Men of War: Assault Squad 2 – Singleplayer Review Hello everyone, hope you're doing well! As you can see, I’ve spent quite a bit of time on this game, and I thought it was finally time to share my review. First, a quick disclaimer: this review is focused exclusively on the singleplayer aspect of the game. I haven't touched the multiplayer, so please keep that in mind—my evaluation is based almost entirely on the solo content. I know the Men of War series is often recognized for its multiplayer, but I’m a campaign player at heart. Also, I won't be covering any of the DLCs, as I don’t own them. So again—this is a base game, singleplayer-only review. For me, the Men of War series has always been about the solo experience, even if Assault Squad 2 clearly shifted focus toward multiplayer. That said, let’s dive in. Introduction Men of War: Assault Squad 2 is a World War II real-time tactics/strategy game released in 2014. It was developed by Digitalmindsoft and published by 1C Company. It serves as a sequel to Men of War: Assault Squad (2011), and to be honest, the two games are extremely similar. In fact, I’d recommend skipping the first game entirely—Assault Squad 2 contains nearly everything it had, and more. That said, I don’t own the first game myself, so take that with a grain of salt. Overall, the critical reception has been decent—not amazing, but not terrible either. I’d say that sentiment matches my own. I enjoyed my time with the game, but it has its fair share of frustrating moments. ---Story and Setting--- Let’s be honest: there’s barely any story here. The "campaign" is simply a sequence of missions with no narrative thread connecting them. Each mission begins with a short line from a random soldier saying things are going badly—and that’s about the extent of the storytelling. There are no named characters, no meaningful plotlines, and practically no surprises during the missions themselves. There’s also no lore or historical background to speak of. In this regard, it’s definitely disappointing. ---Gameplay--- This is where the game shines. As a real-time strategy title, the focus is on managing infantry, vehicles, and support units. You have access to anti-tank guns, mounted machine guns, support trucks, and a wide variety of vehicles. The vehicle selection is a strong point—ranging from light scout cars to heavy tanks. There are five playable nations (USA, Britain, Germany, Japan, and the USSR), each with its own mini-campaign. Micromanagement is a core element here. You can loot bodies, steal enemy equipment, repair vehicles, and even manage fuel. It’s quite demanding in that regard. Another plus is the destruction system. While terrain isn’t deformable, buildings and props can be impressively destroyed. It’s not flawless—some debris behaves oddly—but it adds immersion. Each unit can be controlled individually, which is important since the AI can be unreliable. Pathfinding isn’t great, and micromanagement is often essential to avoid units doing something dumb. You can also slow down or speed up time, which is helpful during intense or dull segments. ---Mission Design and Progression--- The five "campaigns" (again, just a set of missions) offer minimal variety. Most missions follow one of a few templates: - Push missions: Capture three lines of enemy points, culminating in a final objective. - Infiltration: Use limited troops to sabotage vehicles or take outpoints scattered across the map. - Defense: Hold one or several positions against waves of enemies. That’s essentially it. Some missions offer side objectives—like stealing an enemy tank—but the overall variety is low. You start most missions with a basic squad that’s usually not strong enough on its own. As you capture points, you earn "MP" (manpower points) to call in reinforcements. New units unlock as you progress through a mission. The callable unit roster depends on your nation, but within each campaign, unit variety is limited, with occasional special vehicles. So, it's quite a dissapointment here as well. There are four difficulty levels: Easy, Normal, Hard, and Heroic. Easy and Normal are manageable, Hard offers a fair challenge, and Heroic is... brutal. Good luck. Fog of war can be toggled on or off before missions. Turning it off can make things significantly easier. There are around 40 missions, and depending on your skill and difficulty level, they can take a while to complete. Add in Steam Workshop mods, and the content expands even more. Note: Using mods disables achievement tracking. ---Graphics and Performance--- Visually, the game has a nostalgic charm, but by 2025 standards, it’s clearly dated. Even in 2014, the visuals weren’t top-tier. The color palette is muted, which fits the WWII setting well. Environments include plains, deserts, snowfields, and urban areas—fairly standard fare. However, visual consistency is lacking. Some vehicles have HD textures, others look pulled from older games. This gives the game an uneven, sometimes unfinished feel. ---Performance--- - GPU load is light—most modern PCs (even from 2013) can handle it easily. - CPU load can spike, especially during intense destruction scenes. I’m using a Ryzen 5 5600G, and even it saw dips during larger battles. The game ran fine on both an SSD and an HDD during testing. I experienced two crashes over 80 hours of playtime (without mods). Not bad, but I still recommend saving regularly. ---Audio and Music--- I’m no audio expert, but the gunfire sounds are punchy and loud—satisfying overall. Nothing revolutionary, but effective. My main complaint is the lack of variety in vehicle engine sounds. The music is present, but largely unmemorable. ---UI and Controls--- The UI can be intimidating at first, but once you get used to it, it works well. You can assign shortcuts, and the icons are generally clear. The minimap is simple and effective—friendly and enemy units are easily identifiable, which helps prevent surprise attacks. You can form squads and select them quickly. However, one annoyance: the unit silhouettes in the bottom-right corner (used to select specific soldiers) doesn't work properly. ---Multiplayer and DLC (Brief Note)--- The game offers multiplayer with multiple maps and modes, but as mentioned, I haven’t played it. From what I’ve heard, the online community is full of experienced players—newcomers beware. Also, you need a DLC to play against bots in skirmish, which is a frustrating decision from the devs. The game features several DLCs. Some add single-player content with new mechanics, others add multiplayer units. I don’t own any of them, but reviews are mixed, so I recommend picking them up on sale if you're interested. Conclusion Overall, Men of War: Assault Squad 2 is a solid game, with a repetitive singleplayer experience that should be grabbed if possible on sale. The developers often discount it heavily, and that’s when it’s really worth grabbing. The game offers a huge variety of units across five nations and provides a decent challenge with lots of micromanagement. However, mission variety is lacking, and the AI (especially pathfinding) can be frustrating. The visuals are totally functional but dated, and the audio does the job. Performance is decent overall, though large battles can stress your CPU. The UI is effective once learned, and the game is reasonably stable. There are bugs and clunky mechanics—trenches and vehicles don’t always mix well—but nothing game-breaking. In short: a flawed but enjoyable with short sessions strategy title which has a lot to offer if you're into tactical micromanagement. Definitely one to grab on discount. Thanks for reading! Let me know if I missed anything. Please bear with me, this is my first long review. Note that English is not my first language, so I needed some help.
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