Men of Valor certainly ranks amongst the best the Vietnam war has to offer, but that alone isn't saying a whole lot.
User Rating: 7.4 | Men of Valor PC
After thoroughly exploiting World War II as a venue for action games, developers are now beginning to look to the Vietnam War for inspiration. Now, from Vivendi Universal comes Men of Valor, a Vietnam first-person shooter with a bit more of a personal tone and storyline. Developed by 2015, the team responsible for Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, Men of Valor puts you into the shoes of Dean Shepard, an African-American grunt from a small town thrown into the controversial war. The game thrusts you into the thick of war as you complete missions while interacting with fellow soldiers, witnessing the tragedy as some of them lose their lives in the process. The story is told not only through the missions in the game, but also through the letters that Shepard writes home to his family in between missions. The letters reveal his personality, hence giving you more of an attachment to Shepard and his squadmates. Having been developed by 2015, Men of Valor plays fairly alike to the Medal of Honor games. While you will feel less like a one-man-army, the action still retains the similar cinematic presentation from Allied Assault. Although your platoon does a decent job of handling themselves, it'll be up to you to complete the various objectives, such as dropping a smoke grenade to signal an enemy bunker, or to take out rocket crews. When injured, it will be necessary to stop and bandage yourself up, lest you bleed to death and die. Unfortunately, Men of Valor, far from a perfect game, is hampered by a few gameplay issues. Firstly, the A.I. isn't particularly bright, often making foolish mistakes. On one occasion, I was able to walk right up to a Vietcong and shoot him in the face as he just stood there, without registering my presence. Moreover, the N.V.A. is seldomly seen utilizing proper cover - instead, they usually run at you screaming and shooting. The game also feels very scripted, which was a downside of the Medal of Honor series. The environments in Men of Valor look great. For intance, the plant life in the jungles sway around realistically in the wind. Additionally, the levels are cluttered with ambient life and detailed textures. The special effects are pretty cool, ranging from the disorienting motion blur caused by nearby explosions, to a shimmering corona effect that surrounds open flames. The weapons, which are nicely detailed, all look realistic. On the contrary, the character animations are downright sloppy. Furthermore, they often appear to be gliding across the ground without moving their legs. All in all, the visuals do an adequate job of conveying the atmosphere during the war to the player, despite some choppy framerates during heavy action. 2015 succeeded in bringing the audio chaos of Vietnam to Men of Valor. The voice acting is extremely well done, with a great range of emotions and a well-written script throughout. In addition, you'll often hear curses shouted back and forth in the midst of battle. The gunfire, explosions and other sound effects are also great, sounding crisp and clear in Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound. Overall, the sound of Men of Valor is very polished. Make no mistake - Men of Valor is a very challenging game, made even tougher by an aggravating save system, due to the fact that the checkpoints are few and far between, as well as the lack of a quick-save function. The single-player campaign lasts approximately 15 hours on the standard difficulty setting, but can vary because of the checkpoint-save. Multiplayer features six different game types for up to 24 players. These include standard deathmatch and team deathmatch, two capture-the-flag variants, a "mission" mode, and "Frontline". Despite some minor flaws, a thoughtful storyline and great shooting action propels Men of Valor into a solid game that certainly ranks amongst the best the Vietnam war has to offer, but that alone isn't saying a whole lot.
