By Jim Rossignol on April 11th, 2009 at 1:01 pm.
I’ve been playing through a number of the Men Of War levels again for a second time, trying to feel like I’m somehow closer to mastering the game. I wanted to break down how one of the levels plays out to try and explain the game to people who haven’t yet played it. This afternoon my level of choice was an assault on a German hilltop entrenchment, before an attack on a fortified base. It takes about an hour to play through, and my first time around it was one of the most chaotic gaming experiences I have ever known. After perhaps fifty hours of play I should now be a veteran of the game able to breeze through this early challenge quite easily. Right? Wrong.
Just as in almost every attempt to complete a Men Of War level my initial attack goes completely haywire. Despite exhibiting the kind of caution a Manhattan Project scientist must have shown when arming the first atomic bomb, I fluffed it completely, and ended up plunging headlong into a sprawling moment-to-moment crisis management that would last for the rest of the level. This time I did manage to hit the gun emplacements that should have taken me down, but my first tank was nevertheless immediately destroyed.
So – as is so often the case in Men Of War – it was down to my infantry to make the first push. The plucky little guys got shot to pieces while making a dash for the first line of trenches. Nevertheless they got there – with a hint of sniper covering fire and a smidgen of direct control of individual units – and began to kill the heavily entrenched infantry. Getting grenades onto mounted guns is usually a good start – with as much flank activity as possible.
Soon I captured an artillery piece and began to make short work of the hillside defences. My submachinegun troops were going to assault the right flank and take the hill. I say were, because they had a little run in with this flamethrower guy:
Everybody died, and NPC soldiers were left to their own devices on that flank. Fortunately, Russian tanks are more resistant to flames, and by this time I was beginning to call in armored reinforcements. The map had begun to open up to the wider battle, making more options available to me. It’s worth remembering that all this time I’m fighting and picking my targets, and there are dozens of allied NPC units all conducting their own attacks. When things get really tough the only option is to resort to an airstrike.
My tanks, however, are still getting ripped apart by anti-tank guns, rocket launchers, and mortars. Like so:
We aren’t making much progress. The map is now a vast battlefront, in which I am only a very small player. Keeping track of what’s happening requires the processing power of around four human brains. Tanks were easy prey to the dozens of infantry pouring from the German lines, and so I had to resort to something fast-firing, yet tough. Enter the heroes of this particular battle, the bizarre 37mm mobile gun, the ZSU-37.
I spend my reinforcement allocation on three of these things and send them up onto the hill after a second airstrike. I’ve taken out the worst of the heavy armour, and if these things can hit the crews of the gun emplacements before they’re themselves exploded, I can make some progress. That’s precisely what happens, with the fast-firing 37mm cannons taking out multiple targets with each magazine, including picking off individual infantry at range. Mortar crews and mobile gun teams are shot to pieces as the ZSU spearhead moves. It’s one of those moments that must have happened in real warfare: the brutal tide turning of exactly the right tactic deployed at the crucial moment. The enemy base is now in sight. The ZSUs are killed off by mortar fire, and I reinforce for a final assault: two tanks, and as many infantry as I can afford. The heavy tank gets stuck on the side of the hill. Is it a bug? Or just too steep? It’s hard to tell, but the little men won’t get out to push.
Nothing will keep me from the enemy base how, however. And with a mixture of captured artillery and the firepower of my own tanks, we head down into the defences. A final line of Germans is picked off by my amazing surviving sniper (alive from the first moments of the game), as I ready my tanks to go in.
The final battle is fierce, but there’s no way we’re going to held at bay now. Tanks and guns bombarding from the hills, I send the infantry down to capture the trenches, and to kill-off the mortar crews. Two German tanks – weird, long-barrelled beasts that I don’t recognise – make a valiant defence and blast apart many of the approaching infantry. As ever in Men Of War, however, even this kind of last-ditch commitment is not enough. It takes just a couple of grenade-tossing soldiers to get into range for these steel beasts to be silenced. Soon thereafter, the Russians hold the base.
Finally, a fuel-dump goes up in a titanic end-game explosion. That’s all the punctuation it needs. The Germans are defeated.
While the scenario was identical to the first time I played through, the way I resolved it couldn’t have been more different. This is perhaps what’s most exciting about this wargame: diversity that leads to an organic, evolving experience. I only wish all the other RTS games we seen so far this year had as much scope for messing around, coming up with madcap plans, and clawing back victory from the brink of ludicrous, hyperbolic defeat.
