By Jim Rossignol on October 19th, 2010 at 11:27 am.
Vietmen Of War? It’s a missed opportunity, certainly. But nevermind, because there are helicopters, F4s, flamethrowers, tanks, and TINY HEROES doing their heroism! With those big jungles and smoky skies Men Of War: Vietnam certainly looks the part, and it’s threatening to be one of those games that stops me from being a useful human being, especially since it has 4-player co-op. I’d love to see this game get properly opened up to modding, because the failure of that Stalker mod is a shame, plus it’d be awesome to see some other stuff brought in. The same engine used to make a sci-fi game could really be something. Anyway, to the trailer! Below!
19/10/2010 at 11:31 the affront says:
It will have co-op again, right?
First one was simply awesome in co-op on LAN, even if a little too hardcore micromanagement-wise in singleplayer on a few of the maps for my taste.
19/10/2010 at 11:35 Jim Rossignol says:
4-player co-op. I will add that in.
19/10/2010 at 11:37 the affront says:
Yes! Great.
19/10/2010 at 11:39 Rinox says:
OMG that tank gunner’s hat was blown off by the explosion.
SOLD SOLD SOLD 10000 TIMES OVER AGAIN
19/10/2010 at 12:16 wm says:
What’s with this obsession with hats people seem to have?
19/10/2010 at 12:19 Rich says:
The fact that in Men of War you could shoot people’s hats off, or loot their bodies, and claim them for your own men.
19/10/2010 at 12:24 Luomu says:
This time there will be boonie- and straw hats.
Some day they will release these games in a compilation called Hats of War.
19/10/2010 at 14:24 mrpier says:
Men of War – The other hat-simulator?
19/10/2010 at 11:57 GCU Speak Softly says:
Viet Minh of War, perhaps?
19/10/2010 at 11:58 BAReFOOt says:
Sorry, but neither the trailer, nor the site or the article say anything about what kind of game it is. Maybe it was assumed everybody knew. Unfortunately I don’t.
An RTS? (Because of the soldiers being called “tiny”.)
I have no idea.
Am I the only one thinking, a trailer should give some hint at which kind of game it is? You know… at least a second of what looks like it is gameplay footage…
19/10/2010 at 12:01 Fede says:
Have a look at this: everything written on RPS about Men of War (incluing impressions, hands on and wot I think)
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/tag/men-of-war/
19/10/2010 at 12:04 Urael says:
I was going to say…! Have you been reading RPS with your eyes closed, BAReFOOt?
19/10/2010 at 12:05 Walsh says:
Philistine! End him!
19/10/2010 at 12:07 Snall says:
…the whole trailer looked like in-game footage to me…how it could be anything but an RTS..anyway..maybe you watched a different video (I watched the one on this page here that we are currently on).
19/10/2010 at 12:28 Robotenwerfer says:
Haha, Urael, I failed to catch the name of the chap you were referring to, so I thought you were flabbergasted at the thought of him reading RPS “blindfolded and barefoot!”.
19/10/2010 at 17:16 ScubaMonster says:
Hey wow, a Vietnam game that actually looks like it takes place in Vietnam. Now if only DICE would take note and make their upcoming game take place in Vietnam and not a Hawaiian village.
19/10/2010 at 17:16 ScubaMonster says:
Dammit. Ignore that. I was going to make a comment and not a reply. woops.
19/10/2010 at 12:08 Urael says:
Now that this series has escaped the sucking miasma of boringness that is WWII, that’s a major barrier gone to me taking a proper look at this.
Also, Jim, your comments re: a Sci-fi version – doing this would practically guarantee a purchase. I can see it now: Men of War: Laser Squad!
19/10/2010 at 12:12 mondomau says:
*glee*
I loved the first one, but it was a bit difficult to get into and the WWII setting was a bit old hat.
This will be on my to buy list for sure.
19/10/2010 at 12:13 Rich says:
Men of War: Imperial Guard!
19/10/2010 at 12:23 tigershuffle says:
Men of War :Hunter Gatherer-the Neolithic years
only if we get ridable Mammoths.
would prob fail due to lack of hats
19/10/2010 at 12:47 CMaster says:
On the contrary.
Fur hats
Feather headresses
Sealskin caps etc
Plenty of hats to be had.
