E3 2001 Hands-onWorld War II Online: Blitzkrieg

This afternoon at the Strategy First booth, we had the opportunity to play World War II Online: Blitzkrieg, the ambitious massively multiplayer simulation game. After a brief introduction to the game and a quick overview of the European map and choke points, we jumped right into gameplay by selecting a target Belgian city on the map. You play the game as an individual soldier, and for the purposes of this hands-on demonstration, we began as a British infantryman. Navigation around the base was easy, and you could jog just about anywhere. A short sprint mode was also demonstrated, which is especially useful for ducking for cover. Also of note was that the point of view in this first-person game centers on the position of the player's head, and you can look down and see your torso, arms, and hands below.

Next, we moved to a larger, open area away from the base. We climbed into a tank and proceeded to drive forward along some rocky paths. From inside the tank, the view to the outside world was limited to the rectangular slit, as you'd expect it to be in real life. The controls on the wheel we were using to navigate were surprisingly sensitive; it would take only a small effort to steer left and right while we were driving toward a bridge in the distance. Once we got to the bridge, we switched to the gunner's view, and with this, we could zoom in and out on individual targets. There was an enemy Panzer tank crossing the bridge, and we quickly targeted it and shot at it several times. An Ally Spitfire flew by a few seconds later and bombed the tank, which began to smoke a little. Other units fired at the Panzer until the soldiers inside were dead, and the tank disappeared from the battlefield. A few minutes later, we chased another Panzer to a cluster of tall trees, where the German soldiers tried to hide, but we closed in from the rear, all the while firing at the Panzer's fuel tank, at its gunner (whose head was visible at times), and at its wheels. Damage to the tank was shown in specific locations so that we could judge our aim. We eventually destroyed the Panzer but had received a heavy amount of damage ourselves, and our engine was gone. However, we managed to stay alive on this battlefield, and it was a pretty exciting experience.

In terms of graphics and overall visuals, World War II Online's graphics look fairly good and distinctive enough to accurately represent historical units, aircraft, and ground vehicles. For example, we could recognize enemy units even at a distance. Enemy fire hitting a target was also a sight to see, especially aircraft on a bombing run. Ground vehicles under heavy attack smoked in varying degrees, and we could measure our damage-wreaking fun by the smoke's thickness and darkness. On the other hand, we didn't get a very accurate sampling of the game's sound because the E3 show floor noise and music drowned out almost all the sound effects. Despite this, gameplay was fun and surprisingly easy to get into. As beta testing still continues in World War II Online, more refinements will be made to the game, which is already looking and feeling quite good at this stage.