➤ On the front line 🎮

In some ways similar to Company of Heroes, Men of War is less detailed in some graphics but richer in terms of troop management. At times too rich with gasoline to use to refuel vehicles, bullets to collect and calibers to manage depending on the objective. As in Company of Heores troops automatically stoop when under enemy fire and respond adequately to sudden situations, but enjoy more varied AI, soldiers move while maintaining cover when moving, enemies cling to positions from defend with all their strength and each unit or vehicle behaves in a specific way based on its strengths and weaknesses.

This, combined with a deformable terrain designed to allow bypasses and ambushes, gives a more realistic feeling than the competition at least in strategic terms, thanks also to the enormous number of units, weapons and vehicles faithfully reported from reality to the game code. In addition, the product developed by Best Way offers much greater control over units that are over 50 and can be individually "guided" by developing very complex attack strategies. The individual control mode, in fact, allows you to transform a unit into a sort of hero directly controlled by the player who can move with the directional arrows and aim directly at the desired targets. This is perhaps the most peculiar of Men of War's distinctive elements and is an extremely fun feature, although it is not always recommended to leave your troops in standalone mode to pursue it.

The secret of the attack is a good defense

However, despite the news, the heart of Men of War: Assault Squad remains the scoring model, which characterizes all modes and allows you to spend the points earned by conquering positions to "buy" reinforcements. And the center of the gameplay remains the covers which this time are even more relevant since Assault Squad is focused on ground troops. In any case, the gameplay, although faithful to the series, is enriched by two new units, by evident aesthetic improvements and by a more refined artificial intelligence, and these improvements are clearly reflected in the overall performance of what happens on the field of battle. The physics of the units also comes to the aid of the few aesthetic flaws and during the explosions produces credible and dramatic dips. But the infantry has also improved in many other respects. Now it is more difficult for our troops to go crazy for bugs in pathfinding and even the opponents are more credible and above all more attentive. Among other things, the improvement of artificial intelligence is reflected in the behavior of the battle front, which moves and credibly animates even leaving only the units driven by the CPU to fight. The most successful mode is undoubtedly the Skirmish which allows you to face long missions in single or cooperative up to four players. With the difficulty maximized, collaboration becomes necessary and every achievement is incredibly satisfying.

In short, Assault Squad is based on the use of materials that can be spent in a very varied way, such as MG or mortars, but vulnerable and that we must use with reasoned tactics, for example to eliminate the opposing heavy machine gun without too many losses, especially in the initial stages. And in the wise use of heavy weapons, in the secondary phases of missions, in order to eliminate armored enemy vehicles and positions. Once a position has been conquered it is necessary to defend it as even the opponents, often in large forces, have reinforcements available. But since the points guaranteed by the conquests allow you to call in other soldiers, the task is not the most difficult, unless you miss an attack and find yourself discovered during an offensive by the enemy. To complicate matters, however, there are secret weapons that can turn the tide of a fight in no time, although, for example, a pair of stationary machine guns are able to effectively neutralize the so-called "conscription" that allows the Russians to invade the camp with a real army of light infantry.

Not just skirmish

But the Skirmish halfway between single player and cooperative is not the only novelty, although it is probably the richest mode. The focus of this expansion, which is almost a sequel given the amount of maps and content, are the multiplayer modes that obviously allow you to acquire ranks and climb the rankings. The multiplayer, which works through a simple and quick server selector, offers a total of 37 maps ranging from 1vs1 to 8vs8 and allow us to challenge and cooperate with an already experienced and fierce community. The methods offered are very different from each other and allow you to make the most of the peculiarities of Men of War: Assault Squad. Assault Zones is the most classic mode with the conquest of the key zones that guarantee the points to acquire new troops and must be maintained to win the game.

