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Men of War II:
~~~~~~~~~~~

So far, in 2024, I have had the pleasure of playing a few strategy games set in the World War II era, all of which were turn-based. So, when I was offered the opportunity to play Men of War II, a real-time strategy game, I jumped on it like there was no tomorrow. Sixteen hours of gameplay down the track and I’ve barely scratched the surface of the game due to its vast content. Well, here are my two cents worth regarding Men of War II.

Men of War II is a real-time strategy game developed by Best Ways and published by Fulqrum Publishing on the 16th of May 2024 on the Steam platform.

The first thing that impressed me when I launched Men of War II was how much content this game had. If you enjoy playing singleplayer campaigns, you'll have access to various missions and modes for all three factions (Germans, Russians and Americans) available in this game. Four different campaign modes, three of which have a combined 102 missions and the conquest campaign, which is an offensive and defensive skirmish type of gameplay. There are four scenarios, and each map has a faction HQ at each extremity and around 15 locations to conquer. Each faction will take turns making an offensive at the closest location on the map, and the other faction will defend it. If all locations are gained by one faction, it’s game over. It’s fun and interactive and can go on for ages. And if multiplayer action is what you are looking for, you'll have three PVPs and one PVE mode at your disposal.

On the other side of the spectrum, I don't think it’s necessary to force players to be continually online during singleplayer campaigns, which this game requires. To give you an idea, I was AFK for three to five minutes for a coffee break, and when I returned, a popup menu was up telling me to click on a button to continue my game or I would be kicked out; the timer was nearly out of time. The other thing that struck me was the sheer speed of the gameplay and the fact that you have no options to slow it down. I was quite overwhelmed seeing all AI units AI (friendlies and opponents) moving so fast while I was just trying to get my bearings on the map and beginning to implement actions. So, it might be a good idea to first launch the tutorials, which, by the way, are excellent. You also earn experience points and supplies and can use the latter when you play a PVP game. You earn experience points, supplies, and money after each successful mission, and you use the money and experience points to unlock new units and purchase these new units for your battalions, divisions, etc.

The gameplay is good, and I like the interface as all the commands are just a click away. Depending on what campaign you select, some missions will have only a certain number of units, while others will give you access to reinforcements, which are called echelons in this game. As far as I can see, there are up to three tiers of echelons, and in some missions, there is a certain amount of time to wait before the second and third echelons can be utilised. I am unsure if there are more than three tiers of echelons, as I haven't played all the missions. What was clear to me very quickly was that you have to give orders to every soldier, tank, and canon. Yes, you can select a group of soldiers and give them orders, too, but I found that I was having fewer casualties by strategically moving and placing each unit one by one on the map. All foot soldiers come in groups of various numbers; for example, the infantry units will come with a group of five soldiers, and each soldier will have their own weaponry, ammunition and helmet in their inventory. Infantry units can dig trenches and foxholes, while engineering units can erect barbed wire and place mines and anti-personal mines as their main perks. But you can view fallen soldiers' inventory and pick their gear and ammunition. There are also boxes to be found; you can inspect their contents and pick up what you might need, although because of the speed of the gameplay in specific missions, it is quite hard to do. There is a huge number of units for all three factions, from infantry units to tanks, cars, sidecars, trucks, canons, artillery cannons, anti-air defences, planes and all guns, machine guns and rifles from the era.

In terms of realism, I think the developers excelled here. Pretty much everything can be destroyed on the map, and the animations of fallen soldiers are top-notch. You can see where every bullet and ends up. The AI is pretty smart, and you can play each mission on the easy, normal or hard difficulty.

Yes, there are gameplay issues, such as the occasional infantry units getting stuck and being unable to be used. I had a few problems with some units that were shaking for a while. In my view, the loading time is a tad too long. I had a few games at the online PVE and I did have fun, but I haven't tried the PVP mode as it is not my cup of tea.

The graphics and sound effects are excellent. Unfortunately, the voice-overs are average, and the German and Russian accents are lousy. Overall, the game is very sound and offers massive replayability for both solo and multiplayer campaigns, but I don't understand why we must be connected to play campaign modes.

Positives:
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+ Great graphics
+ Good Sound effects
+ Three factions with large numbers of units
+ Three campaigns with 102 missions and one conquest campaign mode
+ Great tutorials
+ PVE and PVP modes
+ Hundreds of hours of gameplay

Negatives:
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- Must be constantly connected to play the campaign modes
- The gameplay is too fast, and you don't have an option to slow it down
- Several bugs here and there

Men of War II has a massive amount of content and realism that will appeal to veterans as well as newcomers to the genre. Get ready for hundreds of hours of gameplay.

7/10

Key provided by the developer/publisher for review purposes. Any opinions expressed are entirely my own!

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Capes:
~~~~~

