Men of War... A surprisingly good WWII RTS!

[ibex333]

I just wanted to get this out there, because I'm afraid this gem can go unnoticed. It only got a 7.5 on gamespot but it deserves a lot better than that.

Men of War is not so much an RTS as it's more like Close Combat mixed with Codename: Panzers, mixed with Fallout Tactics!
The attention to detail is astounding, some terrain is fully destructible, you are able to use explosives on building and mountains which will damage or kill infantry and vehicles with falling debris. Every vehicle and every soldier have their own inventory which you can loot and use as you please. The missions are very interesting, and the singleplayer campaign is truly EPIC and very lengthy.

The variety of Russian, German, and Allied units is mind boggling, with every units being designed with loving detail. Men of war offers a WWII RTS/Tactics experience like no other game out there. Do yourself a favor and check it out!

The only problems I see with this game is that the control scheme is very awkward, requiring you to only use the left mouse button for almost everything, you cant double click on a unit to select units of the same type, you cant assign teams/team numbers, the voice acting during "movies" is quite crappy, and there are a few bugs. But that's about it, and the gameplay is good enough to make you ignore all of the above issues.

Here is a link to gamespot's review: http://www.gamespot.com/pc/str...y/menofwar/review.html

 

[ZzZGuy]

Aside from fighting with the controls it is a very good game.

It also has a great deal of freedom on how you want to do things. During one of the stages of the first mission I get a tank, but it is low on fuel so I have to use my infantry to attack wit the tank in support. Later while trying to flank a hill I find a road with small convoys using it so I set up a ambush and capture a fuel truck (which can be used as a huge bomb as well that will blow up buildings and light nearby soldiers on fire) and got it back to my lines... but I need a gas can to get fuel from it !!!! NO ONE seems to carry fuel cans!

You can also loot dead infantry, destroyed & abandoned vehicles (if you take out some armor you might want to grab a transport truck to stock pile ammo and such for later use), allowing you to customize your troops weapons load outs. Troops can carry more then one weapon and you can chose which once they use. There is also the option of a units aiming (CTRL, also increases range and accuracy), so if you saw a bunch of troops run into a building and your tank isn't firing you can take control of it and put the shot where ever you want.

This game is also much more realistic then most, tanks have crap viability (I've actually had enemy infantry hind behind one of my tanks) so you need to support them with troops. Weapons have a fairly long range, so a small firefight with a few troops can turn real ugly real fast if AT guns up the road you never knew where there open up on you. Hitting the frontal armor on a heavy tank is usually a very bad idea, turrets can be disabled and tracks blown off.

This game also has no DRM of any kind beyond a serial number you enter during install.

 

[datalink7]

I agree, great game. The default controls suck but after some messing around with them they are acceptable now.

The voice acting is also the worst that I've ever experienced

But all in all a great deal and only $30, nice price for a new game.

 

[fords8]

I just got this tonight. Looking forward to playing some.

 

[ZzZGuy]

Originally posted by: ibex333
-snip-
you cant assign teams/team numbers
-snip-

Looking in the keyboard options, control group creation is set to SHIFT #.

-edit- Oh and I forgot, there is about 6 MP modes including co-op of the missions. There is also a demo out, though there are two on gamers hell. http://www.gamershell.com/search/?q=men+of+war

 

[ibex333]

Wow.. thanx! I looked through the manual, couldn't find the team assignment option, and assumed it's not there.

 

[Modelworks]

The voice acting is really bad in this game.

 

[43st]

Originally posted by: Modelworks
The voice acting is really bad in this game.

It is... word has it someone is doing a russian language mod, with subtitles. I'm waiting for this.

 

[pontifex]

i can't believe you guys like this game...

this game is horrible. bad controls, bad gameplay, bad voice acting, bad graphics. glad i tried the demo 1st.

 

[Barfo]

Gotta try it out.

 

[ZzZGuy]

Originally posted by: pontifex
i can't believe you guys like this game...

this game is horrible. bad controls, bad gameplay, bad voice acting, bad graphics. glad i tried the demo 1st.

