Men of War: Condemned Heroes

[Berekän]

New 'Men of War' game's about to be released, the 12th of April:

Men of War: Condemned Heroes tells the story of one of the infamous Soviet penal battalions during the WWII. These battalions are famous for being formed under Stalin’s “No step back!” order #227. They consisted of court-martialed officers that were given a chance to redeem their crimes, or incompetence, in blood by serving as the lowest enlisted rank in a battalion that was assigned the most dangerous tasks. These battalions’ images are surrounded by many myths, and this game tells the truth about these regiments based on real evidence from their former members.

Take command of one of these notorious companies and lead it to victory against all odds through most of the war on the Eastern front. Fight from desperate battles in 1942 in the area of Volyn in the Ukraine, to the massive operation “Bagration” in the Brest area, Magnush bridgehead and Warsaw area in Poland and finally to attacks on the German Altdam and Stettin near the end of the war.

Key Features:

• Ultimate single player experience – 4 campaigns telling the story of the penal company from crucial 1942 to victorious 1945
• Truth about Soviet penal battalions from their former members
• New ultra-detailed photorealistic human models, faces and uniforms
• Bonus single player missions focusing on other non-penal army units

There's no much info about it, unfortunately, but it seems similar to Red Tide, that's it, a new campaign focused on small scale groups.

If you purchase it by Steam before it's released you can get 'Men of War: Vietnam' for free, so hurry up if you want to play both these titles.

 

[Quilty]

They keep focusing on these small-scale battles, a.k.a. Commandos style, even though that's not where the strength of the engine lies. I wish they would just focus on beefing up Assault Squad instead of this trickle of mediocre titles.

 

[Erzherzog]

One of the most extensive vehicle lists of any WW2 game with one of the most realistic damage models, and it's the third fucking small unit borefest. Red Tide was amusing. Vietnam was stupid. No hope for this one. Do they even have any new unit models this time?

Men of War had a better SP campaign than any of these stupid SP only titles. That's what I don't get.

 

[Cassidy]

Battles of Khalkhin Gol

Why not release an EP based on what is definitively among least explored of all Soviet battles and with coop and competitive MP support?

Are horses that difficult to model?

 

[spectre]

Last game in the series I genuinely enjoyed was... Faces of War? They really need to get their act together and put that engine to good use.
I've been thinking, a non-linear campaign focused on guerilla warfare (can be world war II), a more strategic Operation Flashpoint Resistance.
That would be heavan.

They keep focusing on these small-scale battles, a.k.a. Commandos style, even though that's not where the strength of the engine lies. I wish they would just focus on beefing up Assault Squad instead of this trickle of mediocre titles.

I actually believe the opposite. The series began as a commandos style game and I think the engine was built from the ground up to accomodate small scale battles. You can see that in the inventory mechanics and the GUI. They tried to fix it in the later installments, but in my opinion all the leftovers from the Soldiers: heroes of WW2 era go back and bite you in the ass. I always had trouble controlling more than 8-10 squads unless I played in constant slo-mo. Whenever I turned my back and stopped babysitting my units it always ended up as a disaster.

Still, you may be right, thing is, they need to make up their goddamned mind about what kind of game they want to make and stick to it from beginning to end.

 

[whitemithrandir]

Assault squad more or less got multiplayer down perfectly.

 

[Haba]

Yes, MoW is built for small scale action, large campaigns are very hard to handle in it. I am guessing they are also very difficult to craft, since even large scale missions are built on scripting like the smaller ones.

 

[whitemithrandir]

Speaking of which - any one of you guys playing Assault squad? Could use a 2v2 partner.

 

[spectre]

I'm not too much into RTS multiplayer (last one I enjoyed was Total Annihilation). That's probably why I let assault squad slide. Played a few AI skirmishes, but was underwhelmed.
What's multiplayer like, by the way? I imagine I would suck massive balls at it, seeing how I prefer playing at slower speeds, otherwise the game feels too random for me.

 

[whitemithrandir]

It's... pretty intense. No base building, no mining, none of that. You get a set number of points to spend on units, and you make every single one of those units count.

If there's one word to describe men of war multiplayer, it's "unforgiving".

Everything dies to everything. The biggest tank can die to a rifleman chucking an AT grenade and the most elite veteran will die to an ill thrown grenade rolling downhill. A lot of the game evolves into manoeuvring your units to get that clear shot or flank around to catch a heavy tank at his side.

It's not a fast game by any means, but nor is it slow. It's mostly 5 minutes of carefully moving your units around, feinting, buying time punctuated by 10 seconds of fire exchange that usually ends with one or more tanks getting blown up.

It's a lot of fun, and the community are usually pretty good sports.

It doesn't take much to get into it, but you will end up being frustrated at having an expensive unit get blown up by a stick of dynamite because that bush you thought was a bush was actually home to an enemy scout.

On the other hand, there's nothing more satisfying than nailing an enemy panther in the shot trap between the barrel and the turret with a hellcat by sending an AP shell through two fences, a window, some frenchie's living room, a nazi officer's head, and the burning wreckage of an armored car.