11/04/2009 at 13:12 loci says:
*wipes tear from eye as ‘adagio For strings’ plays
11/04/2009 at 13:13 Alex Norris says:
This really, really makes me want to purchase and enjoy Men of War. Unfortunately, the amount of micromanagement skills apparently needed are putting me off (as is the completely irrational belief that with graphics like that, it has to be as poorly optimised as STALKER – I know; different game companies, different countries, etc.).
That, and I used to restart a mission whenever I lost a single unit playing Fire Emblem. I dread to think what I’d do with Men of War.
11/04/2009 at 13:17 Dominic White says:
This stuff is why Faces of War/Men of War (MoW being two expansions for FoW glued together to make a full game) really should command more respect. It’s a pity they get shat on by most reviewers for not being identical to Company of Heroes.
I love the concept of being a single commander in the middle of a gigantic battle. It makes co-op all the more fun, as the more players you have, the more human brains there are at play, and the more crazy maneuvers you can pull off if orgnanized well.
Good stuff.
11/04/2009 at 13:20 Janek says:
I’d say that Men of War is weighted pretty much perfectly, in terms of difficulty – for me at least. On the easy setting. Weep.
But yes. Have to fight tooth and nail for every victory, for every small advance, and only just manage to defeat/hold off the enemy by a hair’s breadth.
It’s really quite exquisite.
11/04/2009 at 13:25 Sum0 says:
I’d vaguely been following RPS’s love of Men of War, but now I’m convinced. I must play it!
11/04/2009 at 13:27 Joq says:
Been playing the campaigns in co-op mode with two other fellas. The big missions are still a tad chaotic, but heaps more fun. And the commando missions always end up in lolz.
11/04/2009 at 13:30 Barky says:
Why do WW2 RTS’s always have dire names?
11/04/2009 at 13:33 Ben Abraham says:
This sounds like the kind of “improvisational” game style that CLINT HOCKING mentioned in his recent talk at GDC. FWIW I thought the ebb and flow of battle in Far Cry 2 was probably it’s single best feature. If Men of War is even mildly similar, colour me extremely interested!
11/04/2009 at 13:43 VPeric says:
I couldn’t even finish the first mission on easy. =\
Still, it definitely sounds epic enough to merit a second (and a third) try at some point in the future.
11/04/2009 at 13:53 Lack_26 says:
Congratulations, you got 3 of the handful of ZSU-37s made in time for the war killed. I hope you feel proud of yourself.
Also, I really need to get this game, I love the demo.
11/04/2009 at 14:00 jackflash says:
Jim, great article – I’ve been waiting for an equivalent to the sprawling Empire : TW play-by-play.
Honestly, this game is heaps better than anything I’ve played in the Total War series (which, in my view has been hopelessly broken since Rome, and has never gotten better).
In the U.S., MoW is $28 – even in a recession, there is absolutely no excuse not to buy it, right now. It is an instant classic, despite a few rough edges. And there’s no DRM. Vote with your wallets, people!
11/04/2009 at 14:01 Rei Onryou says:
Once I get through the 17 new games I have to play on my shelf (games remain from xmas and birthday, with little time to enjoy), and some of my Steam purchases, I will come to this.
11/04/2009 at 14:19 Nutkins Victory Otter says:
Keep preaching it bro. I hate to say it, but bitches still don’t know.
This is the depth of game that makes all other titles in it’s genre superfluous. You know them when they come along; well if you have this, you don’t need anything else to get your RTS kicks.
I’m not saying I don’t also own Relic games, because I do. But, and I hate to say this too because it’s such a cliché now, they are so gamey and formulaic… whereas this is PC sandboxing chaos at it’s finest.
11/04/2009 at 14:41 EBass says:
What I don’t understand is why everyone seems to be going nuts over Men of War, but Faces and Soldiers were pretty much ignored.
Certainly to my mind Men of War has the weakest line-up of solo/co-op missions so far.
11/04/2009 at 17:07 moo says:
the great thing about Men of War is that you don’t need to micromanage everything all at once — your allies are all smart enough to hold their position for a good while before your attention is needed.
and yes, i’m also fighting through the game on easy. and i’m getting through by the skin of my teeth.
i read your review using the voice of the central character from the POW jailbreak stage “i’ve got to help these guys, i cannot be a cow-ward!”
11/04/2009 at 17:12 Gap Gen says:
I bought this and *still* haven’t played it. I blame Empire, and not finishing Mass Effect yet.
11/04/2009 at 17:12 Jim Rossignol says:
The voice acting is ultimate.
11/04/2009 at 17:20 Weylund says:
Aaagh! This sounds awesome. Unfortunately I’d planned on buying Dead Space with my monthly gaming monies, having spent last month’s on Ubisoft thingies.
Atmospheric Dead Space awesomeness? Or what sounds like the best RPG/RTS/wargame of all time?
