War Mongrels Review (Beggar Soldier)
War Mongrels is an isometric WW2 RTS that follows the story of deserters and partisans during the second wold war, namely in Poland and even in France.
"I felt bonded to the guy.. this is how sharing suffering works on people." - Manfred
Pros:
The visuals totally match the atmosphere of a location a mission takes place in, for example missions in Poland are grim, depressing and oppressive with rubble all around showcasing the destruction while missions in France are vibrant and colorful showing that war never really touched that soil
The story is actually really great, I enjoyed how all the events unfolded
The cutscenes between each mission were uniquely made with all kinds of symbolism that makes them intriguing, but also invites the player for deeper analysis
Quite a lengthy experience (15-20 Hours)
No censorship, meaning you get to see swastikas hear nazi speeches and the horrors of war, which I find to be excellent as the game does not shy away from showing the reality of this historical era and it can be really educational as well
The cast of characters are really great and well voice-acted! (Even Doug Cockle is in the game!)
All the characters have unique abilities and equipment that lets you experiment with many different approaches during a mission and how you achieve a goal is up to you.
The collectibles in the game you can collect can let you read historical documents, posters, fliers and so many others that are extremely interesting
"Challenges" difficulty
Steam Achievements, Trading Cards etc.
Neutral:
Online Co-op option, which must be great but I didn't really have the chance to try it out with any of my friends
Some sections of the game can be easily passed just by rushing in like with Ewald's MP40
Cons:
The AI can be cheesed so easily at times
Noticed some bugs especially when saving and reloading hastily (since you always have to experiment with tactics in games like this)
While zoomed-in, textures are quite low quality and unfortunately I haven't found any mods to upscale those textures
While playing solo, the dynamic combat system can be frustrating since you can only control one singular person at a time while all the other partisans are just standing still, I was hoping for some AI to take over while doing that.
8/10 Honestly, with some of the flaws War Mongrels is still quite a great experience, especially if you are into this era like I am, since this shows another side of the war that not many games represent and the game does that exceptionally well with its cast of characters, atmosphere and taboo topics.