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Order of Battle: World War II

78%Game Brain Score
story, gameplay
optimization, stability
78% User Score Based on 1,781 reviews

Platforms

MOMac OSPCPCP4Playstation 4WinWindowsPlaPlayStation
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About

Order of Battle: World War II is a turn-based strategy game that simulates various battles and campaigns throughout the duration of World War II. Players can choose to control either the Axis or Allied powers, commanding vast armies across multiple types of terrain and environments. With a focus on historical accuracy and strategic depth, the game offers a challenging and immersive experience for fans of the genre.

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Order of Battle: World War II screenshot
Order of Battle: World War II screenshot
Order of Battle: World War II screenshot
Order of Battle: World War II screenshot
Order of Battle: World War II screenshot
Order of Battle: World War II screenshot
Order of Battle: World War II screenshot
Order of Battle: World War II screenshot
Order of Battle: World War II screenshot
Order of Battle: World War II screenshot
Order of Battle: World War II screenshot

78%
Audience ScoreBased on 1,781 reviews
story18 positive mentions
stability13 negative mentions
  • Engaging gameplay with a mix of land, air, and naval combat that requires strategic planning.
  • Rich historical context with a variety of campaigns covering lesser-known theaters of WWII.
  • Easy to learn mechanics that provide depth and replayability, making it accessible for both casual and serious strategy fans.
  • Misleading 'free to play' model, as the game only offers a tutorial and requires purchasing DLC for full content.
  • High cost of DLC campaigns, making the total price for the complete game significantly more than typical standalone titles.
  • Performance issues, including long AI turn times and occasional crashes, detracting from the overall experience.
  • story
    242 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's story is primarily delivered through a series of well-crafted missions that are loosely connected, providing a backdrop for gameplay rather than a deeply engaging narrative. Players can influence future missions by completing secondary objectives, which adds a layer of strategy and realism to the experience. However, the overall storytelling is often overshadowed by gameplay mechanics, and many users express frustration with the limited free content and the need to purchase additional campaigns for a fuller experience.

    • “One of the best WWII strategy games available, well worth buying all the DLC - it is a lot of fun and tells a great story!”
    • “While not overly long, the campaigns have been unexpectedly immersive and it has been as fun to follow the story as it has been simply playing each scenario in their own rights.”
    • “It gives you a feeling of story and a real attachment to certain units as they level and gain heroes/commanders.”
    • “While the scenarios are well-crafted, the storytelling is limited, serving primarily as a backdrop to the gameplay.”
    • “The campaign doesn't really allow you to choose where to fight except in a few rare occasions; it's more of a mission-to-mission setup.”
    • “Overall, it's a very promising game, but the lack of a true campaign limits replayability and dampens my enthusiasm for playing much more than a few missions.”
  • gameplay
    232 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The gameplay of "Order of Battle: World War II" is characterized by its blend of accessibility and depth, offering a turn-based strategy experience that emphasizes logistics, supply lines, and varied combat mechanics across land, air, and naval units. While many players appreciate the strategic layers and engaging scenarios, some criticize the repetitive nature of gameplay and the limitations of certain mechanics, particularly regarding air units and the clarity of tutorials. Overall, the game is seen as a solid successor to the Panzer General series, though its reliance on paid DLC for full content has drawn mixed reactions.

    • “Order of Battle: World War II is a turn-based strategy game that provides a deep and engaging experience, offering a fresh take on tactical gameplay in a World War II setting.”
    • “The game’s mechanics strike a good balance between accessibility and depth.”
    • “The gameplay is simple, quick, and fun.”
    • “Overall, if you invest in some gameplay, you will recognize that this is quite a bad game and not really what is advertised.”
    • “The gameplay is repetitive, and it is telling that a free open-source game like Open General has so much more depth and detail.”
    • “The game mechanics are seriously flawed, with aircraft being mostly useless as it has a pitiful range and it takes 3 turns to refuel and rearm.”
  • graphics
    164 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The graphics in the game have received mixed reviews, with many players praising the historical accuracy and detail of the units, as well as the overall aesthetic appeal, particularly for a title released in 2015. While some find the visuals to be beautiful and engaging, others criticize them as mediocre or outdated, especially in comparison to newer titles. Overall, the graphics are generally considered good for the genre, effectively supporting the gameplay without overshadowing it.

