Men of War: Assault Squad Beta Impressions

With Digital Mind Soft making the Men of War: Assault Squad beta open to everyone, I’ve had proper hands on of it(have been playing it co-op the past couple of days). For those that are not familiar with the Men of War games, these are hardcore world war 2 themed RTS games with no base building. It’s a tank nuts dream come true seeing your precious Tiger II take out a puny Sherman kilometres away.



There is a lot more emphasis on realism and locational damage on armour. You can essentially destroy a tank with a single shot from an anti tank gun. Scavenging from the enemy was also a big part of Men of War as you were most of the time out numbered(you can repair tanks that have not got their hulls blown up).



Assault Squad is a multiplayer only standalone expansion of Men of War. It still features co-op that was the best mode in the original Men of War(which featured co-op of the campaign). But Assault Squad introduces co-op in a new multiplayer like skirmish mode. My only beef with this co-op skirmish mode is that it’s not quite like playing those single player co-op missions from the first game. The missions from Men of War were very scripted and the missions often opened up to huge battlefields.

Even though the voice acting was bad and some of the missions were a little buggy, they had a certain charm and personality to them, which quite frankly is lost in Assault Squads skirmish mode. In skirmish mode, you and three other buddies take control of a few infantry units in the beginning of the game and try to take control of control points on the map.



Controlling these control points will earn you MP points which allow you to call in more units to the battlefield. Each of these control points also unlock new unit types, so it becomes imperative you take the control point that allows you to bring in anti tank units 10 to 15 minutes in the game or else you’ll be faced with enemy armoured vehicles with only some infantry carrying AT grenades.

It certainly adds more strategy in Men of War games as you’ll often have to weigh the priority of gaining the ability to call in specific units and the ease of winning over a control point that is geographically in an easier position to attack. Three control points are open to you at any one time and capturing one will unlock the next one further down the battlefield. Once you’ve captured the last three control points, you’ve won.



What the skirmish mode does do is remove the predictiveness of the previous games scripted scenarios. In Men of War, you’d often get the gist of a mission once you’ve played it once or twice. You’ll know what enemy units are stationed where and what enemy reinforcements will be arriving and when. In Assault Squad, this is entirely removed as they’ve moved to a dynamic AI system.

You won’t know exactly what the enemy reinforcements will be and when they will be sending them or where will they focus their attack on. Constantly keeping you on your toes. The dynamic AI in the beta isn’t quite done yet and still needs a lot of work. I’m sure DMS will be working out the kinks before the final release(hopefully).



The beta also includes other multiplayer modes such as assault, combat, and frontlines that are all player vs player modes that are from the original Men of War(Skirmish is the new big feature touted by the developers). Overall I like what I see, the graphical improvements are good and the improvements to the sound effect quality is especially pronounced. I’m looking forward to this game next year. If you’re into RTS games that have a more tactical bent to them, this is a game to watch.

Interested in getting in on the open beta? Go over here

Note: This is not a demo nor is it a near release beta. Assault Squad is still a ways off. It’s not going to be released this year and has not received a solid release date yet(other than 2011). Don’t expect a polished game here. It’s is unfinished. This is a real beta.