WWII Online: Blitzkrieg

aka: WWIIO, World War II Online, World War II Online: Battleground Europe
Moby ID: 4297
Windows Specs
Buy on Windows
$0.00 new on Steam
Included in

Description official descriptions

WWII Online: Blitzkrieg is a massively multiplayer online game that features land, air, and sea action with accurate vehicles from World War II in full 3D. Players participate in a persistent world where success affects supply and territory, and where players must coordinate and unite to capture, hold ground, and defend against enemy attacks. Players can accumulate experience in any or all of the three branches of service on either side (and respective countries), and gain access to better equipment and more sophisticated features.

Groups +

Screenshots

Promos

Credits (Windows version)

94 People (16 developers, 78 thanks) · View all

Senior Producer
Assistant Community Manager
Chief Marketing Officer
Chief Technical Officer
Assistant Game Manager
Lead Artist
Support Director
Producer
Game Manager
Community Manager
Lead Client Programmer
Lead Forum Moderator
President & CEO
Intern Programmer
Lead Game Moderator
Our gratitude for talent, vision and dedication goes to all former RATS
  • AHWulf
  • Animal
  • Arradin
  • Bable
  • Badger
  • Bierbaer
  • Caligula
[ full credits ]

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 66% (based on 21 ratings)

Players

Average score: 2.9 out of 5 (based on 12 ratings with 6 reviews)

This game ROCKS

The Good
WWII Online gives you the freedom to go anywhere and shoot anyone. Normal first person shooters send you down "alleys" and there is no diversification allowed. Well this game has broken that mould and you are free to explore! There is also the freedom to walk, drive and fly in most of the equipment available at the time. The rank system allows the more experienced the better "toys" and this saves wasting your countries resources on noobs. The overall experience is absorbing and the players can group in different squads resembling units from that era. I joined the 3rd Panzergruppe and we have over 100 members playing on and off.

The Bad
It can control your whole life it is so addictive. Lag is a problem and if you are up against an opponent with a better spec computer he tends to get the jump on you.

The Bottom Line
If you can afford it give it a go it's excellent. Please do not blame me if your partner leaves you due to excessive game play!!!

Windows · by Steve McGinnigle (4) · 2004

They still have some ironing to do but...

The Good
There is no invisible wall when you reach the end of the mission map, because there is no end to the mission map. The entire world is one big mission. That mission is simple...defeat the enemy. I haven't tried it, but in theory, you could drive your tank from Barrow, AK to the Tierra Del Fuego, or from the frozen tundra of Siberia to the tip of Africa. Provided you had enough gas. The concept is nothing short of awe-inspiring. To engage in battle using WWII weapons and vehicles in a persistent world where facilities you control today may be gone tomorrow. Or where the facility to overtook today could make the difference next month. The battle starts in France/Belgium area, where it goes from there is up to the players. When this game is fully realized, it will be the most awesome battle simulation the world has ever seen. With historically accurate vehicle models and weapons, a persistent character who rises in rank as they complete missions or successfully defend areas, this game is going to set the mold for online games to come. The game works almost as well with a 56K modem as it does with broadband.

The Bad
There is plenty of bad to talk about at the moment. Frame rates are not so good mine move between 3 and 27 depending on how heavy a battle is going on (this has more to do with processor power and memory than it does connection speed). They haven't any Navy yet, and the Airforce is limited to three planes for the Allies and two for the Axis. They haven't yet implemented the supply lines, so sometimes is like a WWII Tank patch for Quake. And as of yet there is not a 'one-server' world. All this will come, and in the mean time, the play is free. No one is being charged the monthly fee from PlayNet until the game is 100% complete and bug free. Many of the initial bugs were fixed with the 1.21 patch. More bugs and new features will come with the 1.30 patch set to come out real soon.

The Bottom Line
This is a frustratingly addictive game. I have to fight myself not to play it every night. It's most fun when you have a group of people working together using a voice chat program like Roger Wilco.

Windows · by caine (2) · 2001

Wonderful military simulation

The Good
WWIIOL has many thing you won't find in any other game, but realism is top notch and unmatched. The game is a massively multiplayer combined arms simulation. That is, it includes air, sea, armor and infantry all in the same virtual world. Realistic ballistics. Realistic damage modelling. Realistic ordinance penetration. Realistic simulation of cover and concealment. Realistic dimensions (5000 meter visual range, not 200 meter as typical in video games). Realistic sound (for instance vehicles moving 1km away sound distant to the point of almost being undetectable). If you love simulations (flight sims, tank sims, and so on), you'll be amazed by this game.