19/10/2010 at 12:18 Rich says:
Please 1C Company, hire some decent voice actors and get an English speaking writer to proof read your script. OK, genuinely good dialogue can be tricky, but only a tiny bit of effort is required to make it bearable.
19/10/2010 at 12:27 tigershuffle says:
Matthew Modine, Robert Duvall and the cast from Tropic Thunder get my vote
19/10/2010 at 12:42 Daniel Rivas says:
Shush, you. Men of War’s voice acting was the best.
19/10/2010 at 13:05 Rich says:
Certainly it was the best out of the other IC Co. titles I’ve played. That doesn’t say much though.
19/10/2010 at 14:59 -Spooky- says:
Who cares the voice? The engine performance was more crappy at all. *lol*
20/10/2010 at 10:53 MadeOfWaaagggghhh says:
Quite frankly I would rather just not have any videos and only a single diary-driven (pay 1 decent voice actor with the cash for the staff otherwise) kind of monologue lead-me-through for both sides and instead a bit more polish in terms of control(you could not “lock” direct control to just stay ON, which was terrible if you needed to do complex stuff and rotate the cam etc), gfx(seems a bit has been done already) and maybe more varied gun attributes, sounds, and, of course, hats.
Especially a tangible distinction in terms of guns might be nice. Think over the top super-extended JA2 OCDishness for ‘nam era.
Ooooohhhh…
I’d hit their forums, but given their last xxxxx games it doesn’t seem like they much care what’s posted or suggested :P
They just do their thing..
19/10/2010 at 12:24 Robotenwerfer says:
I am so divided on this…
On the one hand, Men of War is the best game I’ve played in a looooooong time, and this seems to be more of the same, and as such, tons of fun.
On the other hand, I just finished reading Four Hours In My Lai, and more glorification and history re-writing of the whole gigantic atrocity that was the Vietnam war is a bit stomach turning.
Ah hell, I know I’ll buy it anyway…
19/10/2010 at 12:38 tigershuffle says:
watched the recent docu on this……….was good to see those who actually tried to help finally got recognition of their efforts.
To be fair for every John Wayne – Green Berets movie there has at least been a Casualties of War movie for balance
The truth will out ……………… eventually
(oooh my captcha is CYNT……..how very dare they)
19/10/2010 at 12:44 Bob Bobson says:
It doesn’t have to be glorifying, indeed I hope it won’t be. The original MoW focussed initially on the unglamorous and un-hollywooded Russian front, which I really appreciated.
Any news yet as to which side of the conflict we will be put in charge of?
19/10/2010 at 12:47 Cugel says:
True, a lot of films have actually been a bit more candid with the subject (Deer Hunter, Platoon and what have you). I just wish we could get the same problematisation within a game at some point… I mean, I’ve barely played a wargame that even recognizes the existance of a civilian population, barring a handful in the odd escort mission.
Which is somewhat ridicilous as the proportion of civilian to military deaths in modern (post-WW1) wars is 8 to 1 and up.
I think what is so horrible from reading about the My Lai massacre was how ordinary that kind of incident was; just how little life actually meant. It was basically part of business as usual, until some journalist happened to stumble on pictures of this specific incident.
I would be okey with a developer not reflecting these issues were it not for the common pretence of “realism”. Sure, you modelled the armour penetration of that LAW perfectly, but the whole sociopolitical context simply isn’t there.
19/10/2010 at 12:48 Luomu says:
The official site lists two campaigns:
“Military Consultants
January 23 – 31, 1968
The military consultants from the USSR were assigned to reach a Viet Cong base located in South Vietnam in the Cao Lanh area to train guerillas how to use the latest Soviet and Chinese weapons including sniper and explosives techniques. Together with a group of engineers sent to deploy AA batteries around the training camp, they advanced to the destination and were ambushed by the US infantry that had destroyed the base some time earlier. Only two Soviet consultants survived with two soldiers of the North Vietnam army, but the task of getting back to the North Vietnam territory remains a problem. There is no communication, no wheeled vehicles, and it’s impossible to get there on foot. On their way the consultants got involved in a chain of bloodbath engagements with enemies, and they found themselves in the dead center of the well-known Tet offensive.”
