The Men Of War demo is here (250mb). The demo contains the first level of the game, which is a tutorial sequence in which you patch up a tank, invade a village, and then attack a German convoy. It does not show off all the best features of the game, but certainly encompasses some of the most vital, such as using the inventories on your little men, learning to use cover, and showing off the destructible scenery. It’s worth imagining, as you play this demo, what the escalation of the second (unfeatured) level is like; in which you have dozens of men, several tanks, and face hundreds of German soldiers and armoured vehicles. This is a game that is more than the sum of its demo. I’m certain we’ll be talking about Men Of War a lot more in the coming months, because it’s one of my favourites of the year so far. You should definitely play this demo.
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I love this, took me a few times to get good at this. Also, you can repair some of the enemy vehicles, but I’ve only managed it once (with a armoured car). When I have too take out the hill, I put two men on a AT gun, use a truck to take it down on the village side of the river (southern-most) side and set it up just over the river from the end of the road, so I can cover the road. I position the truck as cover to the right of it (they can sneak across the river through the fog-off war/map boundary). I bring up the armoured car for defence and put it next to the AT gun to cover it from the left. I take another man up across the ford, when the light-tank comes down off the hill and onto the road I sneak up and us a anti-tank grenade and then run up and shelter behind it (using direct control), grenade the AT-gun and draw out the infantry and kill them. Then I take out the second AT gun and move my tank along the river to the right. And take out the convoy (using direct control).
I just love that the game lets me do stuff like this. Also, man you need to kill behind cover (e.g. a tank/truck) + AT shell = splat
If you enjoyed playing with toy soldiers as a kid, then this and its predecessors is the ultimate “playground” for you. Even more so than CoH or CC.
That first sentence could be used as a horribly written marketing endorsement. But it is the most honest thing I feel I’ve ever written about a game. Direct control, among other bullet points, sweeps my mind right back to marching HO scale army men around, “taking control” of individuals that would win the day for their side.
To anyone who has thoroughly enjoyed the demo: Have you been able to take control of enemy vehicles other than the Opel or Pak? I’ve attempted to take the repair kit out of the given tank and repair enemy vehicles I’ve disabled but it wont let me. Is there a certain trick to it? Such as disabling a vehicle without destroying the engine or some other major component? I can’t recall if this mechanic was in the other two games.
I was able to repair the heavy artillery close to the Opel. But I couldn’t use it… a bit strange.
With the armoured car I captured, I had just destroyed the turret (with a HE shell, not AP. I think.) I couldn’t get the others to be occupied.
Interesting, hah, well maybe they restricted certain vehicles in the demo, like that heavy artillery.
Lack, I just tried disabling the turret, couldn’t do it with the armored cars, but was able to disable and capture one of the Panzers during the final battle of the demo through disabling it’s turret. I believe AP was loaded, lucky that I didn’t destroy it I guess. I definitely appreciate randomness in a game like this.
I tested again, it must of been AP. HE blew the whole thing into little bits. I never let the Panzers close enough that I could send infantry up to them, what are they like?
Ahh interesting, so AP is what does the job. Well, I managed to capture the Panzer… funny thing is that as I drove it away in attempt to repair its damaged turret – it took a rear shot from one of the surviving Panzers and it went up in flames with my soldier ejecting himself and getting mowed down by infantry. So, well, it drove nicely for the few seconds I had it under my command.
Tried it. Was really impressed! Thought it would be lovely in the full game, where you could actually save! But it’s ludicrously difficult as-is.
Complaints:
– The AI seems kinda… dumb, a lot of the time? At one point, a passel of enemy infantry attacked my tank, which had been disabled by one of those odd German not-tanks. (I really haven’t any idea what they are.) They walked up to it. And gathered around. (Getting shot whenever they walked in front of one of the machine-guns.) And wandered away after a while.
– Not quite certain what determines whether you can capture a disabled enemy vehicle, as noted above.
Praise:
– It is so very detailed. (I made a habit of switching my officer-man’s pistol to a machinegun. Also, on one go, I gave one of my hatless soldiers a German helmet! He looked adorable.)
- The detailed thing again. (It deserves re-iterating.)
- It’s hard – but in a good way, the way that makes me feel that with a little more practice (and a quicksave!) I’d be able to get it right
– You can drive a tractor! (I used it to tow a stolen Pak.)
Summary of too-long comment: Lovely demo, I will very seriously consider buying the full game (despite having just purchased Left 4 Dead in the weekend sale – I’m one of the 3000%!), tractors are fun.
Thanks for linking to this, RPS hivemind!
I captured the half-track with the AT gun, I just shot the crew with a machine-gun.
I’m impressed. It took a few tries for me to figure it out – the first playthrough everyone outside the tank died in the first few seconds of the assault on the town, then my tank lost a track,was mobbed by Germans and shortly dispatched by an antitank grenade. Still, it was exciting – even though I was being slaughtered, enough so that I gave it another try.
Then I discovered the direct control, and it became even more interesting, letting me blast away with the main gun while the AI blazed away with the coaxial machine gun. That and wiping out the convoy at the end, and getting the trucks to explode in a fiery chain reaction.
The key to survival seems to be taking it slow, and letting the enemy come to you, and keeping your soft, squishy infantry units behind cover at all times.
The micromanagement I’ve seen (inventory management, direct control) seems to be pretty optional (the good kind of micromanagement), you could get through the entire demo without having to mess with any of the finicky details unless you want to. Units left on their on fight back fairly well, although they have a habit of running out Rambo-style and getting mowed down in short order.
@Jim: My one worry is that it might become unmanageable once you’re given more than a small squad to control – does it? I could see having to switch between direct control of more than one unit – say, if I split my men (of war!) up into two groups to flank something – would turn into a disaster quickly.
Also, sidenote: Did anyone else have a CTD bug with the Panzershreck? You can find it in a crate on the last hill you have to capture before the convoy comes through. I can get a soldier to pick it up, but the two times I’ve tried to fire it, the game crashes hard.
Tractors of war.
For real though, thats awesome. Ideally patching will steadilly improve this title. Its not coh, but thats okay when i can use a cheat and play it like a shooter :p
Wow, the voice acting just threw me off completely….
“Guys, this is bad..” LOL wth was that?!
Anyways.. the game’s not that bad.
I’m so used to COH though to have any appreciation for it.
i can’t repair vk tank.help me plz((((
i can,t repair de tank in the first mission , i can take de repair kit in the break tank please healp!!!!1
anybody else have the answer to the dll error??/ after unzipping it i cannot get it to start
HELP SOMEONE PLEASE
HELP HELP HELP