    • “The historical accuracy of the planes and ships is impressive, and the level of detail in the graphics is a real treat.”
    • “Excellent WWII tactical game with outstanding visuals, especially the nicely detailed armored vehicles.”
    • “The graphics and animations are a step above Panzer Corps.”
    • “The overall experience is lacking; graphics are quite mediocre, no voice-overs, no videos, nothing but some tiny vague and dull text and grainy black and white pictures to accompany the objectives or game events.”
    • “I just never got into this game; I didn't like the scale, the graphics are deplorable, and it's become nothing but a DLC fest.”
    • “Found the graphics performance poor to the point that the game was unplayable.”
  • replayability
    32 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game boasts exceptional replayability, scoring as high as 10/10 from users, thanks to its numerous campaigns, customizable difficulty settings, and a robust scenario editor that enhances gameplay variety. While some players note limitations in the core campaign, the extensive DLC options and user-generated content significantly contribute to its replay value, making it a compelling choice for strategy enthusiasts. Overall, the combination of diverse missions and the ability to influence future scenarios ensures that players will find themselves returning to the game frequently.

    • “Replayability is a major strength, with numerous campaigns, customizable difficulty settings, and a rich selection of scenarios to explore.”
    • “So many campaigns, so much replay value... it's a game I always go back to.”
    • “Each of the missions will give you about half an hour's worth of gameplay if you're particularly quick, but the campaigns feature a little more than a dozen more missions to enjoy, with optional secondary objectives to complete that will affect future missions along with five levels of difficulty, all of which help increase overall replayability.”
    • “Overall, it's a very promising game, but the lack of a true campaign limits replayability and dampens my enthusiasm for playing much more than a few missions.”
    • “The developers are obviously not as concerned with making the game more playable as with making more money: instead of fixing the problem, they devoted their limited resources into making one DLC after another and shamelessly ask you to pay more cash.”
    • “While its narrative and presentation may not break new ground, its gameplay and replayability make it a standout title for World War II enthusiasts.”
  • music
    22 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The music in the game has received mixed reviews, with many players noting that while the soundtrack fits the World War II theme and includes appropriate battle sounds, it often feels generic and lacking in depth. Some users have reported technical issues, such as music stopping or restarting unexpectedly, which detracts from the overall experience. Overall, the sound effects are praised for their quality, but the music could benefit from more variety and a stronger presence.

    • “The sound and music are fitting, with appropriate battle sounds and a soundtrack that complements the World War II theme.”
    • “- atmospheric WWII soundtrack”
    • “Like graphics, music and sound effects!”
    • “Sounds are good, maybe a bit loud, and the music is a bit lacking, but it's not bad, I don't think at least.”
    • “Sounds are really solid with satisfying tank explosions, machine gun fire, and battleship fire, but music-wise it's pretty lacking and it would be nice to have a nice soundtrack to listen to while playing this game.”
    • “The music does the job, but remains very generic.”
  • optimization
    20 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's optimization has received significant criticism, with many users reporting performance issues, particularly on older hardware. Players have experienced lag, crashes, and slowdowns during larger battles, leading to frustration and a lack of recommendations. Despite some improvements, the overall consensus is that the game suffers from unoptimized memory usage and stability problems, detracting from the overall experience.

    • “Performance is okay on a mediocre PC on Windows 10 (dual core, 8 GB and 2 GB AMD graphic card) when I set the graphics to normal/good.”
    • “All in all, this is, in my opinion, the definitive PG-alike game that falls short of perfection due to the stability and performance issues.”
    • “Like most of these games, you find out that a certain combination of troops works for you so that after a while you crank out the same type of troops for optimal performance.”
    • “Looking at the error logs, they are very vague, and I believe the crashing is due to the memory usage of the game being extremely unoptimized.”
    • “Found the graphics performance poor to the point that the game was unplayable.”
    • “Until the performance issues are resolved, I can't recommend the game to anyone.”
  • stability
    16 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The stability of the game has received mixed reviews, with many users reporting frequent crashes, framerate drops, and AI-related glitches that hinder gameplay. While some players have had a smooth experience on certain systems, the overall consensus highlights significant bugs and unresolved issues that can lead to frustration. The lack of effective communication from developers regarding these problems further exacerbates the situation, leaving many players dissatisfied.

