Men of Valor preview
Sat Jul 10, 2004 8:50 am
July 09, 2004 - Although the still-burgeoning sub-genre of historical first-person shooters is pretty daunting, at least it's populated largely by capable groups. Developer 2015 is the most recent to take a crack at it, and you may know them from a little game called Medal of Honor. They also did the expansion pack to the underrated SiN. They also did MoH: Frontline for the Xbox, so they have experience on both sides of the gaming spectrum. It comes as no surprise, then, that Men of Valor is coming out for the Xbox and PC in October, although there's several PC-only items beyond the usual visual superiority. MoV also has a comprehensive multiplayer setup that should help differentiate it from the pack.
Men of Valor starts out in 1967, and you play the role of Dean Shepherd, an African-American recruit who'll be heading to Danang for the storied Tet Offensive. We're told that things will start out with a basic mission-oriented setup, but, like many things in Vietnam, the fit hits the shan pretty quickly--it will be more about survival than mission success. There are four single-player operations strung together, containing a total of 12 missions across 60 maps for an estimated 20 hours of gameplay, so you can expect things to get pretty hairy. There's also two bonus single player maps for the PC version.
If 20 hours of single-player doesn't sound like enough for you, MoV is slated to ship with 16 multiplayer maps supporting at least 24 players at a time. Besides the usual deathmatch and team deathmatch, there will also be a Capture the Documents mode, where you, well, retrieve some documents and bring them back to your base; Search and Destroy, where you must find three mortar pieces randomly placed on the map and put them together so that you can destroy the enemy base. In this mode, you can either focus on grabbing the separate components or prevent the enemy from getting theirs, which could be pretty fun, as long as everyone's on the same page, natch; and Front Line mode, exclusive for the PC. FL mode is progressive spawn point capture, and the side that captures and holds the most points wins, a la Battlefield.
But that's not all, folks! There's also Mission Mode which sets you up with historical scenarios, with one side playing the U.S. and the other playing the NVA or Vietcong. One of them puts you in the Cho Lon district during the Tet Offensive, and your job is to secure the Futo racetrack. The problem is that the Vietcong are deeply entrenched and prepared to ambush any vehicle that makes his way down the street. The players on the U.S. side, in order to reach the race track, must find an APC (Armored Personnel Carrier), a recoilless rifle to mount on it, and the rifle ammo. If one of these multiplayer modes breaks out like Onslaught did with UT2004, we might have a winner on our hands, so we're looking to forward to getting our hands on a multiplayer build.
While MoV isn't technically a "squad-based" game, you will have a squad with you at all times, regardless. But you won't be able to give them orders. While potentially frustrating, this does allow you to focus on yourself, instead of trying to juggle the needs of several other people in the thick of battle. We're told your squad mates will also not run out of ammo and will have enough health so that they can stay alive and advance the story if needed. If one of them does fall in battle, another squad member will grab them and pull them back to relative safety.
One thing the team was quick to point is that Vietnam is not all jungle. There's large areas of more temperate vegetation, and we'll be seeing some urban combat as well. Still, they're doing a great job with the foliage so far. They employ displacement shaders to make it look like the grass is parting around you, and this will also be quite useful for spotting the enemy in a thicket, since sometimes all you'll see is a rustling bush. Another technique called parallax mapping gives a flat surface the illusion of realistic warping, so an old corrugated metal fence can look properly bent and weathered.
There's also plenty of lightmapping, so light will filter down through a tree and shine realistically on your weapon as you move beneath it. MoV also has some impressive reflective water. It reflected the environment, character models, and gunfire. Also, people walking through it will create a wake and their bullets will ripple and splash. While some of this could be seen as gratuitous eye candy, it does help to create immersion. Last but not least is heat shimmer rising from large fires.
But the considerations for immersion aren't just visual. There are no health packs in MoV. Instead, you must use bandages to keep yourself from bleeding to death. While bandaging, you'll move slower and won't be able to use precision aiming (basically just aiming down the sight, when available). You have to manually initiate a search when you want to check a fallen soldier for a weapon or extra ammo. You'll generally have to fight from cover to cover, instead of running in gung-ho. The enemy has powerful weapons and knows how to use them.
There's also a lot of traps you'll have to look out for. You can disarm them, but it's another reinforcement of the need to take your time. There's also 300 lines of dialogue for each squad member, referred to as "dynamic battle chatter," which will keep you updated on their particular situations. The Vietcong and NVA also have bunches of dialogue.
Although it can be difficult to separate one war shooter from another these days, 2015 has a track record that makes Men of Valor a potentially compelling addition to the shelf. It looks good, has comprehensive and interesting-sounding multiplayer, and a well-considered single player campaign.
-- Tom McNamara
Men of Valor starts out in 1967, and you play the role of Dean Shepherd, an African-American recruit who'll be heading to Danang for the storied Tet Offensive. We're told that things will start out with a basic mission-oriented setup, but, like many things in Vietnam, the fit hits the shan pretty quickly--it will be more about survival than mission success. There are four single-player operations strung together, containing a total of 12 missions across 60 maps for an estimated 20 hours of gameplay, so you can expect things to get pretty hairy. There's also two bonus single player maps for the PC version.
