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RuGu?
member #75,168
Dancing Queen
#1
   4/9/2009 9:14 PM
posting in thread: (Men Of War ... Damn)
           
 Men Of War ... Damn
Men of War  site
PC
RuView Score: gg no re
Men of War – RuViewed: A game that comes close like so many others...                  

Overview:

Simply put the best RTS I’ve seen … almost.

And By RTS I mean Real Time Simulation. Calling this game a Real Time Strategy is misleading, and I think a traditional RTS player who grew up in the Starcraft / Command and Conquer era may not be able to fully appreciate the type of RTS this is, or at least not get their rocks off on it. However “RTS” players who started with games like Company of Heroes and Dawn of War may find this game is right up their ally.
Tanks roll in in MoW
Me dominating a light german tank with my Sherman
Unfortunately this game stands little chance of making much noise in the gamer world because simply put 1C put little effort into marketing, they are not a massive company like EA or Relic, and I get the feeling that the publishers aren’t going to be able to seal the deal, much like Pitt vs. Villanova in the recently concluded NCAA basketball tournament.
The game boasts a large amount of control over individual units, including what they are currently carrying in their own personal inventory, what type of ammunition you have loaded in your tank, and even how you want to divide up your squad in terms of supplies and rankings on certain weapons. This makes for an intense experience but is somewhat overshadowed by the feeling of just having too much to do. For example, it’s really cool that I can pick which soldiers I want to carry what weapon, it really sucks that eventually they run out of ammo and I have to find the exact type of ammo for that weapon. I hold that you are not a true man in this game until you punch an opposing unit to death (yes I did this, my soldier punched the &^%$#& out of kraut bastard stealing my tank).
 

Game play:

Like any game there are several awesome features, and several ‘I can’t believe they did that’ features, like using GameSpy as their online networking partner. This game has a natural mix of both, but I will highlight a few of the things that I feel make it stand out above other WWII titles.
First and foremost Direct Fire. There is nothing more gratifying then taking control of your Panzer IV, or Sherman and aiming the turret how you see fit, swapping out ammo, running over walls, and generally murdering charging infantry.
Death reigns
The Caliopie laying down some rockets of death

Directional Damage – For a long time my main gripe in traditional RTS games has been that there is little benefit to flanking maneuvers because the damage is always the same regardless of where I hit. Similar to COH in this aspect your odds of destroying an enemy tank in this game are greatly improved by closing the distance, flanking them to expose their rears. When engaging the enemy, you have to make choices such as do I try and disable it by taking out its tracks? Do I go for the kill shot straight on? Should I go for his engine? Do I try to take out his turret? A lot of these things are in question at all times, and unfortunately you usually have to take whatever you have the best chance of doing. You never know when the next shell will be the deciding factor (which is something I don’t particularly like). I have had fresh tanks take one shot and explode, and other tanks I have managed to repair 3 or 4 times before finally being brought down. I hate to say a lot of it is luck, but true to WWII as with life luck goes a long way.
There are no clearly overpowered units, no special abilities with cool downs and also no margin for error.  Some may like that, some may not – it’s definitely a strategic part of the game that will cause divided opinions amongst hardcore gamers. You cannot blindly rush your tank to enemy lines and expect it to be successful. Scouting with infantry is a must, rushing a tank into enemy territory is sure to = fail.

Realism
– I would say that it’s hard to match this game for its realism. In all honesty it is almost too realistic. For example I found myself constantly reading about the units’ (in-game) to learn what they did, which is cool in that I can see all the stats, and history, but makes things complicated when I just wanted a tank that killed other tanks.

Resourcing – Simply put there isn’t any. This is determined at the beginning of the game, which has tons of features that can be explored in game. The game host decides everyone gets X amount of points to spend on units, you are then given so many points over time and once you use up all your points buying units, you are done and can’t purchase anything else (You learn to keep a set of tank crew on the field to try and repair damaged vehicles as the end game nears)

Realistic Fog of War
– Basically you only have line of sight in the direction your unit is looking, and it is scaled to the each individual type of unit, tanks can see further, but infantry have a larger cone of effect, this is another controversial decision made by the development team, some will like this, some definitely will not. Snipers can use their scopes to see beyond their normal range effectively lighting up an area before you move into it. I would have to say this is what gives Men of War the feeling in your gut that can only be duplicated by playing Resident Evil alone when no one is home and the lights are off. Should you turn the corner with a tank? Should you creep over this hill? You find yourself constantly questioning your maneuvers because one slip up and your tank could be a 10 ton paper weight.

