Men Of War

[Hippiekiller]

http://www.menofwargame.com/

This is an under the radar game that offers awesome WWII action. The dialog and cut scenes are really pretty sub par but its only there to give you your next objective.

Every mission has a "Last Stand" type feel. You start out with a certain number of units and have to make do with what you can find on the battle field in terms of more troops or tanks, ammo, or other equipment. The game can be very unforgiving in a good way. For example, you are being careless and run your lone Russian T-34 too close to a German road block armed to the teeth with field guns and machine gun nests. You will have a heap of trouble trying to complete your objectives without armor support unless you can find a tank to repair on the battle field.

Every successful mission feels like a glorious over coming the odds type of situation. You can not just go to your local tank factory building like in another RTS and pump out equipment until you can utterly devastate your enemy just by telling your forces to attack to a point behind the enemy base.

I feel like I have been running at the mouth for too long already but I digress. The best feature in Men of War is the "Direct Control" system. This is where click on the unit and take control of its firing and movement directly, entering in to pretty much a third person action type scheme. Park that sniper up on a hill on the flank of your enemy and use him to pick off key targets just before sending your forces in for the main attack. The direct control can be used to attack units from greater distances than your troops would normally auto-engage and enemy. Very useful tactically when controlling a tank or piece of field artillery for long range bombardment or support.

This is a great game, get past your initial disgust at the opening sequence and the dialog and prepare for some great action spanning the Eastern Front, Western Front and North Africa in American, Russian, and German campaigns.

Let me know what you think of it if you have tried it out. Can't wait to get into some multiplayer action in this game.

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/menofwar/index.html

 

[Sam25]

The last strategy game based on WWII I really enjoyed was Commandos 2: Men of Courage. It was an absolute brilliant game. Looks like I'll be buying Men of War after reading your review.

 

[Elcs]

Ok, I am hugely disappointed....

I expected this to be a Space based game with the word "Stellar", however, it makes good reading.

 

[Hippiekiller]

Haha, Sorry Elcs. Stellar as in wonderful not stellar as in space themed. Good game though, you should still check it out.

 

[Hippiekiller]

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/men-of-war-review

Read this review and you will be convinced. I can not believe there is not more interest in this game after playing it. It truly is a shame!

 

[legcramp]

Play the demo guys.

 

[zerocool84]

Originally posted by: Sam25
The last strategy game based on WWII I really enjoyed was Commandos 2: Men of Courage. It was an absolute brilliant game. Looks like I'll be buying Men of War after reading your review.

WOW then you really need to play Company of Heroes. It's not just a good WW2 game, it's an awesome strategy game.

 

[43st]

There should be a way to replace the horrible English voices with the original Russian and German, and have subtitles.

I saw the RPS write-up on this, and I'm looking forward to it. The Commandos series was excellent, so was Soldiers. Didn't really like Company of Heroes much, seemed more like a classic RTS with the buildings and units (can't stand that stuff).

 

[Maximilian]

Is this more like soldiers: heros of WWII or more like faces of war?

I played men of wars direct predecessor which was faces of war and it sucked for various reasons (when compared to soldiers anyway), faces of wars predecessor soldiers was an amazing game.

 

[Elcs]

Originally posted by: 43st
There should be a way to replace the horrible English voices with the original Russian and German, and have subtitles.

I saw the RPS write-up on this, and I'm looking forward to it. The Commandos series was excellent, so was Soldiers. Didn't really like Company of Heroes much, seemed more like a classic RTS with the buildings and units (can't stand that stuff).

Then you didnt really play Company of Heroes.

C&C or SC are classic style RTSes.

Company of Heroes introduced many different things, building off the Dawn of War series. You had Resource Nodes to capture for resources, supply lines to keep intact and not to mention one of the best and most realistic things to be implemented in an RTS, the element of cover.

 

[43st]

I'm pretty sure I played it, at least the first 5 or so levels. It was a while ago now but didn't you have you make buildings to get a tank or troops or something? And the building popped up in like 15 seconds, and then it took a minute to make a tank? That type of game is much different than Commandos, or Soldiers.

 

[Sam25]

Originally posted by: zerocool84

Originally posted by: Sam25
The last strategy game based on WWII I really enjoyed was Commandos 2: Men of Courage. It was an absolute brilliant game. Looks like I'll be buying Men of War after reading your review.

