Men of Valor Reviews

this is like one of my first games ever besides halo n allied assault when i was like 4 or sumn

Fuck off. Complete revisionist history, that makes it look like the Americans "won" Vietnam. Even including the line on one of the death letters "(You) helped stop communism"... Someone better tell the Vietnamese! Which is such a shame because the Vietnam War is the only war Americans do ANY self reflection about their Imperialist conquests. That's what pushed me to the final level, because I thought it kept being a fine line between criticism and glorification, but I was so wrong. I committed so much war crimes, saw white phosphorus being deployed, massacred villages of men and women defending themselves from me (The USA), but the game NEVER reprimanded me. There's no Spec Ops The Line moment that makes me go "Ah fuck, we're the baddies". In fact the game constantly frames your evil actions as "necessary", which is what propaganda does. Best exemplified by the Journalist reporting on how your squad burn down a village, only to have ever character go "Nah, you were right". I gave up wondering if the game was going to criticize the Americans invasion of Vietnam when the game shows a mass grave made by the victims of the NVA, and characters go "OMG, That's terrible... Why would they do that?" and it's used as motivation to fight harder, to stop more civilians from getting massacred, and laughed out loud! Even with your character being a black guy, it's used as propaganda for how "good" black soldiers should fight. Your brother, who is anti-war, is the one who gets treated like the journalist! For criticizing America's racism and imperial ambitions in Vietnam. You even get a patronising speech towards your brother about how black men should be colour blind towards white people while at war. Fuck off! Game itself is just a janky Ghost Recon without any of the squad mechanics, and set in linear corridors. The thick jungle aesthetic is novel, but because enemies spawn out of the trees (Border), it makes the game feel like an arcade shooter when you have to memorise where enemies spawn. Look, it's not the worst shooter I've played. I like your guns evolve over time to show the technological advancements during the war, the game looks... nice enough for the time. But I did give up on the final level because the game saved when I was low health, and after reverting to a previous save I clipped through the floor. I played this bargain-bin-accessory because I remembered it as a kid, as the first time I played as a black character, ever, in anything. It was surprising to catch that ball in the into level and seeing my hands weren't white. I remember thinking to myself "Jesus... my hands are dirty". Until it finally clicked, and I projected myself onto the main character, as a black man in the game world. And, it was neat (if shallow) getting to experience that difference in perspective, and I wanted to see if this game continued that forward thinking design. But, if you are reading this, I have to ask, why the fuck would you want to play this?

Game won't launch on my PC. it says "running" but does not run. Unplayable. Sadly I can't recommend this.