Learning Curve
– There aren’t two ways to cut it, this game is hard, and you will get owned for a while in multiplayer, The Russian community is hitting this title hard online.  It takes a while to learn, and the training mission really isn’t a training mission. You’re going to need to put the time if you want to fully enjoy the game (sorry preteen halo kiddies, this one’s not for you). I feel the learning curve is appropriate to how realistic the game is, like if you were really in World War II and fresh out of boot camp on foreign soil with NO idea what you were doing, that about sums it up.

Controls -- Clunky at first until you get used to them, the free camera is a great feature allowing you to look at the battle any way you want, which is a must for tank fights as it puts you in the cockpit and gives you a good look at Clean ingame interface
what you might have to shoot through before you hit your target. No quick scrolling with the mouse is a major turn off, and the quick way of moving around is usually your number pad or if you right click the mini-map (You can move the mini-map anywhere on your screen though).


Polish:

 It’s not quite there, you can tell they put an intense amount of time into the physics of the game with helmets flying off soldiers heads, the multiple types of weapons available, the way tanks explode or units catch on fire, realistic artillery sounds, yet it is still lacking a certain finesse that its predecessors have captured in games like Vanilla COH and the Dawn of War series that overall leads to the downfall of the game. I can tell they were lacking in a few areas of the game and I would have been willing to sacrifice a little of the in game graphics and physics for a cleaner game interface and less game crashes
 (I blame GameSpy for those TBH)

Graphics and Physics:
 
Awesome…really all I can say there. Things explode, shells ricochet, you can try and shoot through walls, grenade physics are there, blood splatters, tank treads can get knocked loose, turrets can be damage, and bodies float in water. Everything is individually modeled (WOW). Things can be set on fire, almost everything can be destroyed, and tires can be blown out. The game really is a marvel to look at, and I feel if they would have put this type of attention to other aspects of the game such as marketing, polish, and their online lobby, this game could take a piece of the pie away from COH.
 
The Final Word:

All in all Men in War could have been a glorious game if it had a larger community behind it, and maybe with a few more patches to clean up the net code I could see settling down with this game a couple of nights out of the month, but ljbh you aren’t going to go shopping for steak and comeback with corndogs, unless of course you are KLAB.
Don’t get me wrong the game takes certain RTS aspects to a new level that makes it well worth trying out. Especially if you are a major WWII buff or were curious how lucky or unfair WWII combat could be, especially at its discounted price tag.

Imagine for a minute you are dreaming about Jessica Alba striping, but every time she got to her bra and panties you woke up. This is the type of frustration the game delivers. It always feels as though you were a half second two slow, unable to flank due to bad luck, or your AT gun was just out of range. I still haven’t given up though; part of me wants to believe eventually the other guy will be feeling that way, while I roll over him with my tank. Sadly I don’t think this will be the case, and a lot of hard work in this game can be thwarted with a little bad luck.

Rugu? Rating -  gg no re

Overall a decent game that will never get the full attention it deserves. I think a little more time could have been invested into key areas such as online play, however the game hit shelves at only $29.99 which is 20-30 dollars cheaper than other games that are of far less quality. It’s worth the buy even for the single player / co-op if you ask me.

I really had higher hopes for this game after playing its predecessor Soldiers: Heroes of WWII, but sometimes you just have to fase the facts, it just doesn’t scratch that RTS(Real Time Strategy) itch.
You'd be amazed the shit I learn while half asleep.  (cause I'm a SOAPBOX HERO ... with stars in my eyes)
 
Leave EA Alone!
 
Huge. Quickly.
User Post Count: 2990 Registered: Sunday, October 12, 2008 IP: NA

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