Men of Valor Demo

The Vietnam war was one of the most violent conflicts in history, and the jungle made everything even worse, due to insects, disease and dense vegetation. Naturally, countless books, movies and video games tried to retell the story and provide you with insight, as well as give you a taste of the realities of war. This time around, Men of Valor makes a stand and aims to create a unique atmosphere for you to enjoy, featuring first-person mechanics and team-based action.

The game features a classic first-person perspective and follows the story of a marine by the name of Dean Shepard, as well as the squad he is part off. Over the course of the main campaign, you play the role of Shepard and you must make your way through the thick jungle, as well as survive some intense battles and scenarios all around Southeast Asia, both on ground, in the air and even underground.

As far as the actual mechanics are concerned, the game plays out as any other shooter, although the characters are slightly more susceptible to bullets and you cannot survive for too long if you get shot, which makes matters a bit more realistic. Other than that, you just have to shoot anything that moves and clear out specially-designed areas that are filled with enemies, which, although can be quite the pleasant experience at first, gets rather repetitive after a while.

Although the variety of scripted events and first-person cutscenes are very nice to watch in the beginning, they are rather long and they seriously break-up the gameplay, which is particularly annoying during intense firefights. Coupled with the fact that they cannot be skipped, these scripts become increasingly annoying as you go through the campaign.

Graphically, the game looks more than decent, especially when it comes to vegetation, textures and character animation. The same can be said about the soundtrack, composed by the highly-acclaimed Inon Zur, which significantly improves the overall atmosphere. Hence, from a technical standpoint, Men of Valor is quite polished, although that's heavily hindered by the fragmented gameplay.

In the end, the game could have been a lot better than it is, especially when you consider all the parts it got right. On the other hand, the annoying scripted events, omnipresent invisible walls, painful linearity and the laughable AI make a mockery of it all and renders it very difficult for anyone to properly enjoy Men of Valor.