And
“US Army Special Operations Detachment
January 15 – February 15, 1968
The campaign starts when the special ops detachment under Sgt. Merrill’s command is sent out to examine a Vietnamese village, due to a suspicion that the locals are sheltering Viet Cong soldiers. The group had to accomplish several special missions: set an ambush on the Ho Chi Minh trail, hold a night raid into Cambodia, and participate in a large-scale offensive alongside other US Army forces. The almost impossible rescue of imprisoned US soldiers from a POW camp location in the vicinity of Hanoi will be the decisive combat of the campaign.”
19/10/2010 at 12:56 Cugel says:
Bob: Yeah, that is somewhat true. Especially the mission with the penal legion, I think.
Luomo: Thanks for posting that! It’s interesting to see that you get to play the North Vietnamese side… has that ever been done in any other game? I can’t think of any off the top of my head (Battlefield doesn’t count).
19/10/2010 at 14:40 Walsh says:
19/10/2010 at 19:08 Cugel says:
Walsh: although I totally agree that the NVA and Viet Cong perpetrated horrendous atrocities as well (something critics of US actions often conveniently tend to “forget”), to say that My Lai was a unique “blip” is not true (at least judging from the lectures I’ve had on the matter).
From the indiscriminate area bombing of both North Vietnam and Cambodia, to the concept of “free fire zones”, agent orange and the wanton use of Napalm, as well as simply using the metric of “body count” to evualute combat actions, I’d say the US track record is far from pure.
The post war interviews with Lt. Calley who led the platoon in My Lai (which is a great read by the way) makes it pretty clear that it was part of their everyday grind. A quote in the Four Hours in My Lai book summarised the general attitude fairly well with: “If it’s dead and Vietnamese, it’s Viet Cong.”
19/10/2010 at 20:57 Barman1942 says:
@Cugel
Check out the game Vietcong, the first level starts you off bringing first aid supplies to a Vietnamese village, and the first NPC to be shot in-game is a villager. Not sure if there are any in the rest of the game, though.
19/10/2010 at 12:25 Shatners-Bassoon says:
What is this Stalker Mod you speak of and may I say that the ending screams Cannon Fodder to me.
19/10/2010 at 14:59 A-Scale says:
Yeah, really.
19/10/2010 at 17:17 The Innocent says:
The Stalker mod for the original Men of War looked amazing. He had done a bunch of the factions (Clear Sky, Duty, Freedom, Military, Mercs, Monolith), and his maps looked like the same maps from Stalker but zoomed out (Agroprom was finished, and there were glimpses of Pripyat, the Military Warehouses, etc), but then he got bored.
19/10/2010 at 13:23 Luke says:
World in Conflict, which I’ve just picked up again after forgetting how very good it is, is reasonable at recognising the human and civilian cost of a (albeit fictional) war.
19/10/2010 at 13:44 Cugel says:
Hmm, I actually thought a lot about the lack of civilians in World in Conflict, because half the game seems to focus on levelling entire city blocks with indiscriminate artillery barrages and air strikes, but it is never mentioned whether this causes collateral damage.Or alternately, all civilians have been conveniently “evacuated” beforehand, something that simply doesn’t happen in modern conflicts.
Never the less, I agree with you in that it is still a very good game in terms of mechanics. And to be fair, the plotline is very well written, and even I started feeling a bit for the soldiers that you follow.
19/10/2010 at 13:50 Cugel says:
I guess what I’m trying to say is that many modern wargames simulate combat (in some Platonic, realm of ideas sense) very well, but war poorly, if you define war in its entirety, where combat represents maybe 10% and the rest is forced migration, disease, systematised rape, looting and so on and so forth.
19/10/2010 at 14:04 Luke says:
No, I agree with you there, although during some of the cut scenes before the missions there is talk of civilians being evacuated before the’ battle’ (gameplay) occurs. There is also veiled (but veiled it certainly is) discussion of the collateral consequences were the Russians to find out certain things during the invasion.
I daresay part of the issue of simulating battle, rather than war (excellent description by the way) is that to involve the civilian aspects would require a level of bravery and maturity that most of the gaming industry does not posses. It’s a sophisticated dialogue which seeks to impart value that is not necessarily commercial, the kind of thing RPS exists for, but not the majority of the industry, and as a result It probably is not considered viable.
It’s a classic example of being something’ too heavy’ for a mere game, a genre still largely prescribed as a limited medium designed for vicarious, throw-away moments.
