Men of War

For other uses, see Men of war.

Men of War
Developer(s)	Best Way Digitalmindsoft
Publisher(s)	1C Company 505 Games Aspyr Media
Engine	GEM 2 Engine
Version	NA 1.17.5 (April 17, 2010) EU 1.17.5 (April 17, 2010)
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows
Release date(s)	EU 20 - 27th February, 2009 AUS 23 March 2009 NA 10 March 2009
Genre(s)	Real-time tactics
Mode(s)	Single-player, Multiplayer
Rating(s)	BBFC: 15[1] ESRB: M PEGI: 16+
Media/distribution	DVD
System requirements Microsoft Windows[2] Windows 2000/XP/Vista Intel Pentium 4 3.0 GHz or AMD Athlon 64 3000+ 1GB for XP/2GB for Vista Nvidia GeForce 5900 or ATI Radeon 9600 DirectX 9.0c DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card 7.5GB free HDD space DVD drive

Gameplay screenshot

Men of War (Russian: В тылу врага 2: Лис пустыни (Behind Enemy Lines 2: Desert Fox)) is a real-time tactics video game and the sequel to the 2006 game Faces of War (which was a sequel to the 2004 Soldiers: Heroes of World War II), developed in partnership with Best Way by Digitalmindsoft and published by 1C Company, 505 Games, and Aspyr Media.

The single player campaign takes place during World War II and features battles set in Europe, the Soviet Union, Greece, and North Africa, across three different campaigns for the Allies, Germans and Soviets. Men of War features Japan as a new multiplayer faction.

Gameplay

Men of War plays similarly to Faces of War and Soldiers: Heroes of World War II, with a few major differences. In Soldiers, the player controlled a small group of soldiers fighting the enemy. In Faces of War, the player controlled a few men while fighting in large battles alongside many allies. In Men of War, both of those scenarios do take place, but sometimes the player is given complete control over dozens of units. It is not uncommon for a player to have simultaneous control over many lines of defense. To make micromanagement simpler, the player is able to organize his troops into squads. In addition, the player is able to assign individuals into cover for more precision. The player is also able to call in reinforcements in the form of units, artillery barrages (from guns or offshore ships), and air support. Naval units, such as torpedo boats and submarines, are controllable for the first time.

The game includes the soldiers and arsenals of the United States, the United Kingdom (as well as Canada, Australia, and other Commonwealth states), the Soviet Union, Germany, Japan, and various resistance movements (particularly the Russian and the French). The expansion, Red Tide, adds the Romanian and Italian armies.

Campaign

Men of War features 19 single player missions spread across three different campaigns. The game features a Soviet, German, and Allied campaign.

The Soviet campaign spans the early battles of the Eastern front, through to the start of the Soviet counter-offensive. The campaign begins with the Battle of Rostov and ends after the Battle of Seelow Heights, with an epilogue showing Berlin days after its capture.The Player is represented by Alexei Kuznetsov and Victor Smirnov.

The German and Allied campaigns take place largely within the North Africa theatre. The German campaign follows a young, ambitious commander called Gunther Borg who fights as a paratrooper in Greece (Battle of Crete) before being redeployed after temporary leave to join the Afrika Korps in Libya (Tobruk) and Tunisia. The Allied campaign follows an elite American squad under the command of Terry Palmer and a Cpl. Robinson during Operation Torch as they fight alongside the British "Desert Rats" of the British 7th Armoured Division, other American soldiers, and Henri d'Astier's French Resistance.

There are also a number of bonus missions, which involve both defending and attacking objectives.

The single player campaigns can be played through cooperatively over a local TCP/IP network, or over the internet.

Multiplayer

In multiplayer, there are 5 different factions to choose from; The United States, Commonwealth forces, Germany, Soviet Union and Japan (though Japan is only available in further patches).

There are a variety of game modes including Combat, Battle Zone, Frontline and Cooperative, all of which were featured in Soldiers, and two new modes - Victory flag and Valuable Cargo.

