Interface

Welcome to the real world

World War II Online tries to be very faithful to its inspiration. This is reflected not only in the abilities and statistics of soldiers, tanks and weapons in the game, but in the design of its interface. You, as a soldier, know only what a soldier need know. Obviously since there is no one to command you, you are told where the fights are, but little else. How fast is your tank moving? You don't know - you can only observe and judge by the passage of the landscape. What gear is your tank in? You'll have to either remember the gear or hit the appropriate key to look down at the gearbox. That or you can randomly hit keys on the keyboard, hoping that an undocumented key can pop up a gear selection interface (for the record, it's the ~ key, just over the Tab and left of the 1.) Should you shift? Listen closely to the engine to decide the shift-point.

Where are you? You're only given a local map with very little detail. Is that a friend or foe on the horizon? Well, you'll have to judge by sight and sight alone - no one transmits IFF signals in 1940. How much damage has the enemy taken? Look at the state of his vehicle to find out. There are no sensors or scanners telling you the percentage of armor left on your foe. Heck, you don't even know which side of the war you should join, since you never know who's short-handed.

In its ambition to be realistic, we can almost commend the game. After all, what is the point of simulating a historical even if you do not have at least some accuracy in it?

Get used to this

Crappy view

Glitched

Yet there are subtle flaws in the way the interface is designed. While, just like a real tank driver you have only a limited view from a small viewport, the real-world tank driver could move his head closer and further away for extra view or extra safety. He could look around outside the port with different angles, while you the player are stuck with a single view. The tank driver didn't have to look down at the gearbox to know what gear he was in - he could judge it from experience by the position of his hand, just like car drivers used to manual transmissions know what gear they are in by where the shifter is and how the car reacts to throttle input.

The limited strategic map might be all well and good, showing you where fights are happening, but you never know how big a fight is there. As a player, do you wish to get involved in a small or large engagement? You have no choice. The 'battle' indicated on the map may be a dozen British A13 tanks charging in and carrying soldiers, or just an anti tank gun hitched to a truck and carrying a few infantrymen.

Much better, but now you're more vulnerable

Bring it on, Jerry

The small, in-game tactical map is almost worthless except as a guide on what town you're next to. It can show you roads, rivers, the name of the town and your position - that's it. This is supposed to reflect what the average trooper might have known when he entered combat. Yet the average trooper would be warned by his commanders about potential enemy forces in the town, the direction his comrades would attack from, and so on. With no commanders guiding your actions and such a limited map, the battlefields become simple chaos.

Players need to know more. They need to have points for infantry to be picked up by troop transports instead of running around begging for or offering rides; they need at least a general idea of how large battles are and a rough approximation of allied forces in the area. The alphabetical list of towns on the strategic map should somehow indicated which towns are contested areas, and just how large the contest is.