Not a shooter that you've played before...which is in small parts a good thing, but overall it doesn't come together.
However I wasn't expecting this either, this was unusual. I was expecting a more even paced, combined arms battlefield with half-tracks, and tanks, on a large scale map where you aren't predictably just going to camp in one corner of the map until someone comes around it.
Gameplay:
Instead of intense fire-fights where bullets are flying over head, hitting the walls and dirt around you as the roar of the battlefield lighting up around you...you'll basically spend your time methodically and literally crawling your way across the map only to be shot by someone who was patiently waiting for someone to come into view.
Because nothing is really going on, and there isn't a whole lot of movement, anything that does move becomes highly noticeable..not to mention just sticking your head out of cover and sprinting across an open street.
Therefore, there are objectives, but for most people sticking your neck out to try and capture them will be suicidal. If you go running around like rambo, someone will surely finish you off as you pass by as they are hunkered down in a nook somewhere.
Unfortunately what really ruins the gameplay is the accuracy of the weapons and more-so how simple they are to handle. There basically are no firefights, the battle is decided in a few milliseconds. Everyone is a sniper-ace in this game because there is hardly any sway in the weapons, the iron sights are easy to line up (which can be zoomed in as if you have a sniper scope) and since you only need a shot or two to land most of the time you'll be taken down quite easily especially if there is several people shooting at you.
Conclusion:
Sound, graphics, music and atmosphere are all superb, they definitely create a good ww2 feel. However this is all dwarfed and forgotten because the gameplay itself feels out of place. You can do well but you'll have to methodically crawl around, inching your way around so that no one camping takes you out. This unfortunately results and in a frustrating and forgettable experience.
As cool as it may sound on paper, the gruesome and dangerous game play of RO2! It really doesn't translate well into fun factor of the game, even if you succeed at this style of warfare (which in case you are wondering I'm very good at the game) you'll not experience the highs and excitement of doing and experiencing something really awesome and memorable, you'll just essentially be out-camping, out-crawling your opponent. When in my book there should be a lot to it, more ways to have fun and not too many people are.
At the end of the day there's only a few ways to skin a cat in RO2, and none of them terribly exciting. You'll have a few moments of happiness but for most people they will be frustrated and move onto something a little more gratifying and fast-paced as they won't enjoy dying so much and so easily for really not much of a rewarding experience even if they master the art.
It couldn't have been much more than what it is but for now it is already losing it's steam in the community, however I would expect some great mods as the tools are definitely there to make this great....too bad the developers didn't carry that torch but they may have laid the foundation for something great in the future.