11/04/2009 at 17:38 Aubrey says:
Alright, alright! I’ll buy it already!
/me opens Steam…
What the hell, Gabe? Get your act together!
11/04/2009 at 17:47 Weylund says:
Yeah, it not being available on Steam isn’t helping. I would have grabbed it last time RPS did the ‘ol “Oooh… ooooooh… AHHHH!” about it, were it a Steam title.
Dead Space, though… that’s available on Steam. And Peggle. Mmmm. Peggle pack. Must have.
And Metacritic gives Dead Space 7 more points than MoW, which must mean that it is a) worth seven more dollars, b) 7% more [sic] better, and c) soooo much cooler.
11/04/2009 at 17:50 Gap Gen says:
Well, Dead Space is a romp, but it’s more gory than scary thanks to having similar encounters in pretty much every room (oh look, a corpse that will come to life when I approach it) and weapons that are pretty powerful.
11/04/2009 at 17:52 Jim Rossignol says:
I really enjoyed Dead Space too. It could hardly be more different, however.
11/04/2009 at 18:06 Sp4rkR4t says:
I’ve been ranting about Men Of War to anyone that will listen, and quite a few who won’t.
It’s simply superb to find a game that you can’t just breeze through without having to think, however they were taking the piss slightly when they called the lowest difficulty setting ‘easy’, they should have been called ‘mildly difficult’, ‘bloody hard’ and ‘no hope’.
11/04/2009 at 19:00 PleasingFungus says:
Yes and yes with regards to Men of War. I’ve found myself playing on slow-motion (backspace-1) at nearly all times, just because it’s utterly impossible to keep track of what’s going on otherwise. (Normal difficulty, Russian campaign, the mission right before the one described in this post, I think.)
So many splendid moments to relate, but one that especially amused me: lurking on top of a hill captured by my penal brigade, I saw an enemy aeroplane try to strafe me. “Bah!” I cried and unleashed my captured flak guns. They didn’t manage to take it down on the first pass, but when the plane came back for a shot at the Russian armoured column that I was supposed to be protecting, it went down in flames… onto the column… destroying four tanks in a spectacularly explosive trail of destruction.
Oops.
11/04/2009 at 19:26 jackflash says:
@PleasingFungus -
That’s hilarious. The level of unpredictability in this game is splendid.
One of my favorite little touches – how helmets fly off and bounce away when a stray round hits a soldier in the head.
11/04/2009 at 19:31 Torgen says:
Reading all these AARs, I weep for death of the “playback” ability we had in games like the LucasArts WWII flight sims. If only there were a way to capture the action on fraps minus the UI.
11/04/2009 at 20:06 DTKT says:
Men of War is an awesome game.
In regards to the micro, I think there`s some damn good AI sometimes. In some missions, you are advancing on two fronts at the same time.
I think it was the german missions where you are parachuted with 3 guys and need to go rescue some captured paratroopers. In this particular mission I was concentrating on the right flank, leaving just a few guys and armor on the left flank.
After 20 minutes of heavy fighting, I made a quick pass over the other flank to realize that the units had progressed even more than I did…
If you give them some freedom, I think they can move on their own and that`s pretty good.
I love this game. :P
11/04/2009 at 21:55 TariqOne says:
Two words: Men of War Coop with a great gaming buddy. Or is that nine words?
Either way, fun fun fun. Not easy in the slightest, but definitely a heckova nice way to spend an evening.
11/04/2009 at 21:58 TariqOne says:
I should also note for those worried about the complexity: I’m terrible at RTS. Yet somehow the straightforward nature of MoW, without all the base building and other nonsense I usually associate with RTS, makes it a very different and much more tolerable than most such titles.
Buy it.
11/04/2009 at 23:13 psyk says:
Why not go down a shop and buy it or order it online why do you have to get it through steam.
11/04/2009 at 23:50 Heliocentric says:
Mr helio’ hears that men of war causes cognitive panic and mr helio’ likes what he hears.
When playing multiplayer games, great ones i get stressed. Even a little endorphine rush causing me to get over passionate and start acting like the game is serious business, i like this feeling as its a great stress relief. Indeed its only ever been multiplayer which can fatigue me in such a way i stop playing and enter what can only be described as afterglow.
Sure you can screw around but when you are trying as hard as you can to win a game of company of heroes multi its a version of a state i’ve read about called ‘cognitive panic’. Puzzle games with time limits of any kind can be best played in this state.
That men of war has this stress down to a fine art, stress over meaningful choices. With high’s and lows allowing the mental abuse the game causes to be tolerable sounds excellent. More of these games please rps.
