AhJooArts

Developer: Best Way

Publisher: 505 Games, 1C

Genre: Real-Time Strategy

Status: A game which I will definitely buy when I have spare cash. (After buying all my must-buy that is)


18 Feb 2009

Men of War is the sequel to 2004's Soldiers: Heroes of World War II which received several praises for its challenging gameplay.
And Men of War is no different.


The demo kick-starts the game with a cinematic showing the Russians being ambushed by the German dive-bombers.
The game then begins with the survivors trying to realise what had just happened but were then engaged by a German armoured car.


One thing I like about this game is the ability to see where is the enemy line of sight and then using the information to plan your attack.
Keeping the armoured car focused on the four infantry, I decided to flank the car with a single soldier around its line of sight...

...Success. A single Anti-Tank grenade did that job.


This game is different from many other RTS games whereby the infantry would die almost instantly in open fire and probably just a little longer in cover when outnumbered.
So cover is the key in this game.

But sadly, cover is not 100% safe too. A nicely-thrown grenade over the wall and you are history.
Or maybe a tank would just rush through EVERYTHING in its way, like fences, sandbags and even houses.

So do not just think that, "Ah.. I will just put my men into the house, they will be safe!"
You might end up seeing a flattened house and a few corpses.


The game is also realistic in a way that each soldier has his own inventory, even a tank does.
In the inventory, there are all the gears of the soldier, helmet, gun, ammo and healthpack... etc.

Your soldiers will run out of bullets if you don't pay attention and did not loot the corpses.

You could take the weapons from fallen comrades and enemies. And even change your helmet!


The tank in the demo is fearsome, running through almost everything in its path. That is if your tracks did not get busted out by the enemy.

And I can tell you that happens all the time... I have no idea why the enemies love my tank's track so much.

Officer on repair duty?

Repairing the tracks in the heat of the battle.

While using the tank to fight against other enemy armours, I noticed that you could actually select which part of the vehicle you want yours to aim at.
The enemy is driving circles around you? Shoot its tracks/wheels. Or straight off set its engine on fire.
The enemy tank damage is too high for you to take? Destroy its main weapon.
It is all depended on what you plan to do.

The tank is not all unstoppable too. Its movement is limited by its fuel count, and it will also encounter the lack of ammo like the infantry.

But nonetheless, controlling the tank is really enjoyable.

One tank to rule them all...


Angry that your units could not hit a pea? The enemies are hiding so well that your tank's machine gun seems to never be able to hit them?

Men of War has a "Direct Fire" mode, where you could use your cursor to aim for your units.
No longer can you blame the AI for not being able to aim, you're the one in charge.

In my own words, it kind of become Third-Person Shooting. Which is refreshing for a RTS.


The game is not without its flaws.
The voice acting is dull as compared to many other WWII games's voice acting.

When the characters talk, it does not give you the feeling of urgency, of "We are in war!".
It sounds more like them reading out of a text-book without feelings.


Sadly, the demo does not include any skirmish mode but I know that there's a multiplayer beta going on so search the net if you want to know what multiplayer looks or feels like.


Overall, the demo is interesting and enjoyable.
Not the best as compared to many other big-names RTS but it definitely hold up as a realistic and pretty tactical-based game.
I'm sure many RTS fans will enjoy this game if they are looking for a faster pace strategy game as there are no resources gathering.


Men of War will be released around 20 February 2009, according to 1C Company.

EDIT: I have watched a video by Attila16 in youtube about Cooperative Gameplay of Men of War and it seems pretty cool.
Video here: Men of War Cooperative Gameplay - Attila16