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GSL 2004: Men of Valour: The Vietnam War

Hands-on preview, fresh from Game Stars Live

Men of Valour is the next game being developed by 2015, the team that developed the FPS that really started the current craze for real-war based shooters, Medal of Honour: Allied Assault. Although many of the original team left to form Infinity Ward, judging by my time with Men of Valour today those departures appear to have had little negative effect. Men of Valour is set during the Vietnam War and features squad based action of the sort that has become very popular as of late. The demo mission that I played started off with your small squad bouncing around in the back of a Chinook, waiting for insertion into a hot landing-zone. Each team member displayed their own personalities, with the sergeant standing up and barking the plan of attack while one trooper sat in a jump seat with his head cradled in his hands. An M60 gunner looked ready for action, which is all well and good as enemy fire rakes the aircraft side as it comes into land, killing the sarge with an explosive head shot and prematurely ending the career of another of your squad mates.

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After this atmospheric intro it's onto the mission proper. My squad, over which I had no control at this point, quickly fanned out into the jungle as we started our approach on the mission objective, an enemy bunker at the top of the hill. What was immediately apparent was that 2015 have really nailed the jungle setting. The foliage is the densest I have ever seen in a game and was instantly claustrophobic. Bamboo shoots reach into the sky while fronds smack you in the face. The ground is covered in long grasses and while there was definitely some rather noticeable channelling with impassable terrain to either side, the sense that I was in a steaming jungle with danger possibly lurking behind each bit of vegetation was almost palpable.

We quickly came under attack from the VC whose tan uniforms allow them to nastily blend into the scenery. The controls system worked very well (I was playing on an Xbox, as the PC I tried crashed) and will be instantly familiar to any shooter veteran. The game has a few interesting features. When you get wounded you must hold down the B button to bandage yourself and stem the bleeding, otherwise your soldier will find his life fluids draining from him in a terminal fashion. There are health packs dotted about, but in this demo I only encountered one. It's initially quite unnerving having to hold down B while returning fire and falling back to a safer position. Ammo is also limited and must be collected from the bodies of fallen enemies. To ramp up the tension it takes a few seconds of holding down the Y button for your soldier to search a body, during which time a VC could easily pop out from behind a tree and give you a bullet induced trepanning.

Your squad mates act in convincing fashion as they will not only advance in standard covering formations but they will retreat with rather less discipline when they come under a sustained assault. I was fortunate enough not to experience any friendly-fire (more than could be said for my squad-mates) and the AI of both your fellow troopers and the enemy worked well, providing an entertaining and (presumably) realistic take on close combat in the jungle. The demo ended after I had thrown a smoke grenade into the enemy bunker which was subsequently annihilated by artillery fire. Advancing on to the next objective I soon saw my man take another, final bullet – my time with the demo was up.

Men of Valour looks like carrying on the tradition of striking a fine balance between scripted events and freeform action, which when combined with the AI and the very impressive jungle rendering, should make for an entreating game come its release.

1. Sounds like a goodie :-)

   Tim Wednesday, 3 November 2004, 09:07:48

2. I play this game on my computer i hace a good video card but some of the pictures of the plants and enemies dont come up can some one help me

   Callum Wednesday, 10 November 2004, 23:56:42

3. I play this game on my computer i have a good video card but some of the pictures of the plants and enemies dont come up can some one help me

   Callum Wednesday, 10 November 2004, 23:56:47

4. kos nagoo

   keer Sunday, 16 January 2005, 01:34:3

5. Great game good fun

   Lynn Monday, 17 January 2005, 23:34:26

6. mov kicks ass

   nixilla Monday, 13 June 2005, 21:16:8

7. so is it for PS2 aswell? and does it really not work well for PC?

   Jeremy Sunday, 18 December 2005, 18:00:53

8. so is it for PS2 aswell? and does it really not work well for PC?

   Jeremy Sunday, 18 December 2005, 18:01:5