Soldiers: Heroes of World War II
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| Soldiers: Heroes of World War II | |
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| Developer(s) | Bestway |
| Publisher(s) | Codemasters |
| Release date(s) | June 30, 2004 |
| Genre(s) | Real-time tactics |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Teen (T) |
| Platform(s) | Windows |
| Media | CD |
| Input | Keyboard and Mouse |
Soldiers: Heroes of World War II (S:HoWWII) is a real-time tactics computer game set in World War II. The player could take control of American, British, Russian, or German forces to play out battles that are set in World War II. The game is primarily a strategy game, but the player can take control of his or her forces and direct them with the keyboard and mouse for additional depth of control.
A sequel, Faces of War, was released on September 12 2006[1].
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[edit] Campaign Mode
Campaign mode is the heart of Soldiers: Heroes of World War II, as it, along with a couple of other single player scenarios, is all that the game shipped with. In campaign mode, the player takes control over different teams during World War II attempting to attain different goals.
[edit] Russian Campaign
The Russian Campaign is named "Katyusha" and dealt primarily with a Russian Force during one of the battles for Kharkov. Through the course of the campaign, the player has to move, transport, and destroy the artillery piece Katyusha to help win the battle. This, like all the campaigns in the game, allots the player with very few troops and is focused heavily on troop conservation.
[edit] German Campaign
The German campaign, titled "Hunter", takes place after the invasion of D-Day and has the player in control of the legendary tank commander Michael Wittmann. The German campaign takes the player through Wittmann's famous ambush of the British 7th Armoured Division at the Battle of Villers-Bocage in a Tiger Tank. The final mission has the player defending against a British onslaught of the town in a far outnumbered fight.
[edit] British Campaign
The British Campaign, named "Project America", takes the player through an alternate reality where Werner Von Braun has developed a successor to the V2 Rocket, the V3 Rocket, which has enough range to hit the eastern shoreline of America. According to the story, the Germans planned to place a tracking device in the Empire State Building that would guide the rocket and destroy the Empire State Building, thus demoralizing America and possibly taking them out of the war. The campaign has the player controlling a British commando force which is tasked with stealing the missile's guidance system so it cannot be used. The trio is taken to France by submarine Trident. They are dropped off near the shores of Dunkirk via an inflatable.
[edit] American Campaign
The American Campaign is named "Way to Berlin" and deals with Operation Market Garden. The campaign starts with the disastrous parachute dropping of the 82nd Airborne Division. This campaign focuses on the Lieutenant John Lee Perkins. In the first mission the Lt makes it safely but disarmed. After arming himself he rescues his pinned down squadmembers and flees the area. Upon approaching Nijmegen they meet up with a few Sherman tanks, what was left of their column after a run in with the Luftwaffe. Despite the town being quiet and only being defended by a handful of German troops, the Shermans and its men were shot up in a German ambush. Despite the setback the lieutenant and his squad take out the Germans thus securing a way to the Nijmegen bridge. Unfortunatley, without any reinforcements or armor support, the Lt was soon pinned down in the town. Suddenly two remaining Shermans appeared managed to destroy the armor defending the town. Upon being rescued the Lt voluntarily went on another mission, to destroy German artillery which was firing with deadly accuracy on incoming reinforcements. After capturing a Nebelwerfer and using against the Germans the Lt "dropped" some dynamite on the Nebelwerfer as they left the field. Meanwhile the town has been secured and the Allies are fighting at the river. The Lt and his men bolster the defences as the motorized Germans thundered in. Using a stolen tank the Lt held the defences long enough for air support to arrive. Upon securing the Nijmegen bridge the Allies move up to support the British troops surrounded in Arnhem thus making the defeat of the Germans earlier.
[edit] Gameplay
In the single player missions, players were generally allotted a very small amount of soldiers, and losing just one soldier could be a huge loss. Thus, the game was about conserving your soldiers and keeping them safe for most of the time. The game simulates close combat military tactics, allowing the player to place their soldiers behind cover and move them around all at once, yet also allowing the player to take control of their soldiers to make them do more advanced commands.
There were many types of vehicles, ranging from tanks to anti-aircraft vehicles to simple jeeps. Any soldier could drive or man any position in a gun, which, albeit unrealistic, allowed for many interesting gameplay implications.
Another interesting side effect to using vehicles under direct control was that this allowed the user to aim at specific points on enemy vehicles. A player could aim for an enemy tank's treads for example, which would prevent it from moving, but still allowed it to fire. Thus, by doing this, a player can stop a tank from harassing him, while creating a "dead zone" that he can't move in without getting attacked.
Originally, the only way a player could play this game multiplayer was to play a cooperative game mode which took up to four players through any mission from the single player mode. The soldiers in each map were divided between the players, but otherwise this mode was exactly the same as single player. However, there was no server browser, and players were forced to directly connect by IP Address to play.
In a more recent patch, players are able to play different multiplayer modes, including escort missions and king of the hill type scenarios. No in-game server browser was created, but a player could use GameSpy Arcade or The All-Seeing Eye as a server browser.
