Reviews - Varsity

Men of War is successful because each game naturally generates its own narrative. It is brilliant because it has character. It is great because (in campaign missions at least) you feel attached to your troops.

Assault Squad is Men of War minus all of this, and is horrid.

Its lone addition is the new Skirmish mode: a depressing, soulless grind against entrenched AI. Instead of wire-tight combat against a fellow human comes wave after wave of artificially buffed but simple-minded robots; in place of the memorable set pieces of authored missions is crushing repetition both within and between maps; and both motivation and opportunity to delve into the game's intricate simulation are lost beneath a constant stream of replacement troops.

Buy and love Men of War, but skip Assault Squad. DigitalMindSoft apparently don't understand what makes their games so good.

(Edit: Assault Squad does also include all MoW multiplayer modes and maps. Those are excellent, but have not significantly changed from last time.)

Definitely among the greatest Half-Life 2 mods ever made. Oddly, Precursor's smartest moments are when it subtracts from the formula: stumbling through dark tunnels without a flashlight is genuinely creepy, while picking your way through a field of hopper mines without the gravity gun is tenser than I thought HL2 could ever be.

I dislike how the final battle depends on quicksave precognition, but otherwise this mod is a string of great ideas executed well.

Outstandingly funny, incredibly enjoyable, and surprisingly expansive. Play it with your friends...but don't cross the streams!

Rock solid puzzling. Some fiddly moments, and some poorly-balanced timers, but armed with noclip you can skip through those rough spots and carry on having fun. The new elements are implemented well, and the presentation overall is excellent!