Steel Division 2 - Worthabuy? 

To clarify, campaigns are fully fleshed out Total War like experiences and there is a basic manual if you press "Esc". None of the singleplayer content, except Divisions (doesn't affect campaign, only skirmish), is locked in DLC except from the content down the line which is available in a sort of season pass, or purchasable individually on release. I would say I don't like how much the SD:N44 divisions DLC cost, they dropped the ball there. Otherwise though, over 600 units (900 with DLC), 39 maps (27 of which are unique), 3 game modes, 4 replayable extensive campaigns, 6 historical battles (which are great for co op by the way! Click scenario in multiplayer), satisfyng combat and gameplay. Can't really complain for £35. I think there should have been a basic combat tutorial in the game for sure, but once mastered this game is one of the most satisfying RTS games ever. I'd encourage anyone who purchases to join the community Discord where you can get loads of help toward that aim.

Mack - with all the respect, you didnt even scratch the surface with this review. Single player this time is made in diffrent way than it was in past wargames. Its like 4 big non linear operations - like it was in Graviteam Tactics games.

Wait... did you miss the biggest change to the first Steel Division game, the campaign mode aka Army General? This is like forgetting to put in a comprehensive manual, just sayin

You didn’t talk about the army general mode?

Fixed everything that was wrong with the first game, much more like wargame... Love it!

You should remake this review and actually play the Campaign

Didn't you try single player? I mean Army General game mode. That's what this second game is all about. You really cant say much about the game without reviewing that as well ☹️

Thank god, a video from Mack. Nothing else to watch all weekend!!

Does anyone remember the Close Combat series of RTS? I wish they would re release them.

Reading the comments realy shows that you should realy play the Campaign and remake the Review. They realy put a lot of effort on the Campaign.

I appreciate the honest review, thanks for being thorough and reviewing the game in it's entirety, faults and all.

SD2 is pretty good. You didnt speak about the actual "total war" campaign map and multiplayer pve EDIT: Btw, Mac I agree with the points you mentioned, I think they are mostly valid, not having tutorials is criminal in this game, just saying it's a shame you did'nt spend more time talking about the innovative features that were introduced into the game. Good review otherwise!

oooh...blunt stuff, but justified. I love SD2 though. A step up from SD1.

Wargame is where it's at, those three games from 2012-2014 were the developers high point. There's an interesting backstory of the developers being either interns or scandalously under/late paid.

That was an awesome second review of Steel Division 1 :)

The four campaigns are playable by both sides and are huge many battles that encompass and are now dynamic unlike the first game. Plus you can also play at a strategic level if you wish. Much more campaign content than the first game if you look at it carefully.

Damn I was looking foreword to this. Doesn’t each of those campaign missions have a strategic map where you move whole armies around and fight multiple battles from one mission though?

I'm always looking forward to see how the intros are different for every review.

I was looking for something like this game and your advice on being a new player to the game was great and made me chuckle. Thank you.

SteelDivision 2 is way better than Sd44. Mack ignored a lot of stuff about the game in this review. You just need to put more effort into it too learn, its true that its lacking a tutorial but singleplayer is way more than just skirmishmode. Its not 4 missions, its 4 big operations in wich you play on the strategical map and tactical matches. Its a lot like graviteam tactics. If you like wargames youre gonna like this, not so much for casual gamers.

The 'Army General Mode' was the main draw for single player portion of the game. Good or not, you should have at least talked about it.

Thank you for your great humor! When I came home after work and watched your videos I was laughing ass off!

Imagine HOI4 campaign with this battle gameplay

Thank you Mack! I love you.

As of today, July 2020, the game has a light tutorial. You still have to search the net about some mechanics but it is just a great game, probably the best RTS of all once you know how to play. If you like singleplayer and you don't like the Army General campaigns, there are unlimited skirmish and historical missions. You can build divisions and watch your recorded games and move in 3D in the movie of your battles. A lot of depth and not that difficult to learn. Unfortunately, documentation is lacking as it seems to be the trend these days... Oh! I suggest that you start playing AI skirmish 2v2 on 1v1 maps and use pause regularly to take time to issue orders.

Its better than SD44. Its SD but w Red Dragon customization.

The fact Mack missed alot of the good stuff makes u realize it would be great if games companies would just slice parts off the game and sell them i dividually so we are fully aware of the extra content. Or add a way to open semi-random surprise content which unlocks skins which can be sold for real money just to make it more interesting and keep us playing longer.

SD: Normandy 44 is also on sale right now on Steam.

Hey Mack can you do a review on the game kenshi please?

Thx for the review and calling out the developers for keeping content that should be there for everyone behind additional paywalls.