I like the game play, the controls suck, voice acting for the cut scenes is bad and the graphics are fairly good. And it's $30.

 

[error8]

When it comes to RTS WWII games, nothing comes even close of Company of Heroes, period. I'm playing the latest addition, Tales of Valor and it just doesn't get any better then this. Just one amazing game, far away from the Men of War (played the demo).

 

[clamum]

Hmmm. It sounds pretty damn cool with all the weapon customization, direct fire control, no worries about base building, etc. Might check it out. Seems you can customize the controls so I'm not too worried about that, and bad voice acting I don't really give a shit about.

Thanks for posting the thread!

 

[ibex333]

Originally posted by: pontifex
i can't believe you guys like this game...

this game is horrible. bad controls, bad gameplay, bad voice acting, bad graphics. glad i tried the demo 1st.

That's the thing.. You played the DEMO. Vioce acting is bad. True. Controls are bad too.. also true. but gameplay is AWESOME, and graphics... How are they bad? Care to explain? Have you even zoomed in? The amount of detain is incredible! Thre is much more detail here than in most other RTS games. Virtually EVERYTHING is modeled here. The dust coming from under the tracks when tanks are moving, the shaking of the machine gun, the tank rocks back every time the main gun shoots.. The attention to detain is incredible!

Originally posted by: error8
When it comes to RTS WWII games, nothing comes even close of Company of Heroes, period.

That's purely your opinion. Do not force it on to others. I love CoH too, but despite being one of the best RTS games out there, (def top 3 or so) it's not THE best. There is no such thing as the best RTS. All of them are good in their own way.

Originally posted by: error8
I'm playing the latest addition, Tales of Valor and it just doesn't get any better then this. Just one amazing game, far away from the Men of War (played the demo).

Again, you only played the DEMO. The full game is much better. I just got ToV, and I don't see anything special about it. In fact, I am VERY disappointed. The Germans got the better end of the deal BY FAR. All of their new units are very useful and marginally more powerful or more versatile when compared to the old counterparts.
When it comes to allies the story is different. Most new units are completely useless and hardly better than older versions with the exception of the staghound and the kangaroo, which are still not that great when compared to the german units.

Some units which greatly needed a boost never got one. I was hoping for some panzershreck like upgrades for allied infantry, and some more machine gun upgrades, such as the tommy guns for the american riflemen or the sten guns for the brits. Seriousy, why the fuck should just about every single german infantry unit have numerous AT and anti infantry upgrade options while most allied infantry have little(which are too expencive) or none at all? Why should volksgrenadiers have an mp40 upgrade when riflemen don't have tommyguns and can only get the BAR later in the game that costs 60 fuel?! Why should these same volksgrenadiers come with a panzerfaust when the riflemen have to pay and wait to get their sticky bombs?

What pisses me off the most about ToV is the addition of the hotchkiss. IMO this is simply stupid. The germans were already "raping"(for the lack of a better word) allies with incessant stuka/nebel/hummel bombardments, with stukas being by far the most annoying because the allies hardly have anything to deal with these. 4 stukas already was an overkill if there ever was one, but with the addition of a hummel/nebel or two, they were simply unstoppable. Now there's the hotchkiss which adds yet even MORE bombardment options to the germans despite the fact that the allies do not gain anything new to deal with stukas! On top of this, this damned tank is not just a stuka. It is a fairly decent anti infantry tank from the get go, and an ok tank killer with the cannon upgrade when used in numbers.

ToV campaign is too damn short. Sweet, but short. There is no brit campaign at all! The germans get an uber tiger tank as a reward for beating the campaign, but the allies get NOTHING. The 1st two campaigns(german and american) are insultingly easy, but the last(yet again a german) campaign is all of a sudden brutally hard. That is it's hard to get the medal, relatively easy to just "win".

The new modes assault, stonewall and panzerkrieg are probably fun, but I didn't get around to it yet, possibly because I care more for classic multiplayer.