12/04/2009 at 00:58 Junior says:
Great little article, I love hearing about your exploits in games and obviously it’s a terrific advert for the game too.
I’m curious as to what those long barreled german machines were, I’d have though every pc gamer was a complete buff on these sorts of things by now.
12/04/2009 at 01:25 Alex Norris says:
Technically, that would make it an RTT… Which has pretty much convinced me. I’m attempting to coerce a friend into buying a copy at the same time as me so we can do the missions co-operatively.
12/04/2009 at 02:39 Torgen says:
Junior, it sounds like they are StuGs. From the accompanying screenshot, I’m almost certain, but they have no open tops, and Jim saying that they were taken out by grenades puzzled me. Then I remembered the anti-tank “grenades” (satchel charges? Sticky bombs?) that the infantry gets in the game, and it made sense again.
12/04/2009 at 02:41 Torgen says:
Or it could be a Marder tank-destroyer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marder_II
I never understood the “oh, these fellow don’t need cover from small arms fire” line of thinking on tank destroyers. Seems all nations felt like putting the biggest gun possible on the chassis and damn the crew protection was the way to go.
12/04/2009 at 05:47 Scandalon says:
Okay Mr. Rossignol, I downloaded the demo, and played through the first mission/tutorial. On easy. Or, at least, the first section, then the second section…now I keep failing at the top of the hill. And there’s no way to save it mid-game… Is this how the final game works? I enjoyed it muchly, but not having to re-play the same sections over and over…
12/04/2009 at 07:25 malkav11 says:
The level of detail and the dynamism of play really are incredible. Popping into that first repaired tank and marauding through the village was a beautiful thing, watching sponson-mounted machine guns tear apart German infantry concentrations and armor-piercing tank rounds blow the lesser armored vehicles to shreds. Also a couple of tense standoffs as lucky shots got a tread or the engine on my tank and one of the infantry types riding along had to drop down and break out the repair kit while the gunners held off enemy offensives.
I wish the interface were about 80x more intuitive and there were a proper “talk to me like I have a learning disability” tutorial, though. I was muddling through in a decidedly half-reared fashion that will probably get me killed repeatedly throughout the game.
And the voice acting….dear god, the voice acting.
12/04/2009 at 08:15 Serondal says:
I played the bonus mission bridge crossing. Managed to sneak an American solider behind the defenses covering the enemy bridge. He went behind an empty building, tossed a few grenades over the roof and soon the deadly defenders were scattered all over the ground choking on their own blood as pieces of unforgiven shrapnel twisted in their flesh. A lucky anti-tank grenade flips the armored car over, it rolls down the hill and crushes some of the people in the trench. A few more grenades and the gun crews are meeting their maker. As the article above says one sneaky solider can do a LOT of damage, or die a horrible death :P
I took the enemy guns and turned them on the other German’s up the road a bit. The did well and destroyed many of the defending forces until a Stug rolled onto the battle field. Every shot from that thing was a direct hit, all my anti-tank guns down, the mounted MG42 mowed my remaining infantry down like lambs to the slaughter. I lost, but a had a hell of a time :) Thanks RPS for bringing this game to my attention, dunno what I’d do without it.
12/04/2009 at 12:42 Jim Rossignol says:
@Scandalon: There is a normal save function in the full game. I have no idea why they left it out of the demo.
12/04/2009 at 15:43 Andrew Dunn says:
So I caved and finally bought this (I feel it’ll go well with Tales of Valour, which also has a ridiculously bad name).
Favourite moment so far? Counter-attacking in force with my heavy tanks across a frozen river, and being so used to game logic that I was surprised as all hell when my T-34 cracked the ice beneath it and plunged into the chill waters below.
12/04/2009 at 17:51 Gap Gen says:
Yeah, that’s something about games where you think “even though this doesn’t make sense in real life, the game totally won’t model it.” It’s always nice to be proven wrong (unless you lose your entire attack force to thin ice).
12/04/2009 at 18:32 pepper says:
Wow, this sounds a bit like Sudden Strike II, back when i played it. I forgot how much fun that could be…
Jim, did the tank look like a PzKpfw IV II?
http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panzer_IV
Its the one with the lengthened barrel, i think this tank shows a sign of the Tiger II.
12/04/2009 at 20:21 Sum0 says:
This is awesome. I just finished the second level and had to quit to tell people how awesome it is.
I was initially confused by the second level, and it was almost a gamebreaker – training me up on a tank and a few guys and then throwing me into a battle of a scale so epic it would probably come at the end of most other RTS games. But I adapted, learned everything on the fly, and got on with it, which must be the sign of a good UI if nothing else. I can’t wait to see what it throws at me next.