    • “Runs great on my iMac with Big Sur.”
    • “All I can say is that I have every DLC and the game runs great, so don't be turned off by these complaints that really have nothing to do with the game itself.”
    • “The game runs great, is easy to learn, and the gameplay is tremendously well done.”
    • “Too buggy... couldn't even get past the first practice map without it crashing several times.”
    • “There's clear framerate drops and freezes as the AI takes its turn, and it is agonizingly slow while doing so.”
    • “If you get this game, you will be setting yourself up for extreme frustration as you encounter scenarios which can't be won because the victory conditions are unobtainable, turns which never end because of AI glitches, units which don't function properly, updates which don't fix longstanding glitches, and developers who ignore bug reports in Steam discussions and who don't provide an email for directly reporting bugs because they want to direct traffic directly to their own website where you must register and receive spam.”
  • grinding
    10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be a mixed experience; while it can be tedious and repetitive, particularly with slow AI movements and the need for multiple restarts in missions, many still enjoy the challenge and strategic elements it offers. The tutorial and some gameplay scenarios may feel demotivating at times, but the engaging supply system adds a layer of interest that helps mitigate the grind. Overall, the grinding can detract from the experience, yet it remains enjoyable for those who appreciate the strategic depth.

    • “With a few of them, I had to restart 2 or 3 times to get a force mixture that would allow me to win, but it was fun and not tedious.”
    • “A grinding, non-strategy strategy game.”
    • “In almost every scenario, after maybe 15 turns or so, the AI movement becomes tediously slow, where occasionally the music will stop entirely, the game will freeze up, then the AI suddenly moves again 20 seconds later.”
    • “Missions and gameplay can be tedious and repetitive, with no progress being made.”
  • monetization
    10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The monetization strategy of the game has received mixed reviews, with some players criticizing it as misleading and cash-grabbing, particularly regarding advertising and DLC practices. However, others appreciate the absence of microtransactions, suggesting that the developers have opted for a more straightforward approach to monetization despite the need for income. Overall, while there are concerns about the game's monetization tactics, the lack of microtransactions is seen as a positive aspect by some players.

    • “As the developers have stated, they need a source of income and we should actually be glad that they didn't make the choice to implement microtransactions or some blatant money grab just so that you could play some other levels.”
    • “There are no microtransactions!!!”
    • “Cash grabbing, stingy, microtransaction bastards!”
    • “Feels like a cash grab.”
    • “The DLC breakout is a clear monetization strategy and I think it will only hurt them.”
  • humor
    3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The humor in the game is derived from its nostalgic reliance on outdated tropes and mechanics, reminiscent of the original Panzer General, which players find both amusing and absurd. The comedic element is further enhanced by the playful portrayal of toy soldiers and the absurdity of the scenarios, making the experience entertaining despite its lack of innovation.

    • “It's both stupid and hilarious at the same time...”
    • “He gladly explained to me the rules by which those funny toy soldiers fight each other, and soon I carried out my first 'operation' in the People's General game, capturing Khabarovsk with Chinese troops.”
    • “First Panzer General created the basic formula and it's hilarious how almost nothing has changed since then - the only new feature this game adds is supply & efficiency; otherwise, you will recognize all the tropes from that 30-year-old game.”
  • atmosphere
    2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Reviewers note that while the game features an atmospheric WWII soundtrack, it lacks the character and immersive quality found in games from the 8-bit era, suggesting a disparity in overall atmosphere.

    • “The games I played in the 8-bit era had more character and atmosphere than Order of Battle.”
    • “The atmospheric WWII soundtrack really enhances the experience.”
    • “Games I played in the 8-bit era had more character and atmosphere than Order of Battle.”

Buy Order of Battle: World War II

26h Median play time
136h Average play time
9-200h Spent by most gamers
*Based on 24 analyzed playthroughs

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