I had a go myself. I wanted it to work, because I was a fan of Operation Flashpoint, and Battleground Europe seemed like a similar concept. My impression was that it had a few good details, but the overall concept was flawed, and in general it was spawn camp city, at least playing as an infantryman. When I say that the overall concept is flawed, I mean that a realistic simulation of infantry combat would entail hours of boredom mixed with a few minutes of confusion, and Battleground Europe seemed quite accurate in that respect, but not very entertainin. Then again, clearly some people enjoy it, and I only played through the trial period. Perhaps if I had invested weeks and lots of money in the game, I would be hooked. But I would probably get more kicks if I invested the same amount of time and money in heroin, or rock music, or freaking out like a tiny dancer.
There's a novel selection of aircraft, including some sexy French birds. I remember taking off in a Hurricane, and feeling upset as my computer immediately rebooted back to the BIOS. I decided not to take off in an aircraft again. It struck me that tank driving would only be fun if you were sitting in the same room as your co-drivers. The whole game felt like this.
It's interesting to compare the planes of Battleground Europe with those of Aces High:
http://www.hoofsperformance.wwiionline.com/and here's an old version of Warbirds for comparison (dig those polygons):
http://www.rdrop.com/users/hoofj/index.htmlIt also feels like a closed shop. Aces High has a steep learning curve, but it's not insurmountable, and there's Netaces and so forth to help. It is not too hard to take off, find the battle, and have fun dying in Aces High. It is easier than learning how to create HDR images with Photoshop. In constrast, Battleground Europe felt like a private in-joke. The website has some poorly-written training guides with missing images. They tell you how to select options etc, but not why. There seems to be three slightly different homepages, which confused me no end. The website(s) reminded me of Warbirds, in the sense that it/they look(s(him)) as if it/the(ir)y ha(ve)/sn't been updated for years(th'm) (apart from the copyright message).
But, as I say, some people enjoy playing it. It just made me appreciate Aces High even more. Although people grumble, Aces High has an excellent balance between different play styles. You can play alone or as part of a squad; you can dogfight or play strategically; and there is a certain amount of bomber and ground vehicle action for the older players, or people who are relaxing after a hard day at work. You can sip it, or gulp it down. It removes stains, without leaving a worse stain. It follows the right hand path.
