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With all these World War 2 games coming out today, one would think that this subject is almost depleted.  Everyone that loves WW2 and is into videos games has played at least one FPS based on it. I think I have played most of them, but every single one disappointed me for several reasons. The first and most important one would be the poor AI,  I was often  getting the feeling that I was fighting against sitting ducks, which were injuring me just  to force me to pick up the next “med-kit” and recover. Never liked the idea of  med kits in a game that wants to be historical accurate.

The second thing that bugged me was the lack of choices you had in a game like this. All missions get down to: pick up a rifle and eliminate all the enemies. In some games they allow you to drive a tank, or shoot a machine gun from an airplane… but that’s all there is. Let’s face it WW2 wasn’t only based on infantry.  The last reason would be the lack of team work.   I am tired of all these hollywoodian heroes that defeat an entire army on their own. So I asked myself is this all that video games have to offer ? immortal heroes and lack of co-op?  That’s how I came across Battleground Europe.

Most of you have not even heard of this game so far, although it has been around for 7 years from what I’ve been told, and for a MMO ( YES it is a MMO) that’s quite an impressive age. So what makes this game special ? Well for the beginning it is only playable online ( a monthly subscription is needed), and because of this you will be shooting at human players and not AI controlled ones that move around based on don’t know what scripts.

A tip for those of you who want to play: get in a squad (a form of clan / guild ) as you don’t stand any chance fighting alone, and you will also get bored.  I know most of you will say by looking at the pictures that the game is old.. the graphics are lame and so on, but who cares about graphics here. There will be a major change in the game also soon, the graphic engine will be upgraded and it will bring a 21^st century look to it. The changes that will be implemented will be presented in a preview of this game.

One thing that stands out even from the beginning is the option to choose what you want to be. You can fight in the air-force, navy, or you can be in the infantry. If you choose infantry you will have the opportunity to maneuver a tank, or an ATG/AA ( anti-tank /anti aircraft weapons). Of course that you can also chose to play the role of a rifle-man, and as you gain a new rank new weapons will be available. Don’t be scared… it doesn’t take that much until you can access all hand weapons of the game (this includes the mortars,  light machine guns, submachine guns etc) . Unlike other MMO’s , here it does not matter what gear you wear because gear is virtually inexistent. You just choose to play as a character and that character comes equipped with it’s weapons/equipment . So you won’t see guys flashing around with their +20 damage items that they bought from different sites, because that can not be done here. All there is to do here is gain a new rank, and kill the opposing force.

The game relies on different campaigns, each of them lasting several weeks.  A campaign is won by a side –Axis or Allies – when one of them manages to occupy most of the map. The map is pretty accurately made, along with all the elements in the game, as the development team has spent ages modeling every tank, weapon and so on to match the reality as much as possible. Tanks for example have weak points, just like the real ones from WW2. Walking around on foot takes forever, as the map is huge, but that’s why we have trucks that can carry people or even planes that carry airborne infantry.

The game itself is very strategic, as players must choose wisely what town or base they should attack next. There is a limited numbers of supplies so you can’t just die and re-spawn all the time. The ones that pull the strings over the map are the players from High Command office. Any player can join the HC no matter of his current rank. So how exactly do you occupy a town ? Well that’s easy. At the moment every town has a numbers of bases in it. In order to fully occupy it, players must capture all those bases, that being done by waiting a few seconds on a pre-defined spot ( radio tables). This capture method will be changed soon, I will present the new method in the preview.

I say it once more, if you start playing, get a squad, being a lone wolf here won’t take you anywhere, and you will miss most of the fun. Of course once you get in a squad there will be someone to tell you what to do and where to go, but let’s face it that is how army is … if you want to be the one giving the orders you have to keep on fighting and gain the knowledge needed for that.  See you on the battlefront !

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