Men of War

by Aspyr

Product Features

• Stunning graphics and accurately reproduced war machines and environments
• Three separate war campaigns: Allied Forces, Soviets, Germans
• Full control of inventory and damage systems features for more realistic gameplay
• Graphics include "war fog", breakable ice, visible damage to vehicles, and more
• Single player or Multi-player gameplay for up to 16 people via LAN or Internet

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B001QZGVEC
• Item Weight: 4 ounces
• Media: DVD-ROM
• Release Date: March 10, 2009
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,900 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
  • #25 in Video Games > PC Games > Strategy > Real-Time

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

Get ready for an intense, realistic war game that will have you on the edge of your seat. Men of War turns your PC into a war machine and takes you back to the height of World War II in Europe and North Africa with stunningly detailed graphics and authentic sound effects that will make you feel as though you were there. With hundreds of accurately reproduced tanks, guns, APCs and more -- all with sound effects recorded under actual operating conditions -- you'll take on the role of the Allied forces, Soviets, or German soldiers for an incredibly realistic interpretation of the war from three different perspectives.

Travel back to the height of World War II. View larger.

Reinterpret the war through three different perspectives. View larger.

Play with up to 15 others via LAN or Internet for exciting multiplayer action. View larger.

Realistic graphics will have you feeling like you were really there. View larger.

Realistic Graphics and Gameplay Features
Men of War's cutting-edge graphics engine produces stunning visuals and accurate details of the WWII era that include highly detailed WWII environments, authentic war machines and guns, and incredible explosions. Other smaller details greatly increase the realism of war, including "war fog", breakable ice, visible damage to vehicles, glare effects, water reflections, adjustable camera angles and much more.

To make Men of War seem even more life-like, a host of features were added for improved combat. The damage system quantifies the brutality of various weapons for a more realistic result -- in other words, the bigger the gun, the greater the damage and explosion. Weapons and vehicles include: automatic rifles, machine guns, jet grenade launchers, jeeps, tanks, anti-aircraft guns, armored cars and many more -- all of which are modeled after the real thing.

Every soldier and vehicle has its own inventory of weapons, repair kits, and other items. You can swap your inventory between vehicles or soldiers, and you can even recover inventory from fallen comrades or the enemy.

Play as the Allied Forces, Germans, or Soviets
With three separate war campaign scenarios available, it's like having three separate games in one. You can play as either the Allied Forces, the Soviets, or the Germans for a totally different objective and strategy for each campaign.

The German campaign takes place between 1941 and 1943, and you take on the role of German soldier Gunther Borg. Your journey begins with an air drop on Crete which has been captured by enemy forces, and finally leading up to the large-scale attack by Allied Forces.

The Soviet campaign begins in 1941 near the Rostov area. Your main objective is to assemble troops to defend strategic targets and stop the Germans from reaching Moscow.

As the Allied Forces, you'll battle your way through Algeria and Tunisia in Operation Torch as you try to defeat the Germans in North Africa. The central character is Terry Palmer, a former anti-war journalist, who bravely fights on the front lines in enemy territory to try and defeat the resistance.

Online Multiplayer Battles
Play with up to 15 other people via LAN or Internet through various missions, including modes like "capture the flag" and "high-value cargo". In addition, the comprehensive ratings and stats system keeps track of your successes and failures, so that you can show-off your exceptional strategy and skills to become the best of the best.

Men of War takes you back to the height of World War II with authentic war machines, awesome gameplay features, and incredibly real graphics that let you battle your way through 19 massive single player missions and a slew of multiplayer combat missions that take you right into the heart of the battle.

	System Requirements
	Minimum	Recommended
OS	Windows XP Service Pack 3 or Vista Service Pack 1
Processor	Intel Pentium 4 3.0 GHz or AMD Athlon 64 3000+	Intel Core 2 Duo 2.33 GHz or AMD Athlon 4400+
Memory	XP: 1 GB RAM, Vista: 2 GB RAM	2 GB RAM
DirectX Version	9.0c+
Video Card	128 MB gfx card (GeForce 5900/Radeon 9600 or better)	256 MB gfx card (GeForce 8600/Radeon 2600 or better)
Media Required	6X DVD-ROM Drive

Product Description

Men of War takes place in Europe and North America during the height of WWII, the story unfolding across three different campaigns played out through the eyes of the Soviet, Allied and German soldiers. Each campaign has its own scenario and structured timeline bringing a different story of the war to life. The main Soviet campaign sees two student comrades, Smimov and Kuznetzov, join the army and quickly become brothers in arms as they rise through the ranks and experience the rigour of war. The whole story unfolds across three campaigns, with five German and five alied missions, each telling a different story of WWII.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Generic Name, But Great Fun, April 13, 2009

By 

Andrew Ungricht - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Men of War (DVD-ROM)

Men of War is the third in a series of poorly-named WW2 real-time tactics games, following Soldiers: Heroes of WW2 and Faces of War. I say "tactics" rather than "strategy" because this is more of a sub-genre of games where you don't manage bases or worry much about resources; rather, the focus is on in-depth tactics and keeping your men alive while killing the enemy. I played Soldiers (the first game in this series) and found there to be a number of problems that kept me from enjoying it, particularly the finicky control scheme, horrible user interface, and gruesome difficulty that was more frustrating than gratifying. This time around, however, Best Way has got it right.

The main difference between this game and other WW2 strategy games such as, say, Company of Heroes, is that this is is an organic battlefield; it doesn't feel static, but dynamic. Every one of your soldiers has their own inventory, can sneak, or can be placed under AI auto-movement in order to cut down on your micromanaging. The game has both massive clashes with hundreds of soldiers, tanks, artillery howitzers, and special ops units, and stealthy night-mission commando raids where you surgically cut into your opposition.

