Battalion 1944 (PC) Preview

Battalion 1944 is a very shoot-to-kill kind of FPS. Whether it's a long-distance sniper rifle, or semi-automatic weapon, all it takes for the enemy or yourself to go down is a bullet or two. In fact, more often than not, it will be you, especially if a newcomer to this, leading to a very important thing about Battalion 1944: it's highly toxic community. Oh, sure, all online/competitive games are full of those hope-inspiring human specimens, right? Not really...

How toxic a fan-base ends up being has to do with a variety of reasons, with one of the most important being what kind of skills one needs to possess. In the, almost arcade-esque, arena shooters of the past, like Quake III, for example, you didn't have to spent hours upon hours learning the intricacies of the level design - yes, the hardcore ones would do so, but all you needed to have a good fragging time with those was a decent aim.

Unfortunately, Battalion 1944 is one of those games where you just have to learn the pros and cons of each centimetre of the level. As such, don't expect those who have done so while you were unaware of this product's existence to have any mercy towards you lowly noob, and given the heavily team-focused nature of it all, prepare for lots of pleasantries. Couple this with a match-making system that is practically non-existent, as well as a lack of decent protection from cheaters, and you have a match made in heaven.

What's worse is that this will initially feel as if it is a tactical shooter. You can lean sideways and go into prone position, and you have to pay attention to noise, as well as the capabilities of your weaponry. Unfortunately, apart from what your ears can tell you about your surroundings, this is all about crouch-jumping from a corner and shooting first, or bunny-hopping while pulling the trigger, as the accuracy receives almost no penalty for doing so - not to mention that the weapons are insanely unbalanced.

In conclusion, Battalion 1944 was not created for those who just want to have some fun - it was created for the eSports, macho-nerd community, and, as a result, is very unfriendly towards those that arrived late to this WWII party… but that doesn't matter, as this doesn't even work correctly. The loading times are insane, matches can take up to five minutes to begin, the netcode is total trash… and the game has, for the time being, stopped working for yours truly. Oh, and while this also has the feel of an f2p game (there are cosmetic micro-transactions included), it actually isn't...