In my previous post I discussed general differences between Company of Heroes and Men of War. I prefer Men of War, and Paratroopers are Space Marines. Now that you are caught up, I am going to go into greater detail: specifically about their multiplayer components.

Men of War's multiplayer is a sort of kitchen sink design; put everything the players could ask for in it. Most vehicles and unit types for each faction are there, each factions vehicles and weapons illustrate the asymetrical differences between them, completely destructable terrain, every unit has an inventory and controls like they do in single player, the camera is completely adjustable, and there are half a dozen game modes including co-op campaigns.

The only unit missing is the soviet dog with explosives strapped to it... I'm not joking

Now there aren't unit level ups, skill trees, or a Commander I could dress up and equip with power ups, but this pretty much runs the gamut of what I expect from a multiplayer RTS.

The game modes that I am familiar with are: Battle Zones, where you capture control points and bring down enemy points to zero; Combat, where each unit is worth a number of points when you kill them; Victory Flag, where there is one point to hold (king of the hill essentially); Coop, where you play single player missions with others; Frontline, where one side defends while the other attacks, and then they switch places; and Free for All, which describes itself.

All these game modes, except Free for All, are team based. The host of the game can choose the factions, which type of units can be used (all Tanks, all Infantry, and all Vehicles which is the most popular), and the time limit for the game. Large battles will often have the time limit run out, and whoever did the best in that time wins.

Tanks only Combat is close to being my favorite mode. There is a lot of tension in just positioning tanks to hide them from enemies, and choosing when to attack or push forward.. You have to tactially manage your tanks in the field, hiding them, manuevering them carefully to try to hit the enemies engines, and keep track of how many requisition points you have left in the round.

All Vehicles matches is where their multiplayer shines. These battles are either epic (8v8, 6v6) or intimate (1v1, 2v2). You start off with just light vehicles and infantry, and everything else is locked by timers. This allows the pace of the battle to be controlled, so both sides get the same level of equipment at the same time. The Russians aren't going to have their heavy tanks available before the Germans. This also stops artillery from controlling the battle early on. Halfway through, though, you have every weapon unlocked; heavy tanks slug it out while howitzers destroy anything that reveals itself.

MoW's multiplayer community is dedicated. When I say dedicated, I mean you will have your ass handed to you. I lose around 75% of the matches I play, but I don't mind. I enjoy watching the battles. I hate it when I screwed up a manuever early on, and the enemy essentially have a control point for the rest of the game.

No clever commentary, this game just looks awesome.

I watched in a 2v2 match as Japanese forces assaulted a building my ally had riflemen in. They entered one door, and got ripped apart by submachine gunners entering at the same time. As revenge, the Japanese player ran a flame thrower soldier up to each of his occupied buildings, and burned his soldiers. I watched as he hunted down the flame thrower, and killed him after he ran out of fuel.

After that point I realized that a red triangle (enemy vehicle) was moving on the minimap. It was a Japanese Halftrack taking a squad of Submachine Gunners to a farm that I had only eight riflemen at. I quickly hid my riflemen and discovered one of them somehow got an antitank grenade. I hid him behind a rock, and ordered my Howitzer to hit the spot where the halftrack was unloading. The halftrack sped away, but the entire enemy squad was obliterated.

I bring this up to illustrate how much detail this game has, and how much it enhances your experience. I remember very little from the Company of Heroes matches I have played in the past month. The game I just described happened back in early June; I remember almost every detail of that battle.

I am not too critical of the game, but I love it. You may not. A lot of people like Company of Heroes multiplayer; I don't. So, onto that now...