Which WWII series delivers the purest and best WWII experience?

I'm getting into WWII games lately after being an addict to Company of Heroes (one of the best RTS's ever by the way), so I want to discuss some good WWII first person shooter discussions. Also, I want to learn from these discussions on which series is best and worth reliving (or purchasing)all over again.

Here's what I know so far, but since I'm a noob with WWII games, any more info and thoughts from veteran gamers in this forum would help a lot:

• Medal of Honor: Allied Assault - Maybe the first WWII game that popularized this genre and started it all. I think the D-Day scene captured in this game is still unmatched.
• Battlefield 1942 - Arcade-style meets WWII, and equals pure fun. Also, is it the first one that successfully blended online multiplayer?
• Call of Duty - Considered by many as the best one. Which ones best in the series? Is the first and original still the best?
• Brothers in Arms - Probably the most realistic one in terms of gameplay because of its focus on tactical warfare rather than running and gunning. Also, I personally have a lot of interest in this series the most because it also has a good story. The other WWII games virtually have no story but it's all mission-based separated into different campaigns. Brothers in Arms looks like Band of Brothers the video game, so this is a plus to me.

Anyway, I already mentioned Company of Heroes, but I wanted to discuss shooters. Which of these series (and post if I'm missing any noteworthy ones...Hour of Vic "turd" ry doesn't count ), delivers the most purest, unadulterated, genuine WWII experience? Also, which one of these series equally delivers the most fun, run and gun, pure-bred, crazy over-the-top action ever?

So far, (with the exception of Company of Heroes), I'm liking Brothers in Arms because of the tactical gameplay and the story. But it looks like Call of Duty takes the crown when it comes to intense action-packed gameplay. But any info and thoughts on the others would be great as well...maybe I should just buy all of them.

Let the discussions commence!

CoD2 i thought and ive played all of them.

brothers in arms is good too.

CoD because you can actually play as a russian or english soldier instead of american for a change.

The Wolfenstein games are set in WWII-- Wolfenstein 3D, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, and Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory. The latter is a multiplayer-only free download.

MoH, CoD, and BiA are all great series-- I would recommend trying them all at some point, especially since they are all available for a low price. MoH is a good run-n-gun; you kill lots of Nazis mostly by yourself, with the occassional awesome moments such as the Omaha beach level. This game was basically inspired by the movie Saving Private Ryan, so some of the levels may remind you of scenes from that movie. CoD is cool because it lets you play missions as American, British, and Russian soldiers, and you are almost always fighting with other soldiers in the single-player campaign. The CoD games have some of the most intense moments I have experienced in a FPS, with some really awesome scripted events. The BiA games are also interesting because they force you to think tactically about maneuvering around the battlefield and making effective use of your squad. These games also have characters who remain with you throughout the story, so it feels somewhat more coherent than MoH or CoD.

By the way, Medal of Honor: Airborne and Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway are both coming out this year and they both look like very promising titles.

I liked Mohaa more, COD seemed abit silly and arcadey. The sounds in Mohaa are still the best i rekon.

Oh, forgot day of defeat source. ambient sounds in that are awsome, guns act nicely.

I'd go with Allied Assault and its two expansions. The graphics look dated by now, but the gameplay, ambiance, sound effects and (especially) music are all top-notch. The gameplay might not be quite as refined as CoD, but it nevertheless feels less streamlined and arcadey, which is my main complaint about CoD 1 & 2.

Both series are about equal in terms of overall challenge, but the AA games are a bit longer. I blasted through CoD 1 in about 6 hours, and CoD 2 lasted even less. Allied Assault, on the other hand, took me around 10 or 12 hours to blast through, and both of its expansions will last a typical 4 hours or so each.

I am not sure by what you mean that Company of Heroes is realistic, snipers have FPS level accuracy, you don't need artillery observers to call in barrages, you still built units, simply pressing the retreat button allows the units to magically become unpinned and by some reason gives them a defense bonus, dead tanks blow up or disappear, tanks don't have a crew,there is no chain of command structure or unit supply/supply unitsetc. All that I found that the game does is take abstract RTS concepts found in games like StarCraft and gives them a realistic spin; however any wargame is superior to CoH when it comes to realism, I think Close Combat did many of those things earlier and better. At the very least I suggest you try Combat Mission.

I just want to say though that CoH is a great game however its certainly not realistic.

I am not sure by what you mean that Company of Heroes is realistic, snipers have FPS level accuracy, you don't need artillery observers to call in barrages, you still built units, simply pressing the retreat button allows the units to magically become unpinned and by some reason gives them a defense bonus, dead tanks blow up or disappear, tanks don't have a crew,there is no chain of command structure or unit supply/supply unitsetc. All that I found that the game does is take abstract RTS concepts found in games like StarCraft and gives them a realistic spin; however any wargame is superior to CoH when it comes to realism, I think Close Combat did many of those things earlier and better. At the very least I suggest you try Combat Mission.