12/04/2009 at 23:03 Andrew Dunn says:
I had a similar experience, Sum0. I love the sheer scope of the game – how it works at every level from stealing enemies’ hats to towing artillery into position and directing reinforcements.
13/04/2009 at 04:17 Serondal says:
I love how they do the German tank killers. I can’t explain the sense of dread I felt when I saw that stug rolling through the hedge row , main gun blasting with deadly accuracy as my troops bodies were turned into hamburger :(
I agree with what Sumo says about how drastic the second level of the campaigns are. The second German level I didn’t realize my 88s weren’t on the map until I called for them until my right flank was already caved in. About to try that mission again this time with as many 88s set up as possible before those “tommys” show up.
13/04/2009 at 09:31 Andrew Dunn says:
I did the mission described in this post last night and it was flipping huge. So very, very epic. I kept a lookout for those long-barrelled German tanks, but none really fit the bill – there was a King Tiger, which has a long barrel but there was only the one of them, and there were a couple of Panthers which also have long barrels but I think Jim would recognise those. The only other German tanks I saw were Hetzers and Panzers IVs, and while the Hetzers are pretty obscure they can’t really be described as long-barrelled. So.
The mystery deepens!
13/04/2009 at 14:33 prowlinger says:
Simple put – Men of War is amazing at the price of $29 !!!
If you like WW2 games, get MoW. If you like RTS games, get MoW. If you liked COH, get MoW!!!
The modding community is really taking off and supporting this game… so many new units and maps… great stuff!
Why do I like MoW over CoH? The sheer scope of battles and AI is amazing! What would normally be a large map on CoH is just the “25% of the map” on MoW… I have a fairly old computer / P4 2.8gz (1 cpu), 4mb ram, XP, and a Nvidia 9800 card… and can easily run at 1920 res on max settings (does get alittle slow on massive battles)… but honestly… CoH doesn’t run this well on half the size of map and units, plus you don’t have to log into steam just to play!
I am just still on single player missions but there already is a dynamic campaign created mod… and the upcoming developer patch will fix many bugs and bring the Japanese and new maps…
I find control much easier and the game x10 more fun than any WW2 rts games to date! Blitzkrieg, Company of Heroes, Sudden Strikes… they all are nothing compared to this…
The details… oh the details… I was manning a secured .50 machine gun nest that was captured from the Germans… I had the fort locked down… behind me a nice rock wall… and my gun range covered the alleyways… until… A totally random event… A German Pnz II busted through the wall behind me and proceeded to roll me completely over…. Just little things like this make the game!!!
There are some things that us MoW owners need to suggest to the developers, everyone please tell them -
Allow us to toggle on and off the squad symbols and the health bars…
Allow us to change the volume of the movies and be able to ESC past them if desired.
It is SO good I am looking at all the simple script code today to learn how to mod it…
A new sound mod for it? Yup.. I am going to port my old mod over to MoW! :D
13/04/2009 at 14:39 prowlinger says:
Jim Rossignol – Thank you for your continuous publicity of this game! I enjoy your stories and am grateful your work in promoting MoW, without your posts, I may have never even heard of this game before!
Please keep promoting it… it is such a bargin for $29 and what you get is so much more for the investment!
:)
13/04/2009 at 17:08 psyk says:
Old pc prowler you sure :p old processor yes.
13/04/2009 at 17:46 Inanimotion says:
Alright you convinced me, I’m buying it.
13/04/2009 at 18:30 Serondal says:
After trying to defend a Russian train station and faling in every way possible I have to say this is one of the few games where I can lose a battle and still have had a great time playing any way. Sure I lost but I got to watch an EPIC battle take place. I mean I was screaming and dubbed an entire squad of soliders as heros of the mother land! One squad managed to destroy about 5 tanks with anti-tank grenades, EXTREMLY heroic. After all the AT guns were destroyed and all the tanks were destroyed they were the only ones capalbe of stopping the hoard of german steel rolling my way. Of course when where gunned down like dogs by a sneaky team of nazi soliders I felt horrible :( Like watching a movie with a sad ending where all the good guys die.
13/04/2009 at 20:12 Web Cole says:
Woo! More war stories, please :D
Might just buy this, sounds pretty groovy.
13/04/2009 at 21:53 prowlinger says:
Extreme Tank Graveyard –
It was the final stand battle for Germany after the Tubruk battle…
I had a nice secure foothold on the plateau, the British as they proceeded to push hard from the North… it was at night… everything I could do to manage survival… the flares went up… enemies in the wire… the front line trenchers filled with gunfire …. incoming Mk2 … boom… it took a glancing blow from my Tiger perched in the rear of the battlefront… slowly picking off the incoming tanks…
Just then the enemy tank crashed into the trench… and was stuck at a 45 degree angle. Brave soldiers fled and tossed an AT grenade back… boom! The crew all jumped out on fire… lighting up the dark blackness that enshrouded my once again since the flares died out….
