Sneak, shoot, and die a lot in this formidable WWII tactics game
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Rick Lane
Typical, isn’t it? You wait ages for a grizzled World War II real-time tactics game set on the eastern front, then two come along at once. Last year’s Partisans: 1941 was an excellent take on the Commandos formula, and now War Mongrels seeks to do the same from a different perspective, with missions so challenging they will make you cry blood.
Taking place in 1944, WarMongrels sees you assume control of a Dirty-Dozen-style group of saboteurs who attempt to undermine the Nazi war machine as it slowly retreats from Soviet advance. Interestingly, your first two characters are themselves former Wehrmacht soldiers. Evald is a reluctant Silisean draftee, while Manfred is a former hero of the Nazis imprisoned for refusing to fire on a group of unarmed civilians.
DOGGED DETERMINATION
The preview build offered two complete missions of a planned twelve. The first charts Manfred and Evald’s escape from the penal battalion, sneaking along the frontline while the Wehrmacht is locked in intense battle with the advancing Soviets. The second sees them team up with a Lithuanian dissident named Lukas to destroy a railway bridge the Nazis are using to transport Polish civilians for execution. Both levels show WarMongrels to be an unflinching depiction of war and a brutally challenging tactics game, albeit one that still needs considerable polish.
YOUR FIRST TWO CHARACTERS ARE THEMSELVES FORMER WEHRMACHT SOLDIERS
1 WarMongrels’ deadly patrol puzzles are extremely difficult to untangle. In this image, I need to retrieve a key from an SS Officer. But not only is he immune to distractions and can see through disguises, he’s also crisscrossed from multiple angles by guard sightlines.
3 WarMongrels is not a pure stealth game. At any point during play you can enter Combat Mode, taking control of a character and letting rip with rifles and machine-guns. Firearms should be used with caution as they have a wide audible radius, and will bring a swarm of Nazis down on you. 5 The visual spectacle
WarMongrels offers is impressive. The first mission takes place to the backdrop of an intense battle. The second is set in a picturesque farming village surrounded by green hedgerows and verdant forest. It’s a brown game, but a pretty one regardless. 6 Judging how challenging WarMongrels will be in its final version is difficult, as the build I played suffered from numerous bugs. Commands wouldn’t always register, and my squad tended to get stuck in scenery. The build has no manual save function, and the autosave trapped me in tricky situations.
4 WarMongrels’ story is more personal than most games about WWII. Playing as a renegade German soldier makes for an interesting perspective, while the game doesn’t flinch from depicting the worst of the war’s atrocities.
2 Each character has their own set of abilities. Manfred can disguise himself as an SS soldier and use his watch to lure guards away from their posts. Evald, meanwhile, can throw a bottle of hooch on the ground to distract guards.