Men of War

The third game in the Outfront Series, Men of War is a Real Time Strategy game set during World War II. It uses a unique Game Engine with fully realistic physics, enabling players to use the environment to their advantage. While it is similar to Company of Heroes, more comparisons could be made toward Theatre of War. Instead of base building, you are given an arbitary number of units.

The game offers three campaigns, one for the Germans, one for the Soviets and one combined campaign for both the Americans and British (who get a grand total debut of 1.5 missions ) during Operation Torch. More nations exist in multiplayer, though.

As well as full physics, the two other main selling points of the game are direct control and the GEM Editor. You can spend literally days in the latter, thanks to the fun of it.

There was a major expansion, Assault Squad, that increased the focus on infantry squad tactics, as opposed to just getting the heaviest tank you can. It also added several skirmish missions for the U.S., Britain, Germany, and Japan.

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Tropes used in Men of War include:

• Acceptable Breaks From Reality: In real life, guns can shoot hundreds of meters and most tanks can fire further then a kilometer, although this would allow units to engage the enemy from different ends of the map.
  • This game does a much better job than other RTS's. Tanks can shoot all the way across the smaller maps, terrain permitting.
  • Also, at least one realism mod allows for completely realistic weapon ranges and power. This can create some amusing scenarios, such as the Invasion of Crete: part of your squad's mission is to eliminate anti-air guns to faciliate the paratrooper landings, and players can take advantage of their ability to see any part of the battlefield to turn the massive cannons against the British, firing through buildings and across the map to wreck vehicles and smash fighting positions.
• As Long as It Sounds Foreign: Lots for any of the game's dubs (at least for every dialogue and cutscene). But also a visual example. When the spymaster of the French resistance in North Africa, Henry D'Astier, meets with Terry Palmer's squad on the beach rendez-vouz point, he wears a beret and a goatee with a French moustache. Apart from being overly stereotypical for a Frenchman, he looks nothing how he did in real life.
• Blind Idiot Translation: Most of the plot dialogue is coherent, but a lot of the American and British lines are rather nonsensical. "FIRE IS IN THE REACH ZONE" is something anyone who plays the US faction a lot is familiar with.
• Command and Conquer Economy: Could not have been averted further.
• Crippling Overspecialization: Averted. Tanks can change between Heavy Explosive and Anti-Tank rounds but can also use any machine guns. At the same time. Oh, and just to clarify: Most tanks have three machine guns!
  • Also, every unit can use any weapon they find, allowing units to perform any role they want, such as having sappers destroy tanks with rocket launchers (Although they are less effective that way).
• Garrisonable Structures: Played straight and played with ever-so-slightly.
• Grid Inventory: How each units inventory is set. Fairly strange how helmets and body armor take up room with the other stuff.
• Hold the Line: This game loves them. About a third of single player missions are those.
• Ludicrous Gibs: The M4 Sherman "Crab" variant with the mine flail is this trope.
  • Try killing an infantryman with an AT shell. He's going home in a bucket!
• Macross Missile Massacre: For vehicles, the Katyusha, the Sherman Calliope and the Panzerwerfer are good examples. A large group of mortars can have the same effect...sometimes.
  • Oh... and ESPECIALLY with the Land Mattress. Vroum!
• Mission Pack Sequel: Red tide, which exclusively features missions set around the Black Sea played from the Soviet perspective.
• More Dakka: Played straight.
• No Campaign for the Wicked: Averted.
• No Swastikas
• One-Hit Polykill: Rifle and MG bullets can pass through several infantry, while armour-piercing AT shells can do the same to tanks- it's common to see a large AT gun like an 88mm firing at a light tank like a Stuart, which manages to go clean through and damage another tank driving behind it.
• Real Is Brown: Averted, the battlefield is as colorful as your computer settings can allow it to be. One of the few war games to do this.
• Sir Not-Appearing-In-This-Trailer: Inverted. Contrary to the trailers and covers and the game descriptions and pre-release messages, the British faction (one of the only four factions in this game) is only playable in the finale mission of the third campaign. The rest of the time they are either fighting you or have a little role beside the Americans. Or both. Fortunately, they are available in the editor.
  • They're widely played online, and get their own missions in the Assault Squad expansion.
• Support Power: Some missions allow you to call in airstrikes.
• Take Cover: The bread and butter of infantry combat. Unless you have to run like hell!
• They Just Didn't Care: Some highly blatant examples, like mixing up British and American units in the final mission of the allied campaign (which, by the way would be the only mission to feature the British on your side in the entire game), and attempting to pass Wehrmacht (including the texture, model, weaponry and spoken language) as Vichy-French Soldiers in Allied Mission 2. A German officer serves as a stand-in for Admiral Darlan (who, firstly, is now German, and secondly, an infantry officer).
  • Another instance is the fact, that the Italian frigate that supports backup fire in the final mission of campaign 2 is manned by German airmen.
• Universal Ammunition: The 3 basic ammo types are for rifles, SMGs and machine guns. Acceptable Breaks From Reality as searching for specific ammo for your weapon would be very annoying.