WOW then you really need to play Company of Heroes. It's not just a good WW2 game, it's an awesome strategy game.

I looked into CoH but never really got around to playing it. It's very different from how Commandos plays out isn't?

 

[Huskerwr3882]

I bought this game but can't install it. I have Vista64, which says it's not supported. But I have read that people are playing it on Vista64. I enabled compatibility mode, but still doesn't work. Any help is appreciated.

 

[datalink7]

Finished the demo. Some initial thoughts.

Horrible horrible horrible voice acting.

Very unforgiving. You make a mistake, you pay. Your guys die really quickly if they get hit. (this is a plus for me).

Mouse controls are backwards from normal, and I didn't see a way to fix it. Very annoying. (what I'm talking about is, instead of right click to move, it is right click to deselect).

Making units is poorly implimented. You make a squad or unit by selecting a group of guys and they are automatically put into a group. There is not "ctrl-1" to make group 1. This system pretty much sucks.

Direct control is cool.

Graphics are good. Not amazing, but pretty cool.

The loot system is sweet. I felt this was something I should be doing as the russians anyway, scrounging for equipment. It was cool having my guys run around with german helmets

Overall I'd say a B. But because I love the theme and realism, and the fact that it is only $30.00, I'm buying it.

 

[Maskirovka]

I realize this thread is a tad old, but I had to reply.

Originally posted by: datalink7
Mouse controls are backwards from normal, and I didn't see a way to fix it. Very annoying. (what I'm talking about is, instead of right click to move, it is right click to deselect).

Yes, this is not intuitive at all, but you can change it. Instead of going into the "controls" menu, go into the "game" menu and find the "LMB Orders" box and un-check it.

I get the feeling this option isn't supposed to be on by default. I'd bet a ton of low-patience people have gotten frustrated by the backwards default controls and haven't given the game the chance it deserves.

Honestly, this game is VERY excellent, especially if you were a fan of Soldiers: Heroes of WWII or the old-school top-down series Close Combat. My biggest surprise was discovering the incredibly deep multiplayer modes, including standard take and hold as well as something called "frontline" where the defender doesn't get reinforcements until they fall back to secondary lines of defense.

The maps (both MP and SP) are incredibly detailed, and there are tons of really interesting areas to place your troops and fight. Additionally, the vehicles are amazingly detailed in terms of looks as well as the performance of weapons and armor. I'm sure some ranges and penetration values (among other things) have been changed from historic values in the name of balance and fun, but it's hardly noticeable when you're shooting stuff.

You can also play through the SP campaign and bonus missions co-op with up to 4 people. When you couple this team play with the direct control feature, it increases your effectiveness (and fun) quite a bit.

This game's marketing has been absolutely terrible, and every video, cutscene, or promotional material I've seen hasn't described the game properly, nor has it done it justice.

 

[Maximilian]

Originally posted by: Maskirovka
I realize this thread is a tad old, but I had to reply.

Originally posted by: datalink7
Mouse controls are backwards from normal, and I didn't see a way to fix it. Very annoying. (what I'm talking about is, instead of right click to move, it is right click to deselect).

Yes, this is not intuitive at all, but you can change it. Instead of going into the "controls" menu, go into the "game" menu and find the "LMB Orders" box and un-check it.

I get the feeling this option isn't supposed to be on by default. I'd bet a ton of low-patience people have gotten frustrated by the backwards default controls and haven't given the game the chance it deserves.

Honestly, this game is VERY excellent, especially if you were a fan of Soldiers: Heroes of WWII or the old-school top-down series Close Combat. My biggest surprise was discovering the incredibly deep multiplayer modes, including standard take and hold as well as something called "frontline" where the defender doesn't get reinforcements until they fall back to secondary lines of defense.

The maps (both MP and SP) are incredibly detailed, and there are tons of really interesting areas to place your troops and fight. Additionally, the vehicles are amazingly detailed in terms of looks as well as the performance of weapons and armor. I'm sure some ranges and penetration values (among other things) have been changed from historic values in the name of balance and fun, but it's hardly noticeable when you're shooting stuff.

You can also play through the SP campaign and bonus missions co-op with up to 4 people. When you couple this team play with the direct control feature, it increases your effectiveness (and fun) quite a bit.

This game's marketing has been absolutely terrible, and every video, cutscene, or promotional material I've seen hasn't described the game properly, nor has it done it justice.

Yes this game gets max's thumb up of approval :thumbsup: