Men of War: Red Tide

Red Tide focuses exclusively on the Crimean front of WW2, told exclusively from the Russian perspective, mainly focusing on the Black Sea Marines. Like the other MoW titles, it features the same great RTS mechanics, micromanagement of individual soldiers, and macromanagement of whole squads. That's about where the similarities end, though. Whereas the other MoW titles feature some pretty difficult missions, Red Tide centres exclusively around them. The very first mission, aptly named "Baptism by Fire" involves you landing on a defended beach with just 3 squads under your command and a bunch of allies being killed all around. Since your allies won't do anything, you have to clear defended trench after defended trench with those 3 squads, fighting machine guns, mortars, and even an artillery piece. As if that's not enough, once you start making some progress, enemy reinforcements arrive with tanks, right in your flank... So basically, if you haven't got experience with the MoW series, this probably isn't the game for you. Though the game lacks multiplayer seen in other MoW titles, it makes up for it by having a great story. The same poorly-done voiceovers are still present, but the story covers real-life actions on the Odessa front, and even features unlockable memoires of soldiers on the front, which are really interesting to read. There's also some new vehicles, including gunboats and midget submarines, armed with torpedos and calliope rocket launchers.

Men of War: Red Tide takes you again to the eastern front of World War Two. It will be the Russian campaign, so you will be replaying battles between Germans and Soviets for most of the time, with some additional appearances of Romanians. The game is even better than Men of War, as brutal and probably even more unforgiving. Some fighting will take place around the Black Sea, some will feature some interesting units (Black Coats!) and the whole campaign of over 20 missions is driven by great storyline that binds the battles together and turns them into an unforgettable experience. I am still trying to finish this game, and am enjoying every bit of the struggle.