Men of War: Assault Squad 2 is a Real-Time Strategy game that is a muddy affair, but one that can be incredibly rewarding at the same time. Men of War: Assault Squad 2 isn’t your typical cookie cutter RTS game that you may be used to. The game isn’t focused on any type of resource management to advance play as no Tiberium, Dilithium, or Gold will be needed. What this means is that you won’t be spending most of your time mining minerals or gathering resources to purchase buildings or units, which makes sense as the game is set during World War 2 when SCVs hadn’t yet been invented and Orcs have long since been banished beyond the dark portal.
During play, the units you are presented with at the beginning of each encounter will be the ones you’ll see to the end of said encounter/skirmish. The strategy element comes down to how you deploy and use these units, as opposed to how fast you can crank out playable unit types. You will however have access to new units by calling in reinforcements from a pool of points that you gain by defeating enemies and capturing objectives on the battlefield.
Now we can jump into what Assault Squad 2 is, and wakes makes it a unique beat all unto itself. What we have is an RTS that has more depth than one would expect to find. As you won’t have access to an unlimited supply of units to draw from, Assault Squad 2 gives you complete control over every single unit that you do have. If you call in an infantry squad, you’ll be able to select a single soldier and move them anyplace you see fit on the battlefield. On top of this, each unit can’t generate their own endless amount of ammunition. Each soldier and armor unit has their own inventory system, much like that of an RPG. Their ammo supply will inevitably run out and you’ll have to call them back to restock at the nearest supply crate. This adds some real tension to the experience as having a squad run out of ammo can turn the tide of an encounter very quickly. But what if sending units back at a crucial time isn’t something that is viable at the current juncture? Another really nice feature is the ability to have units scavenge for weapons from fallen enemies. Having a unit that runs out of ammo drop his weapon, pick up one of an enemy that he’ just dispatched, and continue fighting is a really fun sight. The camera also allows for zooming in close to help in locating units and enemy weapons, all this aided by clicking on the crate icon showing the location of nearby drops. This camera panning and zooming also means that you can essentially spend some time guiding a single sniper, zoomed in tight, more like a third person shooter than a RTS giving the game a unique flavor when wanting to make some stealth like kills.
There is a great deal of micro-management involved, but it never becomes overbearing to the player or to much to handle. While new players may feel weighed down under the amount of things going on at once during play (I did for the first several missions), Assault Squad 2 slowly builds giving players the chance to learn and make mistakes without killing the experience. The attention to detail within the game is also to be commended and the engine that Assault Squad 2 is built upon allows for some incredible sights. Enemy units will go ragdolling from nearby explosions, helmets will go flying from bullet fire, units can occupy building and have the ability to strategically place themselves from various forms of cover.
The game is set up in a number of skirmishes instead of any large connected story. This is because Assault Squad 2 seems to be more heavily focused on the multiplayer portion on the experience. While many RTS games do the multiplayer thing well, there is something to be said about having an 8×8 battle between opposing forces that isn’t focusing on resource gathering, or set in the far-flung future, or in the distant past. It must also be mentioned that there is a lot of fun to be had from the single player skirmish maps, all of which can also be played with some friends. As this is a Steam release, players will also have access to a wide variety of free additional content with use of the Steam Workshop. Even at the time of this writing there are a number of new and custom units that can be downloaded to flesh out the overall experience. It will be something to see what the community does with the game in the coming weeks, especially if the sales numbers are good and players flock to it.
All this being said Men of War: Assault Squad 2 isn’t without its share of problems. While the engine is capable of some amazing feats, visually it is a few years behind of what one would expect in a modern RTS game. Zooming in close to the battle will really expose the lacking visuals, especially with any of the smaller infantry units. Couple that with in inconsistent AI on both sides makes the game become a muddled affair when battles become large. Men of War: Assault Squad 2 ends up really being crushed under its own weight. On one hand the smaller scale battles are fun, frantic, and give the player the time and ability to craft some fun action, but on the other hand when battles grow the game loses its focus and becomes the more generic RTS that we have seen before.
Men of War: Assault Squad 2 is still an incredibly fun and rewarding experience. In a day and age where the RTS genre is wholly underrepresented, Assault Squad 2 is a treat for both fans of the series and RTS fans alike.
Also, is it just me or does the General giving orders during the American skirmishes sound like Liam Neeson doing his John “Hannibal” Smith voice from the A-Team film?
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