The Bad
Most of the things I didn't like about the game are long past. The launch was horrible. Lag, dated graphics, missing functionality, billing problems, you name it, were present when the game was launched in 2001. But since then, all of these issues have been addressed and then some.

If there's anything to not like, it's that the game is not easy to get started with for new players, and this results in a somewhat limited and very talented player base.

The Bottom Line
WWIIOL has many thing you won't find in any other game, but realism is top notch and unmatched. The game is a massively multiplayer combined arms simulation. That is, it includes air, sea, armor and infantry all in the same virtual world. Realistic ballistics. Realistic damage modelling. Realistic ordinance penetration. Realistic simulation of cover and concealment. Realistic dimensions (5000 meter visual range, not 200 meter as typical in video games). Realistic sound (for instance vehicles moving 1km away sound distant to the point of almost being undetectable). If you love simulations (flight sims, tank sims, and so on), you'll be amazed by this game.

Windows · by Chris Jones (2) · 2007

[ View all 6 player reviews ]

Trivia

Post-launch problems

The June 2001 launch had many woes, but for some the worst part was that 'online' part. The servers were either unreachable or unbearably laggy. The publisher extended the 30-day trial period (as included in the retail box) until the reliability issues were solved. The trial lasted until November 2001.

Behind the scenes, the games' primary ISP and facilities host had botched the transition from the beta-testing T1 to release 100Mb pipes. Massive initial interest in the game choked that lil' T1 stony cold dead.

After a showdown between WWIIOL's VP, John "Killer" MacQueen and the ISPs chief tech guy, it was divulged by a concerned employee of the ISP that the gaff wasn't entirely unintentional, not least because the ISP was in a position of not actually have 100Mb transit at the time.

Perhaps hoping the WWIIOL money would allow them to buy peering, the ISP followed up with a quick invoice for a year's connectivity and hosting in advance. As a show of good faith, they upgraded the 1.5Mb-connection-being-charged-at-100Mb rates to a 10Mb connection. When WWIIOL's developers declined to pay the 100Mb rate for this connection, the ISP promptly issued a legal filing against the game company and, without notice, turned off the connectivity.

Apparently "Killer" is no slacker. Within 8 hours he'd gotten agreements and connectivity from 3 major ISPs, rented facilities at a coloc on the far side from Dallas and conducted a covert-op truly befitting of an online wargame to quietly "recover" their hardware from the original ISP and redeploy it across town. The servers went down a little after 1pm and started coming back online around 6pm, with full connectivity and service somewhere between 7.30 and 8pm.

Unfortunately, the legal battle with the original ISP put the developers into Chapter 11 and forced radical staffing cuts that pretty much sealed the game's fate as a minor MMO few have ever heard of.

Awards

  • Computer Gaming World
    • April 2002 (Issue #213) – Biggest Patch of the Year (for the bad launch)
  • GameSpy
    • 2001 – Sim Game of the Year (Readers' Choice)

Analytics

MobyPro Early Access

Upgrade to MobyPro to view research rankings!

Related Games

WWII GI
Released 1999 on DOS, 2015 on Windows, Linux
1942: Call of War - Ruler of Europe Pack
Released 2018 on Macintosh, Windows
Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning
Released 2008 on Windows, 2009 on Macintosh
World War II Trivia
Released 1992 on DOS
1942: Call of War
Released 2017 on Windows, Macintosh, 2018 on Windows Apps
War Boxes
Released 2015 on Android, iPhone, iPad
1942: Call of War - 23.000 Gold
Released 2018 on Windows, Macintosh
1942: Call of War - 49.500 Gold
Released 2018 on Macintosh, Windows

Related Sites +

Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 4297
  • [ Please login / register to view all identifiers ]

Contribute

Are you familiar with this game? Help document and preserve this entry in video game history! If your contribution is approved, you will earn points and be credited as a contributor.

Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Kasey Chang.

Macintosh added by Shoddyan.

Additional contributors: nullnullnull, JPaterson, mw, Kabushi, Oliver Smith, Zeppin, Patrick Bregger.

Game added June 13, 2001. Last modified January 20, 2024.