those and its always a good way to start your Saturday. Overall, I give it an 8 out of 10. Il2 Sturmovich 1946: I've only had this game for about a month or so. It has great graphics and contains countless aircraft. It has 4 different versons of the P-47, and three different P-51s, to name a few. The flight model is very realistic. You have to manage throttle, prop pitch and mixture on some aircraft, so flying is never a mondane part of the game. Shooting is also somewhat of a challenge, but its just a matter of practice. In comparison with FA, I'd say its more difficult to get a shot on target, but when you do, there are more immediate results. To play online is free, and there are also dogfight arenas as well as campaigns. The down side....For starters, there are some obvious oversites with the map views, and the current version of the game is based on an 8 year old platform, so the controls are a bit primitive and you will only have a "fun" time flying if you have a complex joystick. One that is designed specifically for flight sims. They also recommend using a tracking software program for views, so you can just move your head to look for planes and targets... it adds up $$$$$. Its a great sim, but a horrible game, if that makes sense to say. But i've read the forum, and their are actual pilots who have difficulty with the game. i ended up downloadin another 4 to 5 gigs of software just to get the game "comfortable" to play. Is it fun?? Not by comparison. Is it challenging??? Yes, but equally as frusterating. I haven't completely written the game off, the graphics are the best that i've seen. For $10.00 it was worth the download, and i can still play for free online. There are many players willing to help. i've only played it for a month, and the learning curve of the game suggests it could take months or years to become proficient at it. By then the team that devolped this game will have released their next big sim/game. I will check that one out too. Overall i give it a 6, but hey it was 10 bucks. So what does WW2OL have to offer??
WW2 Online is more about the game play, though the graphics have been greatly improved compared to when i first started playing. So, in IL-2, you can only fly in aircraft, with cheesy ground-attack graphics. WW2 Online combines what amounts to a FPS with a Flight Sim and a Naval Sim. For instance, in WW20, when you're flying a plane, you're on the same 'map' as people driving tanks, running around as infantry, and sailing ships. So when you strafe a convoy, bomb a city, etc it actually effects the people on the ground. For the enemy, it means death from above, so they'll spawn AA-Guns to try and shoot you down. Infantry will hide in buildings to get away from the bombs, which potentially lets your troops advance. If you're flying a transport plane, paratroopers can be inside. You cut the engines and manage to land on the ground, its like a glider assault. Or you have to dodge AA-Guns while hitting the correct altitude and speed for the paras to jump out of the back. You get hit, and go down with all on board, you're side has just lost a lot of paras. Supply and logistics come into play too - there are only so many paras and planes etc in each division, so the more that die, the less you have, which means the enemy has a better chance of over-running the area. I hope that answers your question. Now I am going to have to play tonight.
so what are the planesets?? What planes can i fly?? Are there a full range of planes to fly from or is it limited to only a handful on each side?
i didn't know there was a section for offline play. It appears it only has a handful of planes on each side. I would look at this more.
I'm not sure the limitations on the planes, but keep in mind game-play takes place during the Invasion of France. Of course, they've added units (like Tigers and Crocodile Tanks) and other air units that weren't around during that period. I'll go find out now.
I haven't sat down and studied it, but I did glance over the plane sets. I'm not into the first person shooter stuff as much as the flying part of the game. The idea of managing a full range of combat tactics, from the ground war, with tanks and infantry, as well as the air war, does seem like a cool idea.
Its great being on the ground, watching dog fights over head. Its not so great when you're on the receiving end of some ground-attack planes. And of course, need a pilot to fly the Ju transport plane for para-missions. I got killed while riding on a tank last night by a plane that attacked from above. Didn't even see it coming. The tank blew up. So did I.
Last I played, pilots (specially Axis pilots) were in high demand. If you plan on playing as an Air Force persona try the luftwaffe, those guys will really appreciate it. I believe when you start play you'll have access to the bf110 and the me109. Once you get Captain you'll unlock the more advanced me109's, the Stuka, and the focke wulf 190 so long as it's been introduced by your High Command. Pilots get rank the easiest, you start as a leutenant, then you have to get Oberleutanant and then you go unto haupman (Captain). Sorry if I spelled those wrong. Army guys start out as private and have to go all the way to sergeant major before they get into the officer ranks, something I found strange. Way back when I had made it to colonel before they made a big rank change and I found myself demoted to sergeant major (something like that, I don't know how to translate german ranks). The climb to OverLeutanant has been difficult for me. After a certain rank you mainly get experience when a mission you create is successful instead of just killing stuff. I believe in the Army you can get away with just killing stuff all the way to senior nco and then you have to create missions and they have to be successful before you can gain experience. For pilots its the same except you will be able to post missions once you get to Captain. As a leutanant or 1st leutanant just destroy as much as you can.