People need to realize how Eugen has evolved. As they have gone from RUSE to SD2, they have become more and more focused on cultivating their niche audience and pushing for streamers and youtubers. This game is a better refinement of the formula when it comes to multiplayer battles, but I agree it somewhat misses the OBVIOUS mark when it comes to the campaign, day 1 dlc and etc... That said, I would agree that it isn’t for a newbie to get. Better if you’re used to Eugen.

Well here’s a game I’ve waited a long time for and half the game is day one dlc. Thanks for the review

Hell yeah, gunship with the c64 keyboard overlay!

Valid points but please update your review after playing the campaign.

Loving the honest reviews Mack!

Gunship! I LOVED that game! I've been waiting for a remake or similar for years upon years!!!!!

thank you for the honest opinion ... i didnt care for the first in general, but was interested in the diversity of the units for the multiplayer side, I thought perhaps that would be fun to do mixed builds for the purposes of pvp , but, with paid aspects of units and groups locked behind limited editions, DLC, and previous titles of the developer ... no thank you ... ive spent enough on my computer to HAVE to spend MORE to get on the same level as anyone else ... appreciate your HONESTY as ALWAYS ... CHEERS from the US

I agree that the pre order divisions are Ding! But the the base game has more than enough content to warrent the history pack giving you 3 extra dlc in the future. My advice if you like the look and feel of this game buy the first one on sale (I got it for 7 bucks awhile ago) then if you like what you see buy steel 2. It is better and the general mode is awesome. Plus if you have the first game you get the back to war for free.

I think this kind of review happens because you rush so much to release the videos. Take your time to make a good analysis of the game you are recommending. I love you mack, but goddamn take your time.

I was really enjoying the Skirmish mode in beta & was REALLY looking forward to the campaign. It's early days but so far I'm not too impressed. #1 There is no way to save during the enemy's turn. I started as the Germans, fought one battle and run out of time before having to go to work (9 hour evening shift finishing at midnight followed by a cheeky 7-3 overtime shift the following day) so I had to leave the PC on for 24 hours! I think the PC was on sleep mode for most of it, though a slight mouse movement will wake it up. I'm not onto the third battle of the AI turn & still can't save. If there's a powercut or the toaster trips my supply I'm going to lose hours worth of gameplay! They really need to sort this aspect out. #2 I can already tell this was completed in a rush & has not been thoroughly play-tested. In my second battle (apparently a meeting engagement, though it looked like breakthrough-defense with me having bunkers etc...) I noted that the Russians had only brought an Artillery Regiment in A Phase then the other two battalions in B, so I push aggressively with my Sturmschutzen and hunted down all their completely undefended artillery. I then set up defenses on all their spawning points. I got a message that the battle would end in 10 seconds as their reinforcements were blocked but nothing happened & I had to wait it out for the almost the entire duration, despite holding all 24 objectives. In the meantime the AI sent it waves of Stormoviks that wore down my 20mm AA but other than that I took only a handful of casualties. This felt very buggy. I hope they can iron out these issues as I really like the game & want it to be awesome.

Thanks for that! I was going to buy it but now I might wait a bit... This channel is the only one where I come back after watching the video to check if I forgot to thumb up 👍🏻😂

Well there is a in game Manuel. Its not as good as a tutorial but its not like they completely didn't tell you how to play the game.

mac youre honesty is really something i salute you

Looks like it plays like the first one. Thats where your tutorial is!

Those 4 “missions” are actually campaigns🤦🏼‍♂️🤦🏼‍♂️🤦🏼‍♂️ And no, Steel Division 1 is shit compared this game. Period!!

3:00 in. K, thanks Mac, see you on the next vid (y).

It´s really short sighted to bash this game mainly because of it´s DLC policy. It´s a complex, niche game, the audience is very restricted, the devs are relatively small but competent, and they have to find ways to make more money and support the game for a long time. This isnt your EA with their money grubbing disgusting cash in schemes, dumbing games down to "appeal to larger audiences". SD2 is a labor of love and a gift to hardcore strategy wargamers, even with some very questionable design decisions such as not including tutorial. I´ll gladly pay 2 or 3x the main game's price in dlcs to support it and you should do it too if you care for the future of harcore gaming.

Absolutely agreed. There's nothing more to say! (remember the manual to jane's simulations? 250 pages tutorial!)

You obviously completely missed the Army General Mode!!! Steel Division 2 is a HUGE leap over the original...

Thanks for warning me about this game Mack. I kinda was interested but never played any of the previous titles and since its so beginner unfriendly and greedy I wont bother.

Mack it's not a short campaign. It's a surprise early ending.

You need to be able to set general fallback zones.

The game is excellent . It’s better then the last one for sure. As for the dlc you don’t need it. You can always pick it up later at a discount. If you like wargame series or men of war then I would highly recommend this one.

