Men of War: Vietnam Review ... - Video Game Writers

Review: Men of War: Vietnam

Written by Phil Aronson | Friday, September 9, 2011

Platforms:	PC
Publisher(s):	1C Company, 505 Games, Aspyr Media
Developer(s):	Best Way, Digitalmindsoft
Genre(s):	Real-time tactics
Release Date:	September 9, 2011
ESRB Rating:	16+
Buy It/Rent It/Skip It?:	Wait for sale

Men of War: Vietnam can be best described as a tactical real-time-strategy game, which is a stand-alone expansion to Men of War. It has all the up-close and personal action you would expect from a traditional tactically based game, with a basis around real-time combat. A common theme in this game is constantly being outnumbered, meaning you have to outplay the AI from mission one. This creates a challenging, yet satisfying combination of mechanics that offer fun for those who are willing to test their limits? and their patience

It?s all about tactics

By riding the fine line between tactical and full scale real-time-strategy, Men of War: Vietnam creates a unique two-genre combination, just like the original game and its prior expansion packs. At the start of each mission, you?ll find yourself in charge of a very small group of soldiers. Each soldier also has their own inventory, where guns, ammo, grenades and other useful items can be found. You can ?loot? fallen enemies and a number of different objects to gain supplies for yourself. Everything has a limited numbers of uses, in favor of realism, making looting not only recommended, but essential for victory in most situations. To top it off, soldiers can only carry a limited number of items, with each item having varying sizes in an inventory that is Diablo-esque in fashion, which means you can?t mindlessly grab up everything you find.

Combat can be as shallow or as deep as you want it to be. Soldiers can shelter behind many things, both natural and man-made, allowing them to sneak past enemies or have an offensive and/or defensive advantage. As you?ll quickly find out, traveling with your full squad at the same time is generally not good for most missions. Having your soldier that?s equipped with a long range mortar, or sniper rifle, in the front lines would be inefficient and potentially suicidal. Players are forced to take a look at what role each soldier can play, then try to work to their advantages through good positioning. An interesting features allows you to gain direct control over the line of fire of one of your units. This is handy in situations where you need extremely accurate firing or better single-target focusing, but this is distracted upon by the the need to manually shift the angle of your view, so you?re mechanically unable to use it in some situations.

Some missions will have you interact with vehicles right away, like a boat for example, which forces you to adjust any potential preplanned strategies you had. Being stealthy with the engine of a boat roaring is rather difficult, for obvious reasons, which is why being aware of your surroundings is important. One wrong move will sometimes cost you the entire mission. At the same time, there?s enough freedom that you?ll feel your choices weren?t forced by any kind of restraints and the results of the mission came from your own good (or bad) decision making.

From stealthy positions like this, you can silently secure a kill without getting injured or raising an alarm.

Never forgiving

Thanks to how much is going on at once, a tutorial system would have been very handy. It does offer a number of on-the-go hints as you progress through missions, along with on the loading screen, but the learning curve is fairly steep straight out the door. Players have to learn how different weapons work (some can pierce armor for example), which items are needed for which situation, along with general judgmental skills. If you have no experience with the series, it?s tough to know if you should bull-rush in, throw a grenade, or wait it out for better positioning. If you take the time, you?ll learn it as you play, but those lessons are often times found out the hard way: through losing missions.

The environmental interaction system is a lot of fun in combat, but it offers a fairly inconvenient flaw at the same time: annoying camera controls. Thanks to all the detailed shrubbery, there?s a lot of visual obstacles that prevent you from seeing the action even if you?re directly over it. This requires a lot of shifting of camera angles for some battles, which is time spent not having more control over your troops. All the fiddling with the camera takes away from the overall thrill of combat itself. It would be useful if it ?ghosted? trees by allowing you to see through them, but also see their presence. However, one could argue that the lack of easy vision adds to the realism of the experience, but that should be optional rather than required.

The hints are your only tutorial and even then they don?t tell you everything you need to know.

Bothersome camera, lively visuals

Even if you dislike the awkward use of the camera, Men of War: Vietnam is pleasurable to look at. There?s a lot of attention to details that almost make it feel like a third-person shooter when zoomed in close and from the appropriate angle. Of course, playing like this is not always functional, but when you have a minute, it?s worthwhile to enjoy your surroundings and better immerse yourself in the experience. The movement of the water or swaying of trees adds a subtle touch of life that makes the environment much more engaging than it otherwise would have been. On the flip side, a few animations also seemed a bit rushed, especially with a number of vehicles, which occasionally sticks out in a less than appealing way.

Rounding out the game are two, five-mission campaigns, which feature full voice acting beforehand and during some segments within the mission itself. The voice acting is fairly solid, if not a bit exaggerated at times. One of the Soviets has an especially irritable way of talking, which may be due to the actor stretching their own vocal talents, but it?s still bearable at minimum. The storylines of both the Americans and the Soviets are fairly clich? and are clearly inserted for the sake meaning behind the missions, which makes the plot satisfactory at most, since it accomplishes that goal.

One of the instances where direct control over a unit, in this case a tank, was very helpful.

It?s challenging, in a good way

Men of War: Vietnam offers a fairly bold approach to gaming due to the simple fact it won?t please many, much like its predecessors. Its refined tactical nature makes it entirely different from a standardized real-time strategy game. The higher difficulty level makes it much less approachable. Even so, the entire gameplay concept is a lot of fun and offers an experience unlike many other games you?ll find on the market. Men of War: Vietnam is most definitely not the game for everyone, but anyone who enjoys deep, smaller scale real-time tactical gameplay, doesn?t mind a challenge, and has a lot of patience, then this is a worthwhile time investment.

About the Author

Phil Aronson is a college student, video game enthusiast, and all-around Nintendo expert. Although the Big N is his focus, he appreciates and enjoys what all gaming systems have to offer. Using a critical eye, and an open mind, his philosophy is simple: don't focus on what a game isn't, enjoy a game for what it is.

Source: http://videogamewriters.com/review-men-of-war-vietnam-23222

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