Men of War II Review

There was a time when games based on World War II were all the rage, with releases ranging from first-person shooters to stealth-based espionage. However, the setting slowly faded from popularity with time and eventually, games based on the Last Big War became less common. That isn’t to say that they don’t exist, and developer Best Way recently released their latest game, Men of War II.

Men of War II is an action-based battlefield simulator with an online component, allowing players to take control of squads and battle them over large maps. The basic premise is similar to the Company of Heroes series, with players focusing on lines of battle and keeping their casualty numbers down while completing the mission. The question is if this will be a battle for the history books, or if it will fall by the wayside. 

The first thing to note is that there is no overarching plot in Men of War II, although there are three different campaigns that players can engage with. The first follows the Russians, then the Americans, and finally the Germans. However, there is no reason to play these aside from learning some of the basics of the game. The plots occurring in them are interesting enough, even if the writing is a bit bare-bones. The reality is that this kind of game is built around the stories you craft with your friends, which is where the PvP and PvE maps come in.

The gameplay manages to be both very simple and very complex. First, you won’t be building bases in this game; instead, you have a set number of troops and reinforcements available. These troops are determined by which battalion you pick at the start, with options ranging from infantry battalions to armour. Each has strengths and weaknesses, and it takes some practice to figure out how best to use them. For instance, a tank battalion may appear the best, but you need fuel and ammo to keep the tanks running and dedicated anti-armour will take you out in moments. 

The issues begin to arise when you realise that Men of War II is not great at explaining how most of its mechanics work; this isn’t a game that lets you just pick up and play, which I did accidentally at first. It wasn’t until I went through the tutorial that I started to have fun. However, even with this knowledge, the campaigns were annoyingly vague on what you needed to do to progress, making them the less interesting option.

The other issue is that the UI could be better at explaining exactly what you can do and what each button will do. For instance, to refuel a tank, you need to find a fuel car, open the car's inventory, move the can to the character and then walk back to the tank. This could have been as simple as having a “refuel button” on the car, but nope.

One important thing to note: while there are single-player campaigns, the game will still push online play. This might turn away some who want to play alone, and it is possible to do so, but Men of War II doesn’t make it the default option. 

However, when the big multiplayer battles get going, with battalions working with each other to maximise the movement and counter enemy pushes, then the game feels great… it's just getting to that point that is difficult. The best way to put it is that when the game clicks, it really clicks. The realism of the troops means you have to keep them in cover while moving around the map and cover them with tank fire while your friends perform bombing runs on artillery; it all feels great. 

Visually, Men of War II looks fine; the environments are rich and detailed, although the troops are a bit bland. The battlefields become suitably chaotic, and there’s enough variety in the maps that you can really fight in any battlefield you want. If you want hordes of infantry running across fields under machine gun fire, then you can have that, or you can set up a battle in a French city with games of up to 5v5. Add to this the lighting effects from the guns, and it all looks great, although, once again, the UI is a bit overly complex.

Men of War II is a game that when it works, it really works. The issue is that it can turn some people away with the initial learning curve and its push for more online play. If you and your friends want to run your own army and battle on the fields of WWII then this isn’t the worst game to play, but alone it might not be as tempting.