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: ibex333

Originally posted by: pontifex
i can't believe you guys like this game...

this game is horrible. bad controls, bad gameplay, bad voice acting, bad graphics. glad i tried the demo 1st.

That's the thing.. You played the DEMO. Vioce acting is bad. True. Controls are bad too.. also true. but gameplay is AWESOME, and graphics... How are they bad? Care to explain? Have you even zoomed in? The amount of detain is incredible! Thre is much more detail here than in most other RTS games. Virtually EVERYTHING is modeled here. The dust coming from under the tracks when tanks are moving, the shaking of the machine gun, the tank rocks back every time the main gun shoots.. The attention to detain is incredible!

last time i checked, a demo was supposed to give you a good taste of the game. if it doesn't do that then my only assumptions can be that the game sucks. i fell for the "the demo sucks but the full game is awesome" crap once before...anyone remember Hellgate: London?

 

[Genx87]

Ohh looking at the Tales of Valor screenies on steam. Hetzer is in the game? Love that little TD. Damn looking at more of these screenies I love the additions in weapon platforms. Especially TDs on the German side. So far see a Hetzer and a JagdPanther!

 

[Maximilian]

Originally posted by: ibex333
Some units which greatly needed a boost never got one. I was hoping for some panzershreck like upgrades for allied infantry, and some more machine gun upgrades, such as the tommy guns for the american riflemen or the sten guns for the brits. Seriousy, why the fuck should just about every single german infantry unit have numerous AT and anti infantry upgrade options while most allied infantry have little(which are too expencive) or none at all? Why should volksgrenadiers have an mp40 upgrade when riflemen don't have tommyguns and can only get the BAR later in the game that costs 60 fuel?! Why should these same volksgrenadiers come with a panzerfaust when the riflemen have to pay and wait to get their sticky bombs?

What pisses me off the most about ToV is the addition of the hotchkiss. IMO this is simply stupid. The germans were already "raping"(for the lack of a better word) allies with incessant stuka/nebel/hummel bombardments, with stukas being by far the most annoying because the allies hardly have anything to deal with these. 4 stukas already was an overkill if there ever was one, but with the addition of a hummel/nebel or two, they were simply unstoppable. Now there's the hotchkiss which adds yet even MORE bombardment options to the germans despite the fact that the allies do not gain anything new to deal with stukas! On top of this, this damned tank is not just a stuka. It is a fairly decent anti infantry tank from the get go, and an ok tank killer with the cannon upgrade when used in numbers.

The allies get the M8 quicker than the axis can put out something similar, it can even cap points if you went armor, theres the whole reason the german infantry need AT and the allied infantry dont. German vehicles come later than allied ones and their late game vehicles are far too strong to be hurt by a lot of the infantry held AT weapons unless you flank them to get the rear armor hits. Germans have to pay for every single one of their panzerfauts and the MP40 upgrade which only affects 1 squad, BAR gives BAR rifles to every rifleman squad out there and every new one produced thats why its so expensive.

What?? Insta stukka/nebel/hummel bombardments? Stukkas cost 150 munitions a pop and it takes 3 of them at vet 2 to do serious damage, nebels suck.. theyre so vulnerable to snipers, mortar, counter AT fire, theyve never been particularly useful, plus the hummel is a late game doctrine dependant unit that costs something like 625 manpower to call in and quite a bit of pop cap, its rarely used. Panzer elite desperately needed the hotchkiss because they were useless in team games compared to wehrmacht. Hotchkiss is useless in combat though, its as weak as a tetrarch and easier to hit and again its 150 munitions a pop for stukkas on it and you only get 4 rockets not the 6 normal stukkas get plus they cant be vetted easily (because remember its PE not wehrmacht) so they hardly hit anything...

I really think you are just getting smurfed online lol, the allies have plenty that can deal with stukkas, airborne can drop AT guns or scout for others that have artillery, armor has calliope, infantry has artillery and the brits... theyre all about artillery! Plenty of stuff that can deal with stukkas. Last thing the allies need is more arty.