If 20 hours of single-player doesn't sound like enough for you, MoV is slated to ship with 16 multiplayer maps supporting at least 24 players at a time. Besides the usual deathmatch and team deathmatch, there will also be a Capture the Documents mode, where you, well, retrieve some documents and bring them back to your base; Search and Destroy, where you must find three mortar pieces randomly placed on the map and put them together so that you can destroy the enemy base. In this mode, you can either focus on grabbing the separate components or prevent the enemy from getting theirs, which could be pretty fun, as long as everyone's on the same page, natch; and Front Line mode, exclusive for the PC. FL mode is progressive spawn point capture, and the side that captures and holds the most points wins, a la Battlefield.
But that's not all, folks! There's also Mission Mode which sets you up with historical scenarios, with one side playing the U.S. and the other playing the NVA or Vietcong. One of them puts you in the Cho Lon district during the Tet Offensive, and your job is to secure the Futo racetrack. The problem is that the Vietcong are deeply entrenched and prepared to ambush any vehicle that makes his way down the street. The players on the U.S. side, in order to reach the race track, must find an APC (Armored Personnel Carrier), a recoilless rifle to mount on it, and the rifle ammo. If one of these multiplayer modes breaks out like Onslaught did with UT2004, we might have a winner on our hands, so we're looking to forward to getting our hands on a multiplayer build.
While MoV isn't technically a "squad-based" game, you will have a squad with you at all times, regardless. But you won't be able to give them orders. While potentially frustrating, this does allow you to focus on yourself, instead of trying to juggle the needs of several other people in the thick of battle. We're told your squad mates will also not run out of ammo and will have enough health so that they can stay alive and advance the story if needed. If one of them does fall in battle, another squad member will grab them and pull them back to relative safety.
One thing the team was quick to point is that Vietnam is not all jungle. There's large areas of more temperate vegetation, and we'll be seeing some urban combat as well. Still, they're doing a great job with the foliage so far. They employ displacement shaders to make it look like the grass is parting around you, and this will also be quite useful for spotting the enemy in a thicket, since sometimes all you'll see is a rustling bush. Another technique called parallax mapping gives a flat surface the illusion of realistic warping, so an old corrugated metal fence can look properly bent and weathered.
There's also plenty of lightmapping, so light will filter down through a tree and shine realistically on your weapon as you move beneath it. MoV also has some impressive reflective water. It reflected the environment, character models, and gunfire. Also, people walking through it will create a wake and their bullets will ripple and splash. While some of this could be seen as gratuitous eye candy, it does help to create immersion. Last but not least is heat shimmer rising from large fires.
But the considerations for immersion aren't just visual. There are no health packs in MoV. Instead, you must use bandages to keep yourself from bleeding to death. While bandaging, you'll move slower and won't be able to use precision aiming (basically just aiming down the sight, when available). You have to manually initiate a search when you want to check a fallen soldier for a weapon or extra ammo. You'll generally have to fight from cover to cover, instead of running in gung-ho. The enemy has powerful weapons and knows how to use them.
There's also a lot of traps you'll have to look out for. You can disarm them, but it's another reinforcement of the need to take your time. There's also 300 lines of dialogue for each squad member, referred to as "dynamic battle chatter," which will keep you updated on their particular situations. The Vietcong and NVA also have bunches of dialogue.
Although it can be difficult to separate one war shooter from another these days, 2015 has a track record that makes Men of Valor a potentially compelling addition to the shelf. It looks good, has comprehensive and interesting-sounding multiplayer, and a well-considered single player campaign.
-- Tom McNamara
Sat Jul 10, 2004 11:27 am
Looking good! I hope the multiplayer is fun because that usually gives the game a much higher replay value.
Sat Jul 10, 2004 12:05 pm
Ug, 2015? Great, another scripted game that is way too linear.
Looks good and all, but where is the depth and replay value?
Looks good and all, but where is the depth and replay value?
Thu Jul 29, 2004 7:16 pm
Just got finished playing the demo for the XBOX and I must say I am really impressed. The firefights get pretty intense with one of my squad mates yelling "Take that you Mother F^%ker" I was like did a guy on Xbox just say that.
Some cool things I noticed is there is a bleed factor when you get shot you have to stop and bandage yourself up. Also when you die they read this cool letter of death notice to your family stating the specifics of your death which is pretty sweet.
The graphics on the Xbox werent crisp tho and Im sure PC version will be much better.
Can't wait to go to Nam with this one.
Some cool things I noticed is there is a bleed factor when you get shot you have to stop and bandage yourself up. Also when you die they read this cool letter of death notice to your family stating the specifics of your death which is pretty sweet.
The graphics on the Xbox werent crisp tho and Im sure PC version will be much better.
Can't wait to go to Nam with this one.