Over the Top: WW1 - An FPS shooter with the lot.

[Destraex]

A lot of people I know are playing Over the Top. So for $20aud, I grabbed it. It's a blast for the money.
Some features I like

* Anybody can build trenches all over the map with shovels.
* It has planes
* I has tanks
* I can unlock kilts and slouch hats
* It has the french
* It has 200 player servers
* It has Artillery and AA guns to man
* It has a heavy gunner class that actually places a tripod machine gun
* It has bots to fill the ranks out in multiplayer
* It has bots to fill the ranks in single player - although I do not think their is a campaign? I think single player is just skirmish mode.
* It has vehicle skins and decals and faces to customise
* No unlocks but skills n skins in game. I unlocked most of what I wanted in two games. Heck digging trenches gives you enough money to get a kilt in about 5 mins.
* 3 second spawn waits. Super fast and not really any waiting. You get right into the action being able to spawn on any leader, cap point or in a vehicle.
* It has a map editor built in.
* The match ends and the winner, who then has the initiative gets to vote for a new map on a campaign map.
*

Lots to like and just all round fun if you feel like a shoot. It's easy to get kills and have fun. It's a bit like holdfast but with more stuff and better classes. Holdfast's ww1 mode always felt like you were facing a gazillion trench shotguns and had to shoot your rifle like it was artillery. I mean you had to arc your bullets at 100m. Over the Top is not like that.

What I don't like but think improves the game:
* You can crouch but not lie down. The first ww1 FPS I played was called VErdun and I believe being able to lay down and snipe killed that game. The battlefield was basically devoid of activity and felt dead because of sniping.
* It's missing horses and donkeys to drag things about and cavalry in general which were even up to ww2. However not a big deal and probably would not add much to the game. But for ww1 I just picture that movie warhorse by steven spielburg and the impact horses had on ww1.
* It's missing ships... but once again. Probably not something to complain about. But something that could be in future maps if they do amphibious stuff.

There are so many ww1 shooters out their atm and more coming. I believe their is a Gallipoli one on the horizon from the developers of Verdun. Over the Top though seems to be the pick of the community. It's very popular at the moment.

















P.S. Has anybody ever watched the mini-series ANZACS? A 7hr mini series with Paul Hogan from crocodile dundee in it. IIRC it has a tank and lewis guns etc in it. I can see it on youtube.

[mbar]

You had me at single player bots. They are rare in games like this. Thank you for the excellent overview.

[Pete Dero]

You had me at single player bots. They are rare in games like this. Thank you for the excellent overview.

The game Verdun Destraex mentioned (and the other Blackmill WWI games https://store.steampowered.com/developer/BlackmillGames) also has bots for single player.

I can't tell you if they are good, but they should allow you to play offline.

[Destraex]

You had me at single player bots. They are rare in games like this. Thank you for the excellent overview.

The game Verdun Destraex mentioned (and the other Blackmill WWI games https://store.steampowered.com/developer/BlackmillGames) also has bots for single player.

I can't tell you if they are good, but they should allow you to play offline.

The sequel tannenburg certainly had bots, but they sort of ran all over the place standing up. THey must have added them retroactively to verdun. But Verdun is missing so much like HMGs, tanks, planes and all sorts of other things that this newer game has.

[W8taminute]

This is a really good game.  Multiplayer is not toxic and if you know how to fight a WW1 trench battle you'll do just fine. 

And the bonus singleplayer mode against bots is a great place to practice whether you intend to engage in multiplayer or not.

Highly recommend this FPS.  It's very stress free IMHO.

[Skoop]

This game does have quite the buzz right now.  The devs made a previous game set in the civil war which included napoleon as well.  They abandon it to focus on over the top, which seeing it now explains why they had to abandon the first game, over the top is just a bigger and better game.

The verdun devs also made an italian front game which greatly improved the engine.  The Gallipoli game will include new stuff and further improvements.  Also incudes middleast maps, and the uniqueness of a shooter game based on this theater is always worth a look.  Will include bots too.

I'd say both are worth getting, over the top just looks a blast to jump into, has something for everyone, and smartly priced for a new release. 

[W8taminute]

What I love about Over the Top is that you can play a whole match as an engineer and do nothing but dig trenches and erect fortifications.  You'll still rank up and unlock perks simply by doing good work with your shovel and pickaxe. 

[Father Ted]

I am buying this

[Destraex]

I like building trenches when I start getting killed a lot. It generally means I am too tired after work to concentrate... even to the easy bot killing level required by this game. I don't play this seriously and kinda enjoy getting killed really. I had my first game as the British recently and was able to wear my kilt and brodie helmet. I always wondered how uncomfortable it would be in the mud and dirt wearing a kilt. Must have been horrible. Soldiers stopped wearing them for ww2, so I guess it was a lesson learnt (learned).  Probably gave new meaning to freezing your ass off.

[mbar]

Over the Top is free to play this weekend on Steam.

[Skoop]

Its also on sale, so I bought it.

Also, Gallipoli released which was very well priced at 17 bucks if your own the other games.  I'll be diving into that before I get to over the top.