It was then quiet and dark… one thousand fireflies appeared in the black void… hot molten lead flying at my frontline from the pitch darkness….
My 2nd flare went up … 3 enemy mortar crews were fixed 200 meters past the battle front … Luckly my Italian ship was ready to lay down artillery… somehow I missed the mortar spots but created a vast tank graveyard… In coming British tanks melted in the falling artillery…
The night progressed… so much blood was spilled… occasional flares… incoming rush of enemies… our front line was falling… in a brave attempt to spare uprooting my Tiger, I commanded him personally to pick off enemies in the distance of the shadows…
What seemed to be an eternity, our front was gone… it was time to retreat…. as the last shell in the Tiger was mounted, I fired at a lone Brit incoming up the small hill from my overrun trenches…. The gory explosion and limbs flying was the only satisfaction I had left as my beast kicked dirt and uprooted its cover and started to retreat….
That was the last time my brave Tiger got a kill…. the enemy came in a sheer wave… Mks and Shermans… we had no time to retreat…
My Tiger, wounded and limping… knew there was now no retreat… Plowing full force ahead … through a small village and into the darkness…
The Tiger died with pride….
(Using the Blood/Gore Mod)
Love it!
13/04/2009 at 21:54 Serondal says:
From playing this game I am convinced the reason Germany did so good durning the early parts of WW2 is that they had so many diffrent types and variants of their tanks the people fighting them had no idea what they were up against 99% of the time. That and they had tons and tons of tanks that weren’t heavily armed but were quick moving and again, extremly varried in what they could do and where and how defended they were. Compared to the one or two tanks the US had and the few tanks UK and France used, they were predictable :P
14/04/2009 at 00:57 Stomper says:
In Lagzero.net (a spanish site afaik) there is a giveaway contest where you can win a copy of Men of War.. to participate you need to design an alternate dvd cover for Men of War.. easy.
The link:
http://www.lagzero.net/2009/04/lagzeronet-regala-tres-copias-de-men-of-war-concursos/
14/04/2009 at 01:19 Maniac11919 says:
This is by far one of the most difficult rts games I’ve ever come across… I think it’s the only one where I’ve ever really really wanted a co-op mode, just because I’d be perfectly happy manning 2 or 3 tanks manually, moving slowly to take the field. I’d love to have a partner to coordinate the other 200 units on the field I have under my command because there’s just so damn much to do in this game it blows my mind.
The assault on the train on the easiest difficulty had me biting my nails and clawing tooth and nail at the german offensive to stay alive. It’s pretty epic to pull off an effective assault or defense though through whatever means you have left to you, and like Jim said that’s one of the most rewarding and awesome things about this game.
Thanks for the heads up on this one, Jim. It was well worth playing.
14/04/2009 at 12:24 toni says:
i ordered it a few days ago. should arrive soon. I played the demo, left it without finishing (and lack of manual/explanations since I’m a RTS newbie) but kept coming back to it. let’s try this, let’s move there, let’s give this guy another gun the other time…….addictive and surprising each time. must have played the demo already 10 times I think. after reading this I’m very anxious to see what will happen in the full game.
14/04/2009 at 16:38 Andrew Dunn says:
Prowlinger, I just played that mission, the defence of Tunis. Ridiculously epic.
If there’s one thing Men of War does well (and there’s more than one) then it’s desperate defensive missions.
14/04/2009 at 19:11 Serondal says:
I just beat the first part of the defence of Tobruk (spelling?) mission and actually did pretty good. The first time I held off on ordering back up because mainly I didn’t realize I could :P Once I had some Panzer IVs rolling onto MY side I started doing pretty well for myself.
For those of you stil on the fence about this one. If you find a sniper rifle and equip it your solider becomes a sniper. Now the weapon doesn’t just give your sniper better accuracy or longer range, it MAKES HIM A SNIPER! This means that he will aim at enemies, a small red circle slowly surrounding his aiming point. When it is full it is a sure shot where ever you are aiming at.
What this means is when you’re directly controlling a sniper you can head shot solider after solider from VERY long distance. There are certain levels where this makes a huge difference, other levels where there are so many enemies that you’re not really doing a lot of good wasting your time killing one person at a time.
