Three Great Things About 1C 2011

After years of iterations, 1C is taking Men of War to the "next generation." Condemned Heroes is a real-time strategy game that attempts to tell a brand new story. That's not an easy task for a World War II game. But with a new engine, intriguing concept and unsealed documents, it looks like Men of War may finally be growing up.

1. The Penal Battalions: Most war games star bright-eyed volunteers looking to be all they can be. That's definitely not the case in Men of War: Condemned Heroes. Forget innocent kids, this is a game about the infamous Penal Battalions. These were squads made up of disgraced soldiers, those who disobeyed laws or acted up. The idea is that these squads were forced to go on suicide missions. If you lived long enough you would have a chance to go back to your battalion, but the odds of that were small. This has been a dirty little secret of World War II for years and 1C is the first video game publisher to broach the topic. This set-up allows the developers to craft an impossibly hard game full of no-win scenarios. Perfect for the fans of Men of War.

2. It Comes with a Dictionary: While some games want to tell you a story, Condemned Heroes wants you to learn a thing or two about the history of war. This brand new Men of War game comes with a dictionary full of the terms and events that make up the Penal Battalions. That's right, a full history lesson that you can take back to school for extra credit. What's more, 1C has gone to military experts to add much needed context to this troubled history. Missions are based on real events, to the point where the developers were able to unseal classified documents for the first time ever. It's the kind of thing you expect to see on The History Channel, only this time around you'll be the one in control of the history lesson.

3. Next-Generation Men of War: While a lot can be made about the historical accuracy, one shouldn't ignore how good this game looks. This is the first "next-generation" Men of War game; a visual tour-de-force that pushes the boundaries of the real-time strategy genre. As you zoom into the action you'll see soldiers emote and the landscape deform. This is a fully realized world that uses the most out of the technology. The fact that the game looks this good more than a year before its release gives me a lot of hope for Condemned Heroes.

On the Other Hand: Let's face it, sometimes too much historical accuracy can get in the way of good gameplay. Gamers are fine with developers taking some creative license in order to make a game more fun and I would hate for the good intentions to ultimately detract from the experience. I'm also concerned the game plays too much like the other Men of War games, titles I have mixed feelings on. Will the history lesson alone be enough to keep me interested in this series? I guess we'll find out soon enough.

With only a few hours to play each game, conduct interviews and binge drink, I didn't have enough time to fully experience every game. Early on I decided to only focus on games relevant to the average Defunct Games reader. And after realizing that the average Defunct Games reader only plays Atari Jaguar games on an 11 inch black and white television, I had to come up with a plan B.

Although I only previewed five games, 1C had a lot more titles just waiting to be played. Up first is the brand new Men of War expansion Pack, Not a Step Back. This awkwardly named add-on is a skirmish pack that offers five new missions (one from each faction -- USA, Germany, Soviet Union, Commonwealth and Japan). What I played of it was good, albeit difficult to get a grasp of in just a few minutes.

Next up is Star Wolves 3: Ashes of Victory, a stand-alone expansion pack to the popular strategy game. Of all the games on the show floor, this is the one that intrigued me the most. I love the idea of exploring space, building an alliance and taking part in epic battles. But alas, the early bits of this game were slow going and hard to master. This is a game I can't wait to delve into deeper once it's released later this year, but this kind of in-depth space simulator is hard to demo at a three hour event.

1C showed a video of Real Warfare 2: Northern Crusades, however I didn't see it on the show floor. Instead of offering ultra-realistic historical battles (a hallmark for the series), Northern Crusades has veered off into fiction. The gameplay appears to be the same, but the developers promise that the story will be more free-flowing this time around. At one point the game was compared to King's Bounty meets an RTS, which sounds good to me. I look forward to seeing this in action later this year.

I was surprised to see 1C announce a brand new MMO, especially given how crowded the market is. I don't know the first thing about massively multiplayer role-playing games, so I was intimidated by Royal Quest. I was impressed by the game's visuals and variety of characters, though the gameplay didn't strike me as anything new or original. Still, I like the idea of another free-to-play MMO on the market, especially if it helps evolve this genre.