 

[Maximilian]

Originally posted by: Genx87
Ohh looking at the Tales of Valor screenies on steam. Hetzer is in the game? Love that little TD. Damn looking at more of these screenies I love the additions in weapon platforms. Especially TDs on the German side. So far see a Hetzer and a JagdPanther!

Yep, theres a marder III, stug, stuh and a geschutzwagon as well, although the gessy is only with ToV.

 

[ibex333]

Originally posted by: Maximilian
The allies get the M8 quicker than the axis can put out something similar, it can even cap points if you went armor, theres the whole reason the german infantry need AT and the allied infantry dont. German vehicles come later than allied ones and their late game vehicles are far too strong to be hurt by a lot of the infantry held AT weapons unless you flank them to get the rear armor hits. Germans have to pay for every single one of their panzerfauts and the MP40 upgrade which only affects 1 squad, BAR gives BAR rifles to every rifleman squad out there and every new one produced thats why its so expensive.

Well, I'd much rather have submachineguns on individual squads than to spend 60 fuels to have em on all squads. I'm sure many people will agree.
Despite getting the M8 faster, it's not that much of a "boon". First, the time difference when compared to germans is negligeable, and one panzerfaust costs 50 munitions..(correct me if i am wrong) Two panzerfausts shot in the arse will take out an M8... Just the machine gun upgrade for the M8 costs 50munitions, but what about the M8 itself? Killing the grayhound with two well aimed panzerfausts pretty much pays for itself and more. So how is this balanced?

Originally posted by: Maximilian
What?? Insta stukka/nebel/hummel bombardments? Stukkas cost 150 munitions a pop and it takes 3 of them at vet 2 to do serious damage, nebels suck.. theyre so vulnerable to snipers, mortar, counter AT fire, theyve never been particularly useful, plus the hummel is a late game doctrine dependant unit that costs something like 625 manpower to call in and quite a bit of pop cap, its rarely used. Panzer elite desperately needed the hotchkiss because they were useless in team games compared to wehrmacht. Hotchkiss is useless in combat though, its as weak as a tetrarch and easier to hit and again its 150 munitions a pop for stukkas on it and you only get 4 rockets not the 6 normal stukkas get plus they cant be vetted easily (because remember its PE not wehrmacht) so they hardly hit anything...

I don't know what you are talking about... People spam these stukas like crazy and get them FAST. Calliope and arty does pitiful damage to stukas, and it's easy to avoid getting bombarded by moving stukas around after each salvo. I used arty on stukas many times, but most of the time most shells miss and the wermacht player moves them away as soon as the shells start landing. Paratroopers are useless since a smart german player always has his stukas next to some infantry or a machine gun emplacement or a tank so the paras get slaughtered upon landing, same with gilder tetrarch or commandos. The only thing that works is a bombing run, but it's too expencive, takes too long to recharge and misses most of the time or doesn't do enough damage. I got real lucky once taking out 4 stukas in one bombing run... But that happened only one time. There is a reason I used the word "effective". Allies have some options for dealing with stukas, but none are truly "effective". I don't see why you say that nebels suck. They annihilate british emplacements with their incendiary munitions, and again, they are usually backed up by a large force so you cant just go and kill them or snipe them.

Originally posted by: Maximilian
I really think you are just getting smurfed online lol, the allies have plenty that can deal with stukkas, airborne can drop AT guns or scout for others that have artillery, armor has calliope, infantry has artillery and the brits... theyre all about artillery! Plenty of stuff that can deal with stukkas. Last thing the allies need is more arty.

I am getting "smurfed" online... But wouldn't "snerfed" be a better term for "stuka/nebelwerfer"?
I wont lie, I am constantly finding myself being outclassed by just about every german unit. When I try to cap points in the beginning of the game, the german infantry outclasses my riflement or tommies, slaughtering them 1 on 1 every time, and preventing me from capping. If I pull out a grayhound, it gets owned by fausts or pumas easy. By the time I get a sherman or an M10, the german has a panther which can easily take on both by itself and win. I do admit that I have a long way to go before I can become even a semi decent player, but I see many other people losing to germans every day. I see german players winning a lot more than allied players, there must be some reason for that, and it would be stupid to say that all good players only play with germans.

