Part of what annoys me about how crappy this title is, is that the premise they're working with had such potential. Imagine crouching in the trenches with gritty soldiers equipped with steam-punk weapons that are at once futuristic and trapped in 1914. High in the sky, jet-equipped tri-wing planes battle it out, while tanks the size of rolling fortress trundle over the landscape littered with the bones of three generations of soldiers. Think of the possible character development of a group of soldiers who don't even remember the reason for their war, or the name of what was once the country they are fighting in, only that there is an enemy beyond no-mans land that must be destroyed, an enemy that has killed their fathers and grandfathers, and that is the only reason they keep at it. There was so many ways this game could have gone, so much potential for a deep, twisting and compelling plot. It could have been the FPS answer to Fallout. It makes the incompetence of the thing so much more galling.

While I agree that the execution was a bit weak, you should really play the game before judging it (just make sure you like it when dominatrixes spank you, because this is masochism). That is actually not what they were going for, atmosphere wise.
Pseudo-Spoilers (kind of explained in the introduction movie, I think)
Essentially, the war is a puppet of major corporations and nations to effectively have a more fun stock market. So trench warfare that grinds to a halt actually wouldn't fit the formula of "betting on the progress of the war"
I think the Bet on Soldier games were actually sequels to this, and follow the same formula.
That being said: I really DO want a trench warfare game.

Having played the game, I can say that that really isn't much of a spoiler, since throughout the entire game, you encounter cutscenes that talk about the stock of weapons going up and down. It's weak and predictable.