Those thrown into frightened confusion by a pre-FDR setting can take comfort in Entente’s familiar single-player and multiplayer game modes. For solitary play there are three available modes: Campaign, Mission, and Random Map. In Campaign mode you represent one of the WWI superpowers, and as you select from France, Germany, Russia, Great Britain, or the Austrian Empires, the background history of the country's involvement in the war as well as its strategic position and interests are provided. Multiplayer isn't in yet, but Buka intends to allow up to eight players to play via both LAN and internet connectivity.

When you choose to begin a mission, the game provides a history of the particular battle and an explanation of why that engagement was crucial to victory. One of the German missions, for example, is entitled "The War in the Air," and it explains the strategic shift in the use of airplanes in World War I from indirect spying to direct bombing of the enemy. The mission requires that the player build up an infrastructure capable of producing a significant number of air troops while simultaneously staving off enemy forces