I just want to say though that CoH is a great game however its certainly not realistic.

Nikalai_88

True but to get the level of realism your asking for the game would undoubtly have to be a turnbased game.

WW2OL has provided me the greatest WW2 experience. Large scale epic battles. It's always insane to see 20+ tanks attacking a town with tons of soldiers on the ground and huge aerial battles going on. Even the sea battles can become epic greatness. One of my greatest moments in the game was being apart of a large airborne drop into England. It was like a 15-20 minute flight across the ocean. We have boats on the way with tanks and other vehicles.

Then you see the anti-aircraft guns start pounding the sky. There must have been hundreds of players dropping. On the way down you could see all of these dogfights going on. The battle went on for around five hours. While they repelled us it was a great experience.

[QUOTE="Nikalai_88"]

I am not sure by what you mean that Company of Heroes is realistic, snipers have FPS level accuracy, you don't need artillery observers to call in barrages, you still built units, simply pressing the retreat button allows the units to magically become unpinned and by some reason gives them a defense bonus, dead tanks blow up or disappear, tanks don't have a crew,there is no chain of command structure or unit supply/supply unitsetc. All that I found that the game does is take abstract RTS concepts found in games like StarCraft and gives them a realistic spin; however any wargame is superior to CoH when it comes to realism, I think Close Combat did many of those things earlier and better. At the very least I suggest you try Combat Mission.

I just want to say though that CoH is a great game however its certainly not realistic.

sSubZerOo

True but to get the level of realism your asking for the game would undoubtly have to be a turnbased game.

I am not sure about that, but I believe that most wargames are turnbased because that is what the market wants, games like Airboner Assault: HttR are real time and have many of the features that are in TBS games.

World War II Online: Battleground Europe is pretty good ;)BounceDK

Agreed. Not only is it going to provide the most authentic WWII experience... It's also (still) the most realistic FPS ever made. Red Orchestra? Pfft.... That game is arcadish compared to this :) Of course given that, it doesn't appeal to the vast majority of players out there. You have to be *extremely* patient to play this game. Still, I definitely recommend it for the realism buffs :)

[QUOTE="sSubZerOo"][QUOTE="Nikalai_88"]

I am not sure by what you mean that Company of Heroes is realistic, snipers have FPS level accuracy, you don't need artillery observers to call in barrages, you still built units, simply pressing the retreat button allows the units to magically become unpinned and by some reason gives them a defense bonus, dead tanks blow up or disappear, tanks don't have a crew,there is no chain of command structure or unit supply/supply unitsetc. All that I found that the game does is take abstract RTS concepts found in games like StarCraft and gives them a realistic spin; however any wargame is superior to CoH when it comes to realism, I think Close Combat did many of those things earlier and better. At the very least I suggest you try Combat Mission.

I just want to say though that CoH is a great game however its certainly not realistic.

Nikalai_88

True but to get the level of realism your asking for the game would undoubtly have to be a turnbased game.

I am not sure about that, but I believe that most wargames are turnbased because that is what the market wants, games like Airboner Assault: HttR are real time and have many of the features that are in TBS games.

RTS games are WAY harder to balance meaning that balance comes first before any realism..

[QUOTE="Nikalai_88"][QUOTE="sSubZerOo"][QUOTE="Nikalai_88"]

I am not sure by what you mean that Company of Heroes is realistic, snipers have FPS level accuracy, you don't need artillery observers to call in barrages, you still built units, simply pressing the retreat button allows the units to magically become unpinned and by some reason gives them a defense bonus, dead tanks blow up or disappear, tanks don't have a crew,there is no chain of command structure or unit supply/supply unitsetc. All that I found that the game does is take abstract RTS concepts found in games like StarCraft and gives them a realistic spin; however any wargame is superior to CoH when it comes to realism, I think Close Combat did many of those things earlier and better. At the very least I suggest you try Combat Mission.

I just want to say though that CoH is a great game however its certainly not realistic.

sSubZerOo

True but to get the level of realism your asking for the game would undoubtly have to be a turnbased game.

I am not sure about that, but I believe that most wargames are turnbased because that is what the market wants, games like Airboner Assault: HttR are real time and have many of the features that are in TBS games.

RTS games are WAY harder to balance meaning that balance comes first before any realism..

What's your point? CoH isn't realistic and there are realtime games that are more realistic than it. Anyways wargames aren't balanced if you played them than you would know.