 

[Erzherzog]

I would normally jump at the chance for a 2 v 2 partner. 1 v 1 is fun but multiple teammates opens up the unit list quite a bit.

Extremely busy though. Doubt I could.

 

[Steve]

On the other hand, there's nothing more satisfying than nailing an enemy panther in the shot trap between the barrel and the turret with a hellcat by sending an AP shell through two fences, a window, some frenchie's living room, a nazi officer's head, and the burning wreckage of an armored car.

Or more frustrating if you just happened to spend all your points on that panther.

 

[Random Word]

On the other hand, there's nothing more satisfying than nailing an enemy panther in the shot trap between the barrel and the turret with a hellcat by sending an AP shell through two fences, a window, some frenchie's living room, a nazi officer's head, and the burning wreckage of an armored car.

Real Men kill Panthers with Heroic Daimler Armoured Cars. Also, Panthers have no such shot trap, that was the pre-patch KV-85.

Speaking of which - any one of you guys playing Assault squad? Could use a 2v2 partner

I see how it is, you disappear, no word for months, and now we're suddenly seeing other people. I save your ass after you lose a Pz IV to a ZiS 2 for the umpteenth time or cover for you while you save up for something silly like a Black Prince and this is the thanks I get :p

Slightly more on topic, Men of War has the best multiplayer of any real-time tactical game bar none. I've never really concerned myself with the single player, but if you've never tried it I'd thoroughly recommend giving the multiplayer a shot, no matter how bad you think you'd be. The massive unit and weapon variety, completely destructible environments, solid ballistics and vehicle damage model (It isn't ARMA, but it tracks the kinetic energy of each round, bleeding KE as it passes through obstacles or other vehicles, considers angle of impact and armour slope, and models a variety of vehicle components which can be individually damaged and repaired.), dynamic visibility modifiers (Vehicles can't see infantry very well, especially not when in cover, brush, or when lying down. The faster you move the more likely the enemy will see you on their screen, the more noise you make the more likely the enemy will see you, etc.), well designed maps, and sensible game modes - i.e. not Combat (I liked the original MoW better for game types, Valuable Cargo was awesome) - make it a real joy to play.

 

[Erzherzog]

Combat is an acceptable gamemode if you're not a fag. Anyone setting a frontline on their side of the map is a fag.

 

[Random Word]

Anyone setting a frontline on their side of the map

i.e. everyone who plays Combat

is a fag.

A game mode with zero tactical incentive to leave your spawn is an awful game mode.

 

[whitemithrandir]

I see how it is, you disappear, no word for months, and now we're suddenly seeing other people. I save your ass after you lose a Pz IV to a ZiS 2 for the umpteenth time or cover for you while you save up for something silly like a Black Prince and this is the thanks I get :p

That's because YOU NEVER PLAY MEN OF WAR. You are a woman of peace.

Also - I'm flying around before heading back to the US in May.

Combat is an acceptable gamemode if you're not a fag. Anyone setting a frontline on their side of the map is a fag.

Combat is throwing shit at each other hoping for the best and playing the points metagame all day long.

Why would you play a game mode where there's no objective?

 

[Haba]

We should have a Codex MoW match with proper AAR in GP some day.

 

[Random Word]

That's because YOU NEVER PLAY MEN OF WAR. You are a woman of peace.

I resent that, I've played plenty of MoW since you disappeared - it just wasn't with you because you weren't there. Funny, that. I had to get Safety and all his friends to play - and that was hard, I practically had to beat them over the head with how good it was before they clued in and realised they loved it - , because no one else would.

 

[Random Word]

We should have a Codex MoW match with proper AAR in GP some day.

Stupid 30 minute edit limit - I'm always game to play MoW, though perhaps less so in the immediate future as this is exam season. My Steam username is Random Word if you use it. Consider me in if you're looking for players.

 

[GarfunkeL]

Stupid 30 minute edit limit

Only for newfags :p

But seriously, if I liked Steel Panthers and Close Combats but never really got into Combat Missions, would I enjoy these games? I've avoided them so far because my understanding is that they far closer to CM than CC or SP.

 

[Berekän]

Combat Mission games are TB, right? MoW games are RT so I don't think it would be fair to compare them both, just give them a try because they're p. different from everything there's out there. Think 'Company of Heroes' but really complex

 

[GarfunkeL]

Combat Missions are RTwP. Or more precisely, you give your units their orders and then press play to observe what happens. Never tried CoH either.

 

[Random Word]

The correct analogy there is, "Company of Heroes is Fisher Price My First Men of War". Men of War has a lot more in common with Close Combat than Combat Mission. Think of it like a much more detailed Close Combat without morale or experience but with physics and destructible environments that matter. Different units have different skills with their weapons, but that's entirely determined by their level of training before you purchase them.

 

[GarfunkeL]

Hmm, sounds good. Will have to give it a try when I get the chance.

 

[Cassidy]

We should have a Codex MoW match with proper AAR in GP some day.

Too bad right now I only have the vanilla MoW, although I do intend to buy some of the MP add-ons eventually.