Rolf Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 (edited) Hi everyone, I wondered if any spartans had ever tried Men of War, a WW2 RTS that was released a few years back? I ask this because there is a new version coming out in the next month or so called Men of War: Assault Squad which has expanded upon the original and tweaked a few odds n' sods. Due to the fact that the Men of War: Assault Squad steam group reached over 20,000 members a week ago, the developers behind the game have re-released for free the extensive open beta which you can download from the steam page here: It has drawn a number of comparisons with Company of Heroes which everyone is generally familiar with. Unlike CoH, MoW requires a little bit more micromanagment but has a more accurate system of battle damage and features an inventory screen for every unit. There is a direct fire mode where you can directly control the movement and actions of a particular unit. New units are introduced into play via a reinforcement system. You can play as the Germans, Russians, US and the Commonwealth and each features a wide range of different vehicles and units. PvP includes a number of different missions, an example of someone playing and commentating. The Beta features a new "Skirmish" mode where up to 8 players can take on the AI in Co-op. Here's an example of British co-op taking place on the Battleaxe . The graphics are decent enough, and as the games in beta the dialogue can be a little patchy leading to some german lines being used as fillers for British units here and there. There are some strange expressions such as "Aim is in the reach zone" that crop up occasionally but don't detract from the fun! If anyone is interested in giving it a go as mentioned the beta is free (which is good if you're stingy and Scottish like myself) and it's worth a try if you're a fan of RTS's. It's tough, and theres a steepish learning curve but it's good. If you're up for a game of Co-op sometime then give me a shout, my MoW username is "jequirity" and we can get something organised on TS. Edited February 5, 2011 by Rolf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtr~SPARTA~ Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 Hi Rolf, I'm grabbing the beta. I have played the original which was pretty good and tried the third one, I just never got into it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rolf Posted February 11, 2011 Author Share Posted February 11, 2011 (edited) It appears that the open beta has now closed but it is accessible if you preorder the final version via steam (At this point you also get the original for free if you preorder it now). From what I've played of the open beta, i've found it much more enjoyable than the original Men of War. The skirmish mode has been extremely fun and surprisingly i've seen a frequent amount of teamwork taking place on the servers. One of the biggest improvements to the game play that i've seen has been the nerfing of stealth so you that no longer have to worry about that lone rambo flamethrower sneaking behind your lines constantly. The emphasis has definitely shifted to the ordinary line infantry supported by armour. The greater range of commonwealth units is a bonus; finally i can get to play with the A34 Comet! I've went ahead and preordered the full version because the open beta has impressed me a fair bit. Edited February 11, 2011 by Rolf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeno~SPARTA~ Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 Theres a comet in the eastern front mod for tales of valor. I did download the beta but It was online only and I like to test things out against the PC. Might take a look at it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rolf Posted February 11, 2011 Author Share Posted February 11, 2011 Although the beta was online only, if you wanted to play solely against AI then you could host a skirmish game against the computer yourself and lock it. The original version lacked this skirmish mode and so you were forced with either playing single-player campaigns or online with others. Due to the fact that you could only play the Commonwealth in multiplayer and it wasn't the most popular of factions, I found the original a bit lacking in this regard. Men of War Assault Squad basically adds this new skirmish mode in, similar to that in CoH but with a different approach. Having played the Men of War:Assault Squad beta, i've found the skirmish mode to be challenging enough that you feel quite satisfied when you finaly defeat the computer. Essentially the objective is to get from the bottom of the map to the top, breaking through and capturing each computer line of defence in turn with resistance getting progressively greater. This is countered by your reinforcements becoming more advanced and heavier as you progress. It might sound like a bit of a grindfest but the developers have pulled it off well enough that the enemy never uses the same methods each game to defend and counter attack. The basic core of defences is essentially constant but the AI calls in different units in each game adding greatly to the replayability of each map. This is probably the only mode of Human vs. AI you will see outside the campaigns themselves however and there is no base building appraoch like in CoH. The reinforcements for the human players are drawn from a centralised pool of points. As time progresses the number of points increases as well, therefore the heavier tanks such as the Comet, Tiger, IS-2 etc are not available from the start. The interesting point to highlight is the pooling of the points which means that all the points can be spent by any human players. The ability to gift units under your control to others allows for a good deal of flexibilty provided you have the teamwork in place to exploit it. Although it seems natural to compare CoH and MoW:AS to each other as they are both WW2 RTS's, they're different beasts. As the beta was open and free for a while I could heartily reccommend it to everyone without a doubt. Due to the fact that the beta has closed and the full version costs ~£25 i'd be wary about claiming it was the best thing since sliced bread. It is very good though Its a bit tricky to get the hang of when you're a beginner and it potentially has a lot more micromanagement to deal with compared to CoH. If you haven't played it before and are still interested then I might wait for more reviews and opinions to come out etc before buying, otherwise i'd wait until it was a bit cheaper before purchasing if you're still unsure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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