Compared to Company of Heroes, reinforcements are less expendable and this further increases the competitive dimension of the clashes. Frontlines instead takes us along a battle front with one side defending and one engaged in attacking. Each front has a time limit to prepare, after which a real war begins, often fought by hundreds of units that are guaranteed by a rather generous starting point base. The preponderance of the infantry of Men of War: Assault Squad it creates the illusion of being really on the front line and for lovers of realistic situations this is perhaps the most satisfying mode. But in this case the vehicles are more present thanks also to the greater availability of points, although the preparation time makes the battlefield dangerous for motorized units that will have to contend with traps, mines and specialized infantry units. In addition to the basic modes we also have the ability to customize each type of game and Best Way has also included a very simple editor that allows you to quickly draw rather large and complex maps. Obviously we do not find the same possibilities as a complex system like that of Starcraft II, but simplicity is often even more important, especially when the goal is not to create mods but to better balance the maps.

Great but not perfect

In terms of aesthetics and the physical engine, however, although rich, Men of War: Assault Squad it still does not reach the top, although it enjoys notable improvements. The explosions, the impact of the shots and the detail of the troops and the animations of Company of Heroes are still unique in the videogame landscape and have been undefeated for the past 5 years, except perhaps for Dawn of War II, also from Relic, but different details such as the detailed architecture and the reflection of the planes in the water of the rice fields of Men of War: Assault Squad however, they underline a high level of care for staging. Furthermore, the number of units and the vastness of some maps cannot fail to impress and when it comes to the item destructibility, which as we have anticipated also includes the terrain, Men of War defends itself very well with a convincing destruction and capable of generating even new shelters for our infantry that must never be out in the open. The numerous maps range from very different climatic zones. The lakes area and the Soviet forests, the desert and the eastern rice fields are characterized not only by architecture and type of terrain but also thanks to the vegetation and environmental colors.

The vegetation, in addition to being as varied as the structures ranging from the vineyards to the animal enclosures, is rich and responds to stimuli such as shocks and explosions. In addition, the numerous pools of water are produced in dozens of reflections in real time that further enhance the aesthetic result and distract from the units modeled not in an exceptional way. Unfortunately, the deformed terrain still causes some problems for the artificial intelligence and in some cases the physics of debris and vehicles is lower than that of the competition, as well as the feeling of control over the troops is lower especially due to a marked latency in the response. commands. Moreover, if the total destruction of the buildings is essential to recreate the war theater, it is not always beautiful to look at and there is room for various improvements even for bullets and explosions. Among other things, even if the numerous troop management options are undoubtedly realistic, the focus of the title is on the action and some management elements can be distractions rather than pleasant additions. For example, the need to refuel the vehicles adds almost nothing to the gameplay and forces you to look out for elements that could be kept, but in the form of automated animations. Obviously the idea is excellent and could be exploited even more effectively perhaps by introducing infirmaries and supply structures to defend. Although this peculiarity should probably be exploited in single player mode which would allow to further lengthen the timing of the matches and transform an annoying task into a game element. Finally we found that in multiplayer the engine suffers a lot by jumping from 10 to 50 frames per second. Generally the title is still playable but it is undoubtedly a symptom of poor optimization.

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Men of War continues to improve both in code and in aesthetics, even if most of the new features are put at the service of the infantry. In any case, the vehicles remain important and the management of the armored units does not fail, especially in the Frontline mode. Furthermore, Assault Squad undoubtedly succeeds in its intent, which is to provide a complex and complete multiplayer with the absurd amount of thirty-seven splendidly designed maps and with a first-rate cooperative skirmish mode. In short, although there are no revolutionary innovations, Men of War: Assault Squad is an incredibly rich product that undoubtedly offers enough for a field promotion from the Best Way development team. The finishing work is remarkable and the excellent coverage mechanics of the series are enhanced by the preponderance of the infantry that, through the "assault team", is faced with very complex challenges both against a more fierce artificial intelligence, and against the players. which, in addition to being navigated by now, can now count on increasingly reliable units.