Twenty years have passed since the Supervillains won the battle against the Superheroes and took control of King City. A deal was struck between the Secret Government and the Supervillains entity known as the Company. As life has become a little more peaceful in the streets of King City since the peace breakthrough, the powerful Company is providing its members with better food and medical supplies than the rest of the citizens. But recently, they have been scooping those citizens with superpowers off the streets, and none of them have been seen since. An old Superhero, Doctrine, who has been hiding since the treaty, has taken a group of young Supers under his wing to take up the fight against the evil Company. Do you have Superpowers? Then join the Capes Now!

Capes is a superhero turn-based strategy game developed by Spitfire Interactive and published by Daedalic Entertainment on the 30th of May 2024 on the Steam platform. The game is also available on PS4/PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch.

Capes has a lengthy solo campaign, as far as I can see after having played 25 missions, including the main story and side missions. With 28+ hours of game time, I am still on the second act. It is pretty impressive, and I am genuinely enjoying the game.

You start with two superheroes, Facet and Rebound! As you progress throughout the story, you'll unlock another six supers, each with specific powers. Facet's ultimate power can stop all enemies within close proximity for one turn, while Rebound can go on a frenzied attack and damage all enemies within a particular area. What has become obvious to me since the first mission is the importance of your character’s movements so they can combine their powers each turn to maximise an attack or a defence action. It’s also important to charge each of your character's ultimate powers as often as possible during each mission. Facet will gain a recharge point each time an opponent hits him, while Rebound will charge her ultimate power by stabbing enemies from behind. You can see the various team-up combinations for all the heroes when you are at the hidden base between missions.

For each mission, you can have up to four heroes, whom you can choose before the mission starts or press the recommended tab to nominate heroes for that mission. Missions have three difficulty levels: easy, medium and hard. Each mission will also have specific objectives to achieve, with skill points attached to each objective. There are three to five objectives per mission, and you'll bank all the skill points of the objectives that you successfully complete. Then you can use these points to upgrade your character's powers and other actions. A few of your Supers have additional abilities to unlock, which you need skill points to acquire. Experience points are also given when you successfully finish a mission and are automatically passed onto the characters you use in that mission. These points also help your character to level up, giving access to upgrade the character's powers and actions. Each character can level up five times. You might not have many issues completing the easy missions, even if you haven’t successfully completed all the objectives. But be ready to replay medium and hard missions several times before you beat the level - they are challenging missions, let me tell you!

In terms of the gameplay, well, it is a typical turn-based tactical strategy, and as mentioned, movements and combining heroes' powers are the key to your success. You have to make sure that your characters are close to each other so they can combine their powers, while at the same time keeping your distance from attacking enemies, as some of your heroes don't have many life points or any defence whatsoever. It can be tricky. Also, it is easy to revive a fallen hero as you usually have only two turns to revive them if fallen. If one of them has fallen three times, it’s game over.

In terms of the design, levels are mostly compact, but some are of average size. In regards to the enemies, as you progress through the game, not only will the enemies keep coming in more waves, but new and more challenging opponents will make their entrance to spice up the difficulty level. I have faced off against two of the main Company bosses, and they were a struggle, especially Alpha, who kept duplicating himself.

The story is fun and cheesy, and I thoroughly enjoy the cartoony illustrations before each mission, which have good voice-overs, too. I also appreciate that the developers have worked on elevating the relationship between heroes. As you progress through the game, you’ll unlock cut scenes of conversations between characters, which you can find on the dossier tab at the base.

The graphics, soundtrack and voice-overs are excellent. I experienced a few frame-rate drops here and there, but apart from that, there is nothing significant to report. The game provides a good difficulty progression, and it is challenging and addictive. The game has been translated into ten languages and offers full controller support. But if you’re like me, you might prefer using your mouse and keyboard.

Positives:
~~~~~~~

+ Fantastic graphics and comic-book-style illustrations
+ Lengthy campaign
+ Fun, cheesy story
+ Good voice-overs
+ Eight different heroes and superpowers
+ Good variation of enemies
+ Fun and challenging gameplay
+ Achievements and trading cards

Negatives:
~~~~~~~~

- A few frame rate drops here and there

Capes is an excellent, addictive, lengthy and challenging turn-based strategy game with a cheesy story and epic fights on small and well-designed levels. Capes are my new favourite Superheroes!

8/10

Key provided by the developer/publisher for review purposes. Any opinions expressed are entirely my own!

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