Heroes and Generals

I Can't Really Put My Finger on It, but Neither Can It

World War II has fascinated me ever since I was old enough to realize what war is. I've always been interested in 20th century history, because of the dynamic social, political, and economic clashes that occurred between many different nations. Naturally, being a gamer and a 20th century fanatic, I enjoy my fair share of World War II shooters. There are not many out there these days, so Heroes and Generals is the best choice really.

Heroes and Generals is a World War II shooter created by Reto-Moto, a developer that most people don't know of based in Copenhagen, Denmark. The game contains a lot of the generic shooter game modes, and has a unique "Generals" game mode in which you can command an assault squad. You can learn more about the game on the website linked.

So, how good is the game. 

Well, my first impressions of the game were actually quite good. The gun mechanics seem to be in order, however the hitboxes seem a little out of wack at some points. For instance, one time I had the German Kar-98K, a BOLT-ACTION rifle, mind you, and as I proceeded to fire at an enemy's chest, I received a notification telling me that I had done ONE point of damage to him. A single health point taken off from a 7.62mm round hitting a man in the chest is just unacceptable.

Anyway, there are 3 different factions in this game: the United States, the Germans, and the Russians. All of them have different weapons provided for them, however I am almost 100% sure that they are just reskins of each other, meaning they all basically do the same thing (there is no difference between the American M1 Garand and the German Gewehr G-12 and the Soviet SVT-40). So it doesn't really matter what side you choose, and for me that takes out a lot of the fun of a World War II shooter, because the diversity of the weapons created in this time period was so overwhelmingly different from previous wars.

The environment is actually quite well done. The city buildings look "twentieth-century war torn" enough for me. The forest is also very interesting, as the trees actually provide a challenge to seeing targets down range. The graphics are nothing to boast about, but I wouldn't complain about them looking too out of date.

My biggest issue with this game is the map selection. See, the developers boast that their game contains tons of different cities that players and factions can fight over, gaining ground on a much larger, European campaign map. However, the whole game only includes 5 different maps. FIVE!!! Two city maps, one airfield map, and two maps located in a rural setting. Now, you tell me how I am supposed to believe I am fighting a large, European-scale war when Paris, France looks exactly the same as some microscopic agricultural town in Germany. 

Nothing stands out to me about this game, and that is the issue I have. I can't tell what this game is supposed to be. Is it supposed to be realistic, because the fairly large map sizes suggests that. But the arcadey hitboxes and playstyle doesn't seem to fit a realistic shooter. That is the games problem. It doesn't know what it is supposed to be, so the player gets confused and doesn't feel immersed in a World War II setting, ever. It is bland, it isn't different, it is free-to-play, but if you don't purchase the in-game currency with real money, it will take you literally hours to get a weapon you want.

So, what is my verdict on this game? Well, I wouldn't recommend the game to anyone who wants a genuine WWII experience, in fact the only reason I play it is because there isn't much choice out there.

Honestly, you'd be better off playing the 14 year old Battleground Europe... (will be explained in a later post)

Word Count: 673