19/10/2010 at 15:37 Ziv says:
Actually from what I remember World in Conflict had a pretty big thing for civilians, during the first mission it is said that evacuation began in miami and while the russians progressed deeper into the US it is said that civilians were evacuated, especially in the-mission-that-I’m-not-going-to-spoil-for-those-who-haven’t-played-but-you-know-what-I’m-talking-about.
19/10/2010 at 19:10 Cugel says:
Luke: Well put! I think you really cut to the core there.
19/10/2010 at 13:41 derf says:
I was concerned that introducing helicopters would make the map feel small, but there’s half a second of video clip in that trailer that would suggest otherwise.
Looks great and i’m most likely going to buy it!
19/10/2010 at 13:54 Brian says:
Oi oi!!! Jungle beats on RPS!! Can’t wait to listen to oh it’s some game.
19/10/2010 at 15:32 Ziv says:
I just began playing MoW and I’m flabbergasted w/ how little information it offers to get you into the game. took me quite a while to realize how to get the cannon to shoot. and even then I had to take manual control of him to shoot the guys i wanted to shoot.
19/10/2010 at 15:38 RadioactiveMan says:
I want this game!
Hopefully by focusing on Vietnam, with its emphasis on smaller-scale engagements, the game will give me less units to control. I always have trouble controlling more than a few units in Men-of-War games…. the large scale battles with 50-100+ units always reduced me to playing the entire game at very slow speeds and still feeling overwhelmed.
19/10/2010 at 15:55 MadeOfWaaagggghhh says:
I just jizzled my pizzls and will be mad bizzlin this.
ALL YOUR HATS ARE BELONG TO MINE!
19/10/2010 at 17:02 Neut says:
Hats of Men?
19/10/2010 at 17:11 The Innocent says:
Spring 2011???
Nooooooo!
19/10/2010 at 19:01 Rich says:
You were expecting next week?
19/10/2010 at 17:22 Latro says:
I think we already had this talked about … well, way too many times, but…
… I’m the only one that cant, for the life of me, figure out how to play this game and not suck horrendously, and due to that has not gone further than the “repair your tank” part of the first mission?
Cause I want to be like you and enjoy it and get excited about seeing it in Viet Nam, but Men of War reminds a black spot on my file as a PC gamer :-P
19/10/2010 at 17:24 Luke says:
I love Men of War and will buy this for certain, but they don’t half enjoy there clunky and bewildering aesthetic. That trailer was all over the place like.
19/10/2010 at 17:49 Jimbo says:
This looks goddamn fanbrilliant. And yes, major Cannon Fodder flashback when the hueys took off.
19/10/2010 at 17:52 Isometric says:
This looks even better than I expected. I’ve proudly finished Men of War and the Red Tide expansion so I am hungry for more. So with this and Assault Squad coming out my wishes have been granted.
19/10/2010 at 18:26 Wipa says:
Won’t all those trees get in the way?
19/10/2010 at 18:41 Luomu says:
Here is your MoW with lasers
19/10/2010 at 21:59 Lord_Mordja says:
Oh cool, I was hoping that was still being made. Looking at his Youtube channel, it also seems like he’s working on a western mod. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnaZfI9tCME
As for sci-fi, well there’s a Stargate one up on moddb. But yeah, more pew-pew is always good.
19/10/2010 at 19:45 Dylan says:
Matterhorn is a good Vietnam related novel. check it out
19/10/2010 at 22:49 GCU Speak Softly says:
When does the Dr Manhattan unit appear?
21/10/2010 at 03:20 sventoby says:
Mod developers: this is why people ask for release dates. Screaming TBA or WHEN IT’S DONE makes me lose interest because 99% of ambitious mods with no release date in sight never end up being released. Look at Black Mesa, or for MOW the Mechwarrior, Star Wars, and STALKER mods.
21/10/2010 at 06:01 Tetragrammaton says:
Mod developers are developing out of the kindness of their hearts, for no pennies, amid their no doubt hectic day-to-day lives with real commitments and responsibilities. Giving a deadline is not only completely pointless (most modders work on this stuff in the few moments they can spare) It also raises an enormous amount of blind internet hate when they (inevitably) miss said deadline. Just be grateful that talented and creative people are giving up an enormous amount their time to entertain you and asking for nothing in return.