Men of War will introduce a ranking system based on the ratio of a player's wins to losses with the various multiplayer factions.

The game has the "Direct Control" feature characteristic of the series which allows the player to take over control of a unit's movements and actions with the keyboard and mouse, adding a tactical 3rd person shooter element to the game.

Modifications are still officially supported, and will still have their own Tab in Options. Games using modifications will also go under the name "Modded Game".

Steam has updated the game since 1.17.5, and other US users must manually modify their installations to patch their game for the latest multiplayer versions.

Reception

Men of War has received generally favorable reviews, garnering a Metacritic score of 80 out of 100. GamingShogun^[3] called the game a very 'in-depth, tactical game of combat' and stresses its mixed bag of highs and lows while also pointing out the game's budget-minded pricing. IGN agreed with the mixed sentiments, conceding that the game was "tedious and hard as hell" but also that it "offers a view of combat that's every bit as thrilling as the more accessible strategy games that dominate the sales charts".^[4] IT Reviews was more positive, claiming that it "puts the emphasis firmly back on strategy, using your meagre troops cunningly to out-think and out-gun the enemy even when they have vastly superior numbers."^[5]

Patches

There are a number of different versions made by different companies, with different patches for each version due to them having different copy protection systems.

Standalone Expansion Packs

Men of War: Red Tide

Main article: Men of War: Red Tide

Four months after the release of Men of War, a stand-alone expansion pack called Men of War: Red Tide was announced.^[6] The expansion adds 20 new single player missions, where the player take the control over the Soviet Marine forces in the Black Sea campaigns in World War 2, fighting against Italian, Romanian and German forces.

The story is based on the writings of Alexander Zorich.^[7]

Men of War: Assault Squad

Main article: Men of War: Assault Squad

Assault Squad is a stand-alone expansion pack from the co-op developer Digitalmindsoft.^[8][9]

Men of War: Vietnam

Vietnam is the third stand-alone expansion pack and has been developed by 1C in-house as Digitalmindsoft was focused on Assault Squad. It has been released on September the ninth.^[10]

Men of War: Condemned Heroes

References

1. ^ "Men of War rated 15 by the BBFC". British Board of Film Classification. 2009-08-07. http://www.bbfc.co.uk/website/Classified.nsf/e8ea0df3a881175480256d58003cb570/c2aa54ba330644f58025760b00589457?OpenDocument. Retrieved 2009-08-08. 
2. ^ "Steam: Men of War". Valve Corporation. 2009-05-06. http://store.steampowered.com/app/7830/. 
3. ^ Paxton, Jerry (2009-03-25). "Men of War Review". GamingShogun. http://www.gamingshogun.com/Article/3839/Men_of_War_Review.html. 
4. ^ http://uk.pc.ign.com/articles/963/963523p1.html IGN
5. ^ http://www.itreviews.co.uk/games/g552.htm IT Reviews
6. ^ "Men of War: Red Tide Announced". 1C Company. 2009-25-6. http://news.bigdownload.com/2009/06/25/men-of-war-red-tide-announced/. 
7. ^ "Alexander Zorich". http://www.1cpublishing.eu/game/men-of-war-red-tide/overview. 
8. ^ "New title: GamesCom - Digitalmindsoft.eu". Digitalmindsoft. 2009-07-08. http://www.digitalmindsoft.eu/forums/viewtopic.php?f=109&t=4504#p57605. 
9. ^ "World Exclusive: Men of War A4 - Spillverket.no". Spillverket. 2009-08-19. http://www.spillverket.no/artikler/verdenseksklusivt_men_of_war_a4/71447. 
10. ^ Chris Faylor (8 June 2010). "Men of War: Vietnam Details Emerge". Shacknews. http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/64159. Retrieved 26 June 2010. 

External links

• Men of War Home page
• Men of War - Wiki
• Digitalmindsoft Home page
• Company Home page
• 505 Games Home page
• BestWay Home page