To illustrate, one of my favorite missions begins with you sneaking four Russian commandos around behind German lines, placing bombs on guns and sweeping minefields. There are more guns than can be destroyed, so you have to think ahead and decide which guns, whether machinegun nests, mortars, howitzers, or anti-tank cannons, must be destroyed for the battle that will follow when the sun rises. When you're ready, the next morning's battle begins as you charge infantry across trenches, battle with tanks, and perform precision bombing runs. The mission continues as you fight through mountains, mined roads, and finally a German base; and it's totally up to you the player how to accomplish your goal.

There are some very rough edges, but they can be forgiven when you realize how fun the game is. The voice acting is the worst I have ever heard in my life (with the exception of one voice actor out of around twenty), the difficulty is pretty rough at first (though you can slow down the action to about one-third speed, which helps in single player), and there are a few unit animations that are shoddy, but overall this game has become my most-played in the last year. I would recommend this to anyone who likes RTS games, and even to many who don't.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A diamond in the rough, April 14, 2009

By 

anachreon - See all my reviews

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Men of War (DVD-ROM)

As others have noted, this game has a few rough edges. However, it is the most engaging real time tactical game that I've ever played; indeed, in my opinion it is the most enjoyable tactical game to hit the PC since the original X-COM came out in 1994.

Men of War puts you in the shoes of Russian, American and German forces during the height of World War II. You may be thinking, based on this, that it's just another Company of Heroes ("CoH") clone. It is not. The focus, pace and structure of the two games are hugely different. While CoH is a real time strategy game with limited base building and unit recruitment, Men of War gives you some soldiers, and perhaps some heavy weapons and vehicles, and that's basically it - everything else in the mission you will have to find on the battlefield. Your men can drive every vehicle they find on the field, can use trucks to pull artillery weapons, can load either high explosive or armor piercing shells into the heavy guns. Tanks can drive through buildings and walls.

The detail here is incredible. From the realistic physics (the angle of impact an armor piercing shell hits a tank, and where it hits the tank, make a big difference, for example) to the fact that each and every soldier has his own inventory and weapon proficiencies, there's a lot to fiddle with, which is great. A lot of times, you will control only a small front in a much larger battle. I haven't ever seen such a large scale simulation of battle in a game of this type before.

Two other fantastic features are "direct control" - you can take direct control of each unit in the game (enormous fun with tanks) - and multiplayer coop, enabling you to play through the campaigns with your buddies online.

I could go on, but I won't. For the discerning strategy gamer, Men of War is a must buy. It's not for everybody - I have read some complaints from those expecting another CoH; there is almost an overwhelming amount to manage, and the game can be very difficult - but what the game does, it does extraordinarily well. I think it's a modern classic.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Patience is required, February 15, 2010

By 

J. Spiegler (Long Island, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:2.0 out of 5 stars 

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Men of War (DVD-ROM)

After reading a number of reviews that compared Men of War (MoW) to Company of Heroes (CoH), I bought this game with the mindset that it would involve much more realistic military strategy. I can say it most certainly does, but at a heavy price: fun.

If Company of Heroes is like playing a game of checkers, Men of War is a game of chess.

I've played my share of real-time strategy games, but to say MoW is 'for experts' and requires a 'lengthy learning curve' would be an understatement. To my dismay, there was no interactive tutorial mission. The instruction manual does not get into much detail, other than what each command does.

The concepts of the commands are not complicated, but there are a lot of them. A few of the commands I simply could not imagine using in a strategy game; like holster weapon, or melee attack. They may as well add 'Throw rocks'. Learning how and when to use each command effectively is much more involved compared to most RTS games. It'll take you a lot of time to figure out what the heck you're doing, before you can focus on any serious strategy.

While there is no building or resource management in MoW, the micro-management of your individual infantry and vehicles makes this game much more complicated than most. This drags the game play down to an absurdly slow crawl.

Some elements of micro-management I could appreciate. For example, controlling the stance of your infantry (e.g. standing, kneeling, prone) to affect their aim and protection is useful. And ordering soldiers to repair tread damage on your immobilized tank is much more realistic than 'zapping it' back to health with a magic wrench.

Other elements I found to be excessive. In the first mission, my one and only tank had to be repaired twice. That's fine. But near the end of the mission, my tank stopped dead. What could be wrong? Out of gas.. Worse yet, I could not locate a gas can anywhere. So my troops couldn't siphon fuel to refill the tank. This is called a 'realistic annoyance'. I'm sorry, but I'm not looking for a level of realism where my tank runs out of gas and my soldiers have to get out and walk. (Sadly, there is no 'Get out and push' command. My tank was abandoned.)

As far as the details of the game itself, the sound effects are mediocre, though the voice acting is okay. While many reviewers have praised the graphics, I maxed out all the settings and still found them to be very plain. Being able to crash a tank through the house two enemy soldiers are hiding behind should be fun, but the animations just aren't very exciting. Like its slower pace of game play, MoW lags behind CoH for graphics and sound.

This game is much slower and more detail-oriented than other RTS games, like CoH or World In Conflict. The emphasis is on thinking, not reacting, so be prepared to sacrifice excitement for realism. If you typically play first person shooters or fast-paced RTS games (e.g. Call of Duty, Command & Conquer), you'll want to steer clear of MoW.

If you're prepared to account for every element involved in deciding, planning, executing, and adjusting a battle plan on the field of combat (from sharing ammunition between soldiers, to planting bushes to camouflage your artillery) then this is the game for you. Patience is required.