I have been playing Gates of Hell: Ostfront again, thinking that I might not have given it a fair shake, but damn – the single-player campaign missions can easiest be described as a bonafide medic simulator. The majority of the gameplay consists of me babysitting my men and making sure they are actually fighting instead of dreaming of a happier place in heaven while red stuff is leaking out of them. Especially so since I use the mod Simple Damage Increase. To be fair, blaming the game for problems when using mods isn’t exactly nice, but to my defense Gates of Hell: Ostfront really needs it! The damage is so low, it’s like the men are shooting with pellet guns otherwise. That mod reminds me of my own that I made for Men of War: Assault Squad 2 called Equality of Men. It addresses the same type of issues I had with that game.
Now this post won’t be very long, I just want to vent some of my frustrations, and as it is, my past self was correct in the assessment about Gates of Hell: Ostfront. Playing this game in single-player, the campaign missions that is, is like having a taste of hell served on a World War 2 platter. There is no way around it, it’s just so goddamn annoying – from the insta game over stealth missions if you get men killed to the scripted terror in the form of attack planes or artillery out of Ivan’s arsehole. It’s designed to be hard, sure, however, with that, it also becomes painful to play.
The main thing that gets me. From the dawn of the creation of the Men of War games, the design has always revolved around finishing the missions in one ultimate way. You screw up, you are dead – no reinforcements for you mister. For the majority of the time, at least. This, I think defeats the purpose of the game, considering the setting. You get all these cool scenarios, and some of the mission scripting is awesome too – like how expansive the maps are. But you are always limited to a handful of men. If they die, it’s game over.
You always have to resort to bullshit game-breaking META tactics to win the campaign maps. There is no flow to it, and god forbid you to want to have a battle where dudes on both sides die (without resorting to playing medic exclusivity for the remainder of the game). The older I get, the less tolerance I have for restarting the same encounters fifty times. Particularly when the cool combat comes so seldom. It’s one-fifth adrenaline-pumping combat, to four parts getting crushed under the treads of another tank rush.
And don’t get me started on the micro, oh boy! There is just too much of it, with all the nursing as a medic included. Actually, I find there is a lag or some kind of weird lack of responsiveness to the units in this specific Men of War title. At times, they just won’t move, or refuse outright. Not sure why, but it adds to the annoyance factor.
Anyway, that’s my rant for the day. I was hoping my self past was wrong, and I would “get it” this time, but I just don’t. Well, like the impression post, if you can get someone to play the game with, it can be enjoyable, but I would stay clear if you are soloing this.
Thanks for reading.
/Thomas
Addendum:
After finishing this post, I played some multiplayer against a friend, and it cemented my thoughts about the game. While lots of time has gone into single-player and coop, playing against others is where Gates of Hell shines thanks to the human opponent. Sadly, multiplayer is not something that I enjoy that much anymore in general, especially against strangers. We played coop too, and while it was more fun than playing it solo, the boring and predictably suicidal AI ruins the experience here too. I have to add one more thing. Half the battle when playing against my friend was the controls. The AI (my men) didn’t want to do what I wanted. Taking the wrong route, going back and forth confused, trying to regroup when I wanted them to advance, etc. It makes the Gates of Hell sit in a very awkward place, and I’m not sure what to make of it. Many things are cool, but overall the gameplay annoys me more than it entertains.
It reminds me of the old Sudden Strike games. Games I loved back in the day when I had much more patience. Those games consist of lots of saving and loading, and degenerate gameplay in the form of blasting everything to bits before moving in since you will take too many casualties otherwise.
| System: | PC (Steam) |
| Played with: | Mouse & keyboard |
| Mods/fixes: | Simple Damage Increase |
| Enjoyment rating: |  |
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