 

[Maximilian]

Originally posted by: ibex333
Well, I'd much rather have submachineguns on individual squads than to spend 60 fuels to have em on all squads. I'm sure many people will agree.
Despite getting the M8 faster, it's not that much of a "boon". First, the time difference when compared to germans is negligeable, and one panzerfaust costs 50 munitions..(correct me if i am wrong) Two panzerfausts shot in the arse will take out an M8... Just the machine gun upgrade for the M8 costs 50munitions, but what about the M8 itself? Killing the grayhound with two well aimed panzerfausts pretty much pays for itself and more. So how is this balanced?

Use cover with your squads, make good use of MG's and snipers. Dont fight AT infantry directly with the M8, kite them. Dont fight upgunned puma with M8, fight normal puma with it and win easily, 2x M8's would take an upgunned puma, be thankful he built a puma and not a stug... Use AT guns, they are extremely good nowadays.

Originally posted by: ibex333
I don't know what you are talking about... People spam these stukas like crazy and get them FAST. Calliope and arty does pitiful damage to stukas, and it's easy to avoid getting bombarded by moving stukas around after each salvo. I used arty on stukas many times, but most of the time most shells miss and the wermacht player moves them away as soon as the shells start landing. Paratroopers are useless since a smart german player always has his stukas next to some infantry or a machine gun emplacement or a tank so the paras get slaughtered upon landing, same with gilder tetrarch or commandos. The only thing that works is a bombing run, but it's too expencive, takes too long to recharge and misses most of the time or doesn't do enough damage. I got real lucky once taking out 4 stukas in one bombing run... But that happened only one time. There is a reason I used the word "effective". Allies have some options for dealing with stukas, but none are truly "effective". I don't see why you say that nebels suck. They annihilate british emplacements with their incendiary munitions, and again, they are usually backed up by a large force so you cant just go and kill them or snipe them.

The only games where people get stukkas fast are 3v3 on the schdelt or 4v4 montargis if your team screwed up getting the hill, 450 munitions for 3 stukkas is a large investment. Simple counter to stukkas is the same as brits... dont let them spot with a sniper, dont cluster your troops and dont blob, just avoid getting hit. To kill them... well theres no hard counters to stukkas like theres no hard counters to the priest or calliope, they will usually be the last thing you kill on the enemy team after his army, its just the way the game is, if you manage to take out a few stukkas along the way good stuff.

Nebels suck, might be ok in 1v1. If theyre backed up by a "large force" hit them! Use mortars, artillery, whatever long range weaponry you have at your disposal, hes fired his nebels you know where they are, hit him back.

Originally posted by: ibex333
I am getting "smurfed" online... But wouldn't "snerfed" be a better term for "stuka/nebelwerfer"?
I wont lie, I am constantly finding myself being outclassed by just about every german unit. When I try to cap points in the beginning of the game, the german infantry outclasses my riflement or tommies, slaughtering them 1 on 1 every time, and preventing me from capping. If I pull out a grayhound, it gets owned by fausts or pumas easy. By the time I get a sherman or an M10, the german has a panther which can easily take on both by itself and win. I do admit that I have a long way to go before I can become even a semi decent player, but I see many other people losing to germans every day. I see german players winning a lot more than allied players, there must be some reason for that, and it would be stupid to say that all good players only play with germans.

German volks kill your tommies?? I find that hard to believe, tommies shouldnt be killed by anything other than knights cross and maybe stormtroopers with MP44 upgrade. By the time he has a panther you should have AT guns, AT guns annihilate all vehicles, and structures, use them effectively. The last bunch of games i played i went wehrmacht terror doctrine and US armor doctrine and won all of them, easy stuff, usually.