Finally a game that can spice up the Vietnam genre.
Men of Valor is a first-person shooter set in a historic Vietnam based environment. The game accurately portrays the war for what it was, which is one of the most bloody and gruesome events that has forever affected humanity. Soldiers returned from the war terrorized and haunted by the things they saw in Vietnam, and Men of Valor does a very good job at accurately capturing the events of that terrible war like no other game has done before.
Men of Valor doesn't do anything revolutionary in the gameplay department. For the most part, it sticks to the same path shooters have taken in recent years, but the atmosphere of the game changes things up. MOV features jungle based warfare that depicts guerrilla tactics from the Vietnamese soldiers, which can at times be very intense and exciting. You'll be walking through the jungle with your squadmates, only to come across land mines blowing up in the fields and Vietnamese ambushing your squad. You'll have to infiltrate underground enemy facilities and clear out bunkers. You'll be tasked with manning machine guns on Huey helicopters and you'll be riding down rivers sniping off Vietnamese soldiers. You'll see action shooting from foxholes and advancing through enemy lines. You'll find yourself trapped in an air-attack at your base struggling to escape. The game features an unprecedented variety of missions throughout the single player game.
With that said, the game feels very linear, even despite the game's open-ended jungle atmosphere. You'll often feel restricted through levels, mainly because there is only one obvious path to complete your objective. You'll run into invisible barriers in the jungle that can't be crossed only because developers don't want you to go there. These problems hold the game back from being all that it could be.
The core gameplay basically boils down to run and gun shooting while occasionally ducking for cover. Sure, this seems easy enough, but the game can be painstakingly difficult at time, almost to the point of impossible. I pride myself at being able to complete most games on the hardest difficulty, but Men of Valor was almost insane, even on the normal difficultly. This problem could be fixed by a good save system, but checkpoints are spaced way too far apart through levels, resulting in replaying many levels after dying (which will happen a lot). Also, there is one instance where standing at the wrong place before triggering a cutscene can result in being blown to shreds by a scripted explosion. The A.I. is decent, but you will see them doing some flat-out stupid things at times. These problems definitely take away from the flow of the game, but once again, the huge variety of missions and the atmosphere of MOV will save the game from falling apart.
Men of Valor offers a solid FPS experience on any level of comparison. Even though the game doesn't revolutionize the genre, MOV does enough things right to earn respect as a FPS. MOV features an intuitive control scheme that is easy to use and feels fluent during play. The fast paced flow of the action keeps things moving. MOV also has a story running through it's roots. It follows the Vietnam tour of Dean Shepard, whom his your character, and his fellow squadmates. The game also links Dean with his family back at home through letters and through fighting alongside Shepard's little brother. The story isn't anything thrilling, but it'll keep you interested from start to finish.
The graphics are definitely not the best, even in the game's optional 480p resolution. Textures look blotchy and facial detail is lacking. Environments appear to be sharp and are definitely realistic, but the lack of texture and surface detail draw away from the strong points of the visuals. Explosions are well scripted and believeable, but physical interaction with the environment is definitely lacking. Character models look pretty good and weapon's are realistically designed. Overall, I'd say they get the job done, but they're disappointing as a whole.
The sound definitely is a strong point. Weapons sound sharp and explosions sound great. Vehicles, choppers, and tanks are believeable while voice-overs are also well executed. The music consists of soundtracks from the era, which fits the atmosphere of the experience. The audio sounds great overall.
The game features a single player game that should last anywhere from twelve to fifteen hours. Multiplayer and co-op can be fun and the Xbox Live action is solid, so they're both worth checking out. The game doesn't offer a whole lot in terms of features and the single-player isn't very replayable, but considering the cheap price tag, Men of Valor offers enough to make it worth picking up. MOV's tilt level is definitely higher, mainly because the game offers the best Vietnam experience around.
Men of Valor is not the game to revolutionize the FPS genre, but it is still a solid FPS. The game accurately recreates the gruesome Vietnam War, which no game has truly accomplished before. MOV combines some of the best shooting action around with an unprecedent level of variety and realism. Despite the game's problems, Men of Valor is a game that would be worth adding to your collection.