Complete list available here :- World War II Online - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The game is played in "campaign" mode, ie: the campaign you're fighting to win starts in 1940 when the Germans invade France through the Ardennes forest and Belgium, and including the Zeeland islands in the Netherlands. Yeah it's a HUGE map covering the Northern part of France, all of Belgium, Luxembourg, the Hetherlands and Holland, the western part of Germany and the southern regions of England and the English channel. As the campaign continues, you pass through various "phases" of the war, where the equipment changes to reflect the onset of later years. Right now the ltest "phase" of the war modeled in terms of the latest equipment is the winter of 1943/1944, ie: the December/February period. As a new player you get the basic starter equipment (Curtiss Hawk 75, Bf109E-1, Hurricane Ia) at the start of a campaign. The more experienced players with rank get to fly the D.520, Bf109e-4 and Spitfire Ia at the start of a campaign. As the years arrive in a campaign, and new better more modern (for the time frame) equiipment becomed available, the ranked players move up and the equipment that was not new player (no rank) available is handed down to them. So as the first new equipmet comes in (10 days to 2 weeks after the campaign started) ... the Spitfire IIb replaces the Spitfire Ia, and new players with no rank can now fly the Spitfire Ia instead of the Hurricane Ia. Same for the Bf109E-4, it is moved down in rank requirement when the Bf109F-1 arrives in game. The Curtiss H-81 (American Volunteer Group modified P-40 sold to France in 1940) comes in to replace the D.520 as the top French fighter. this keeps cycling around with each new addition as the campaign winds on, placing the just superceded "uber rides" in the hands of those who were mot ranked high enough to get it when it first arrives in the campaign. Thus by the end of your first campaign, if you're any good, you have had access to all but the very last stuff to arrive in a camapign, and are in a good position to start out in the better equipment in your second campaign. This will make more sense when you realize that a "campaign" often lasts 2 to 3 months or as long as it takes for one side or the other to capture the entire western Europe based gameworld. Imagine a Counterstike game based in WWII equipment, and fought on a map the size of Western Europe with 100 to 600 players on each side ... that simulates 4 years of WWII over a period of 2 to 4 months. It's a war simulator really that uses a shooter approach to make content for the bigger war raging on around you. How long the campaign lasts is completely up to the players and the war they create out of the games ingredients. You can even use bomber missions (with escort fighters) to slow down how fast new replacement equipment gets from your enemies production factories to the front where the equipment is being destroyed, thus affecting how easy or hard the players fighting on the ground (and you are flying directly over and interacting with) are finding their battle to capture all of western Europe. It's a full scale war. There is even a "high command" on each side, made up of higher ranked experienced players who co-ordinate the larger strategies of their armies and air forces movements to trap and encircle their enemies brigades and divisions. It's real armed forces made up of real people being co-ordinated all over the front and even around the flanks to crush thier opposing armies and air forces. Every plane, tank, gun or soldier is a real player in real time directly interacting with each other, so planes are players attacking ground forces of players and ground forces of players are shooting those planes flown by players down. This same game design is applied to tanks, armoured cars and anti-tanks guns, all the equipment so far modeled for the game, not just the aeroplanes. Every so often they (CRS) release a patch that has new equipment in it, to further expand the game. When the game was first launched they only had a few pieces of 1940 equipment, but they are up to lend lease Shermans, Tiger tanks and later model G series Bf109's now, among other things from the 1942, late 43 early 44 winter period now. It's often described as the most brutal and toughest PvP game in the world. New players struggle to learn everything about weapons modeling and tactics that the older vets have learned the hardest way possible. Those vets ARE good at the game. So it's not for everyone. Battlefield Heroes/BF1942 it is not. If however, you try it out and become addicted to it like so many before you, it is hard to play any other WWII game again. If you end up liking it at all, it does become very much a kind of addiction. You'll either love it, or you'll hate it.
