Playnet and Cornered Rat Software has released World War II Online v1.9, a new version of their massively multiplayer online action game that simulates World War II battlefield action. The new version gets changes that the developers bill as “the largest and most significant” since the game was first released.
In World War II Online, you can take to an accurately scaled virtual reproduction of the European theater of operations, as infantry or you can control vehicles and aircraft, against thousands of other gamers. It’s popular to play as part of online squads with specific mission objectives and common goals.
The new version, which is free to all subscribers, adds the ability for players to implement “depot spawning” that provides a foothold into enemy-held cities. Also new is a strategic system in which players can impact their enemies’ ability to wage war by coordinating air, land and sea attacks of factories and other key facilities. The Research, Development and Production (RDP) system affects how vehicles and equipment are made available, so destroying the factories that produce these items can have a real impact on the outcome of the game.
40 new cities, towns and ports have also been added, and the game’s core Unity 3D graphics engine has been ported to OpenGL. New special effects have been added like debris from shell hits on aircraft, shell ejections in first- and third-person modes, and more explosions. New infantry animations have been added too.
If you’ve already tried World War II Online, you might be interested in a Welcome Back Soldier promotion recently noted on the Web site. The company is reactivating accounts closed between July 1, 2002 and August 4, 2003 to give former WWII Online players another chance to experience the new and improved game — for free — for a limited time.