For example on the defence of the train yard level you have control over a lot of snipers who are standing on smoke stack cat walks and on top of buildings. They do a lot of good killing enemies on their own but soone or later they’ll probably bite a tank round :P Also you can hitch AT guns and AA to various trucks and toe them around to where they are needed, which I’ve never seen in any other RTS before. I’ve seen this in turn based games like Steel Panthers but never an RTS :)
14/04/2009 at 19:47 Andrew Dunn says:
I was expecting the gun-towing to be fiddly and horrible but it’s actually really well done.
The developer’s come a long way since Soldiers, which I loved at the time despite the severe user unfriendliness it had going on.
14/04/2009 at 20:38 autogunner says:
i love the way MoW works, you dont have to play it, just command the way a commander would by initiating flanking attacks or retreating units.
also THAT allied mission where you have the armoured jeep is a total blast
14/04/2009 at 22:17 Serondal says:
I was expecting the same thing, and I did get a few guns stuck in trenchs but that is really my fault not the games :P I love the way tanks roll right over most trenchs while wheeled trucks get stuck most of the time. I got to watch an entire squad of infantry get crushed as a run away British tank rolled randomly right down the trench killing the entire bunch of them :P I think maybe one of them jumped out of the trench for cover.
Like autogunner said I often find my infantry squads have taken on a mind of their own and advanced even when I didn’t tell them to. I think to myself “I need to move this squad forward” I go to look at them and they’re already there!
16/04/2009 at 18:03 Serondal says:
I think more needs to be said about the Dynamic Campaign Generator! I downloaded and installed it last night and WOW!!!
Okay for those of you who have Men of War but not this mod, get it ! You get to pick your location and time (for example Western Front 1940-1946) Then pick what army you will have and what army you’ll be fighting against. Then you have so many points you can use to buy your army.
Next to get a big map with a bunch of diffrent maps on it and move your forces around either attacking or defending. When you click done you get a map of the map YOUR unit will be fighting on and you deploy your units from there. Then you click done and load up the game, selecting a new 5th option Dynamic Campaign Geneator missions. You play the mission and when you win you save the game. The out side program detects this and loads up your results from the save game, tracking who survived and what is in their inventory (so if you steal a tank and repair it, you get to keep it for the next mission, but if you lose your tank and leave it behind you lose it for the next mission. If you find a flame thrower for one of you guys, he has it next mission!) You get a few points and get a chance to buy some more units to replace any you lost or to get better units as the case may be and then do the whole thing over again. The best part is once you deploy your units you just click back over to Men and War (which doesn’t mind alt Tabbing for me) and click restart while you’re still in the mission you just beat, and it will load the new mission for you to play! AWESOME!
17/04/2009 at 23:05 jackflash says:
@Serondal – sounds very cool, I will check it out for sure. Can you play it co-op, as with the underlying game?
17/04/2009 at 23:09 Serondal says:
I don’t think so no. Since it is kind of creating the map and mission on the fly it only works single player for now. That would really be awesome though if they could get it to connect up for Co-op play. Most of the campaigns have 2 units , one for the player and one that is AI controlled I supose so it’d be neat to have another player fighting for that second unit but I guess it’d get pretty complicated to code something like that : )
It does have a two packages that add more vechiles and more soliders to the game. The one that adds more soliders actually claims that EVERY solider in your squads will be diffrent looking and if you zoom in enough you can actually see their rank based on their physical insigna!
17/04/2009 at 23:17 Vinraith says:
@Serondal
That sounds absolutely fantastic. I’ve been hesitant to pick up MoW because of the story driven campaign and the lack of single player skirmish play (am I right about that, btw? There’s actually no single player skirmish outside the campaign?). This, however, sounds like such a great mod it might justify buying the game. Thanks for letting us know about it!
17/04/2009 at 23:21 psyk says:
Ty Serondal will have a look sounds good.
http://www.digitalmindsoft.eu/forums/viewtopic.php?f=15&p=39225#p39225
17/04/2009 at 23:45 Andrew Dunn says:
There isn’t a skirmish mode, but the campaign can hardly be described as story driven. It’s really just an excuse for various battle situations, and I’ve found most of the proper battles to be very replayable.
17/04/2009 at 23:51 Serondal says:
There are two kinds of battles, one where you’re attacking and ones where you’re defending. The attacking ones are very much like a skirmish mode since you have total control over how you want to go about doing your job. They leave weapons, supplies, and various vechiles scattered all over the place so it is up to you how to want to go about it. Snipe your way through? Use a howliter for 40 minutes to lighten up the defensive line of the enemy, that’s fine too.
