Men of War: Assault Squad 2 (PC)

At some point in the 2000s, World War II-themed video games flooded the market, and it seemed like every other game that came out had players reliving the epic conflict that shaped the course of the world. A few years ago though, the waters began to recede, and while there are still a few first-person shooters set in that era, it’s not much more than a steady trickle. On the other hand, the declining RTS genre survives in no small part due to games set during this time. Men of War: Assault Squad 2, the latest installment in Digitalmindsoft’s Men of War series, continues in this vein.

History without a story

Since video games have been plumbing the depths of the Second World War for years now, it’s almost impossible to design a campaign that won’t leave players feeling like they’ve been there already. Men of War remains true to form, dispensing with overarching campaigns altogether, and instead the single-player game lets players play a variety of skirmish missions as several different factions (the US, the British Commonwealth, the USSR, Germany, Japan). Missions have to be unlocked, of course, but no one mission is necessarily connected to the others, and they’re strewn across all theaters of the war. Whether this will provide you with enough motivation to play through each nation’s missions is something you’ll have to find out for yourself, as the missions really don’t offer all that much variety. Almost every mission has you capturing enemy-controlled sectors and then defending them against counterattacks.

Men of War does leave you almost absolute freedom to decide how you want to take each sector, though, so it really can be a lot of fun. But I’m still not sure this will be reason enough to play through all 40 missions, many of which are recycled from the previous game. The basic gameplay hasn’t changed one bit – you start each mission with a certain number of units, and are given the opportunity to call in reinforcements at certain times. Units include over 250 vehicles and 200 infantry types to choose from, from simple militia troops to the mighty Tiger II heavy tank. But when your troops are on the field, it’s not enough to just send them to the front and wait till you’ve worn down the enemy.

And this is where we take a look at the game’s greatest strength, as well as the thing that will drive many players away: micromanagement. In MoW:AS2 it’s possible to arm and outfit every unit, down to each individual soldier. Each unit has its own inventory that you can fill with everything you can find on the battlefield, no matter if it’s a Russian fur cap that just looks cooler, or whether it’s a more efficient weapon. As awesome as this feature is, it also means you’ll have to take on some very important tasks. For example, you’re going to need to make sure each unit under your command has enough ammunition, unless you want to deal with some nasty surprises in the heat of battle. And if a unit does run out of ammo, he’s got no choice but to remain under cover until he dies, is given fresh supplies of ammo or bandages, or is ordered to retreat. It’s the same with vehicles, which rely on ammunition, fuel, and repair kits. While you will have to equip each individual unit yourself, the game does feature a truly clever squad system so you won’t have to control each unit individually. Squads can be formed or disbanded whenever you feel like you need to do so. You can even enter “Direct Control” to control individual soldiers and vehicles with mouse and keyboard. If you find the time for it, that is, as most of the time you’ll be too busy with equipping and reinforcing your units, tactically moving them about the field and reacting to enemy maneuvers that you’ll hardly have to time to play tank commander on top of it.

The game’s other great strength is one that really doesn’t have a downside; namely, the extremely realistic damage system. A tank hit on its tracks will actually be damaged on the tracks instead of losing points on a health bar, and you’d better be careful when firing, because shots won’t reach their targets if something’s in the way, whether it’s a building, trees, or even another unit.

When friends turn into enemies

The main focus of Men of War: Assault Squad 2, however, is its multiplayer mode (via LAN or online), so it’s no wonder that this is also where most of the major changes have been made. For example, this is the first game in the series that links up with your Steam profile. Matches also run a little but more smoothly than in the previous game, and can now accommodate up to 16 players. There are six multiplayer modes in all, including a co-op skirmish mode against an AI enemy, as well as the usual plain old free-for-all. The others are various kinds of conquest and assault challenges. And the map selection is nothing to sneeze at either, with 65 different maps covering regions as diverse as tropical islands and Russian villages. Another new feature, but one I’m sure no one’s going to complain about, is the leveling system – you have to level up your profile to unlock all the units in multiplayer mode. The developers have said that this is designed to help players get used to each one of the diverse range of units before trying out new ones. But it also seems like they’re trying to force some long-term motivation into the game.

The horrors of war

Another of the game’s major weakness is how hard it is to control everything. With large armies, it’s almost impossible to do all the micromanaging necessary without lots and lots of practice, as you usually have to select every single unit at one time or another. This can often mean death for entire formations if you don’t make sure to move them back because you’re still not finished giving your machine gunners ammo yet.

War is ugly, but sometimes it looks so good

While Men of War: Assault Squad 2 uses the same engine as its predecessor, they’ve also made a few improvements, too, resulting in landscapes, vehicles, and infantry units that not only look great, but are accurate in every detail. The destruction of various landscape elements, buildings, and units looks awesome, and gets by without the over-dramatic Hollywood-style explosions known from games like Company of Heroes. They’ve done a similar job with the game’s sound – everything’s very realistic, which means it’s not as loud and dramatic as you’d typically expect from a World War II game. It’s only when you get down to the lines spoken by individual units that there’s really anything to complain about – it appears that even Japanese soldiers speak only English. It would have been nice here if they had each nation make comments in their own language.