A Review (updated as I got to play a bit more)

[rabitldr]

First, the Good...

We had three players, and I got sucked in for 3 hours. I'd have stayed longer but I had to go to work. I wanted to stay longer. With 2 full squads on each side I might never leave or have to be pulled away from my computer by caring people. 

Even though this is in Alpha the game is quite stable. I did have to load twice once but no drop outs once logged in, (ah Task Manager...there you are). It looks good, sounds good. I spent the best part of 6 hours in game today and didn't get dropped once. Considering I'm on Austraiian internet the rest of you should be fine. It's stable. I do have to load twice some of the time but no drop outs once logged in. It looks good, sounds good and the game mechanic is solid.  Turn down your music to zero though. Being familiar with WWIIOL obviously will help but things are a little different. The amount of swearing your avatar makes while getting shot at means not having impressionable young children in the room unless you want them to an expanded vocabulary. It was pointed out there was a sliding scale I might have used to turn it down. I asked why on earth would I want to do THAT?

Combat sounds, equipment jangling, its all there pretty much. You can't drown in the river but sometimes you might think you've been under long enough to. Jumping works but there's an art form to it. Low stone walls no problem, wood fences not so much. The map seems small, (say about Zundert in size) but there are sneaky ways to flank and slink about even though it looks small. Again it's bigger than it looks.  I could expand on the mechanics but then I won't be able to lord over you my vast knowledge from 9 hours game play.

It's simple rifles for now no grenades, SMG's or working close combat which also means no Ramboes with LMG's. Rifles with pistols available for squad leaders, the Fireteam Leader also has a pistol. The Engineer does have a reason to use explosives (press 5 for boom blocks*) and  you can find out why. You can place your block of Explodium and it goes bang. Use it well though, you only get one block. That 88 won't blow itself up. The one charge you have will kill you if you stand next to it when it blows so follow that instinct as it runs away from the boom...try to keep up with it. This will allow an engineer to be used in new and explody ways elsewhere on the map.

Pro tip, if you can be a Squad Leader or Fireteam Leader as mentioned they have a pistol. There are places in the map where close quarters means pistol beats rifle. No ammo counts yet so blast away.

That said, two things it needs sorting soonest, first the key mapper does not save changes, so you'll have to adapt to what the keys are for now. Second, (as I once said about Alien: Fire Team Elite) this game needs on board voice communications the same way a newborn baby need's that first sweet, sweet breath of air. The text communications are also not yet working so get on Discord you luddite or learn how to communicate with interpretive dance.

The Bad...

Given it's in Alpha and the obvious things it needs it's pretty clear to the RATS where the development needs to go. I can't think of much anyone would obviously want in an infantry level game CRS haven't already started to figure out. That said it could really use: 

Voice comsText coms

Expansion of weapons

Close Combat needs to work, (give us a choice I'd say, punch, knife or Bayonets for rifles)

Bottom Line:

Is it worth a premium account?

Given the extra equipment you get in WWIIOL with a CP Key, yes, better still if the RATS keep the 2 game servers up.

*Boom Blocks is a Trade Marked saying by Rabitldr Industries and you guys have to give me 20 cents each time you use it unless you ask REALLY nicely.

 

Edited December 12 by rabitldr