The defend missions are very hard for me, you get a set number of troops, sometimes you can call in help after a certain point as well, but you have to hold a posiiton for a certain amount of time. These can certainly be fun and aren’t story driven either. The voice acting is so bad it is funny so I pay no attention to the story itself ;P
As far as the mod goes it is really awesome. Just remember the first time you play it to take good care of anything that costs a lot of points :P You don’t get that many after you start and losing a tank can be a huge loss. You got all the time you want for the battle so if you tank gets damaged repiar it before you save if you can. ALSO, you get to keep anything you’ve captured so try and repair those enemy tanks so that next round you’ll have more. ^_^
17/04/2009 at 23:54 Vinraith says:
Thanks for the information guys, I’ll probably pick up a copy here in a bit.
18/04/2009 at 00:08 Serondal says:
Don’t be put off by the bad voice acting and how hard it may seem at first. I also suggest trying down the amount the view scrolls in the options, it was a little herky jerky for me ;P
Pretty end lets you take control of people and tanks and drive/walk them around with the arrow keys. While you have units selected hit space to make them jump to the ground for cover! (not sure what it does when you’re in a tank lol) If you left click on an enemy it will show you a red zone that is this units view range.
In SC craft ect tanks can see perfectly 360 degrees. In real life and Men of War the crew inside can only see out the view ports and anyone riding onside the tank can only see where they are looking. This allows you to sneak up on a tank and throw a anti-tank grenade on it! Try this in Comany of Heros I dare you lol
18/04/2009 at 00:47 Vinraith says:
The more realism the better. I’ve been lamenting the death of the Close Combat series a lot, lately. This sounds like it might scratch that itch nicely.
18/04/2009 at 01:35 jackflash says:
@Vinraith -
I only ever played the demo of the original Close Combat (man, remember when Microsoft made games for the PC? Those turncoats), but Men of War is the closest game I’ve ever seen to it since.
18/04/2009 at 02:46 Serondal says:
Oh man, I LOVE close combat. It is very very much similar. However I actually believe the company that made close combat is still making games in 3d. they’re not very good though :P
The units use cover without you telling them to , like in close combat. Artillery is insanely effective, like close combat, anti-tank guys can destroy tanks if well placed, like CC. Flame thrower guys can waste entire squads in seconds, like CC :P Units can hide inside pretty much any building and shoot out, like CC, cover makes a huge difference if used correctly. Sadly there is no morale as far as I can see, but your guys can be heroic at times and do things that amaze you. Like run out of a trench, throw a tank grenade while being shot at by the entire german army and 2 tanks, destroy the tank, throw another one at the other tank, then run back into the trench damn near dead all the while you’re going YEEESSSSS!!!! :P
18/04/2009 at 02:48 psyk says:
Only problem they cant kick or blow up doors as far as I can make out.
18/04/2009 at 10:18 Andrew Dunn says:
On replaying that Moscow Is Behind Us mission yesterday, my two anti-tank infantry (one on each flank with a PTRD each) survived every single wave and took down dozens of tanks. I made a point of keeping them alive when we retreated from the first line (with about 25 men left).
Also, on the Seelow Heights mission, I had a tank crewman destroy three Panzer IVs, a Wirbelwind, and two Panthers by himself, scavenging AT grenades off the dead, after his tank was blown up. Absolute hero. He died after taking out the second Panther. :(
19/04/2009 at 11:54 Jigahaganaga says:
Just gave the demo a shot because of this article. I love it, Now I gotta work out where/how to purchase it.
Thanks for bringing this game to my attention.
19/04/2009 at 14:45 Sunjammer says:
I know it’s vain, but the downright hilarious voice acting really removes a tremendous amount of weight from the situations you play through. A lot of it reminds me of that japanese Akira dude from Battalion wars 2 on the Wii, and that’s a very very bad sign.
Direct control is fantastic, and i love the general weighty, meaty feeling of the game. It’s definitely solid. But it tries its damnedest to turn you off
20/04/2009 at 04:15 Serondal says:
Yah you have to ignore the horrible voice acting and replace it with some of your own internal story :P At least that is what I do. I listen to it once to get what is going on then I ignore it from there on
23/04/2009 at 11:29 Cypher says:
About those mysterious “long barreled German beasts”:on hard,you will have TWO King Tigers in the base,and an extra panzer IV.Wasted my entire battalion assaulting the base.
11/06/2009 at 17:34 Johnny Go-Time says:
I recently discovered this article, and bought Men of War as a result. I find all of the glowing, wonderful things written above to be true.
I’m no wargamer, and am mostly bored by RTSs, but this game is fantastic, deep, cool, and brutally hard (without being unfair.) I love it!
07/07/2009 at 13:07 samy adel says:
thanks
but i want to know how to pass the mission called the road to victory
17/08/2010 at 14:17 cheap ghd says:
A boaster and a liar are cousins-german.