Just checked out Steel Division Normandy 44 on Steam. Turns out it's already in my library but never played it lol. Installing it now :0)

"Marrster" the bloody northerner has become posh

"If you're new to this and didn't own the last one, you're not only gimped you also don't know what the fuck you're doing" **DING** Brilliant review!

When I bought Arma 3 I was in for a big surprise just like this. Quit playing almost immediately after the intro b/c I had no idea how to do anything and the game made zero effort to assist that. Maybe I'm dumb but I dont know...

im a new player and jumped straight into sd2,glad i watched vulcangaming instead of this review.

Thank you Mack.. I almost bought the SD2... Will keep playing 44

Love the 1st game.

Wargame: Red Dragon has the same problem with it being a sequel and having no tutorial. I played European Escalation and even I sucked, I still had fun and understood why I sucked. Red Dragon was so hard though, and I cannot understand why it was harder than the previous game.

The DLC system seems enough of a reason for it to not be worth a buy.

So not all modern games ruin your skills, some challenge them, I guess. :) This is a very niche game, I doubt that many people will buy this, that are not into that kind of stuff. Would have been nice to see more of the campaign mode.

Ah. Good review. I was planning to wait 20th june for the game. But really looks its screwed right now. I guess the delay of game shifted focus to pre-orderers.

I couldnt even figure out how to move my units

I played a bit of '44 but yeah I specifically opted not to purchase last minute just because of the ridiculous content pay walls. Will wait for sales, I have a lot of other stuff to play for now

You like apples? How do you like them apples!

What a dishonest review, I advise everybody who regularly watches this channel to look into the game for themselves, it will quickly dawn on you that he didn't even mention the major single player components the game features and the game itself might not be to his preferences, but the developers listened a lot to their fanbase. Overall reception is far better than SD1.

Hey Mack You need to review Loria it’s a great game and the developers need some support in getting their game out their

Like all dlc games. I wait until price drops and i buy it if i care about it anymore

Hey Mack. Would you review DCS? It's a combat air simulator with really fun planes. Ps. I love your content

Totally agree with review there.

Is there a vid about f1 2019 coming when it's official released

Mac review kenshi you'll love it

If I got this game would it be worth buying normality 44 first

What's the name of the background soundtrack?

i can tell if the game is worth a buy or not from mack's view , by the music playing on the background.

Gonna get me some one on one milty player action.

Very good review own sd1 and sd2. For me it is playable new guy not so mutch.

Thank you , Mak' .

One of the best strategy ever!!!

Hey Mac, Can you do an updated review on "Foxhole" when you get the time please? It's gotten exponentially better since your last review. It just released a major update 6 days ago which changed everything. Thanks mate!

I miss reading game manuals on the toilet...those were the days...thought they'd never end...dah dahhhh da dah da dah da dahhh.

SD1 was very good but armor values were not realistic like on this and i believe they buffed engagement distances up to 2km from previous 1.2km? was it. I like this better

Mack, we need that 2014 attitude of yours!

What was that you say,a middle finger

F for respect for Microprose the gaming giant

More pure scumbaggery from the greedy publishers. Make a full game and then give us 1/2 of it. You have to preorder the deluxe version for an extra 20$ and then buy $30 of day 1 DLC just to get up to 3/4 of the full game. Then it's Microtransactions and a season pass for a year if you want that last 1/4 of the game ! Screw these game companies!!!

You completely missed out army general mode!

You gave it a mueller

Mack, the game is basically an expansion! Like all their games but Eugen always done it as weird stand alone games. >.

The back to war DLC is Normandy 44 ported for free if you bought that game. It's better than Normandy 44 because the campaign is more fleshed out and for a review it is a disaster that they weren't considered. The maps are better as they have more open spaces for tanks to shine. Infantry is stronger than in the last game as they are less squishy. While the Pre-order bonus isn't okay the extra divisions were a last minute gift to try to make up for the delays. It is criminal that there is no tutorial in this game and I respect your opinion and love your content. No hate and I can see why you would give this game a middle thumb. Here's a tip, SMG kill infantry close range so anything with PPSH or MP 40 are good close range.

Steam sale is on

Does it have a manual?

Games like this can be hard to find friends that will play it with you too and when you play against random hoomans they just slaughter you because they have no life. Although I do enjoy them otherwise.

Mack, would you do a commentary video about the latest EA and Epic hearing in the UK Parliament. Its pretty hilarious the excuses they give. EA even renamed Loot Boxes to "Surprise Mechanics".. *dink* Source: parliamentlive.tv/event/index/0bf5f000-036e-4cee-be8e-c43c4a0879d4 Your commentary would be epic. :)

lol, you missed one whole game mode xD

I have cash for only one title. Now, the price tag on both games is very similar. Should I buy the first steel division or this one? I rather play singleplayer.

You got to see Hell Let Loose Mack

........of the developah!