I played War Mongrels at the EGX Eurogamer event in London at the tail end of 2022 and I really enjoyed what I saw. Back then though it was a PC build and played like any typical RTS game with a mouse and keyboard. It has since been ported to Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S and I was initially excited to play this after forgetting about it 8 months ago. Unfortunately, my experience with the game turned sour and it is perhaps the most poorly ported game release I have ever played. This is such a shame as what should be a decent game, is completely hampered by frustration and confusion. After 10+ hours with the game for this review I simply could not endure anymore and all I can hope for is that they update it in future with a control system that actually works.

Introduction

What I really liked from the small snippet I played prior to this review was the fact it appeared to draw inspiration from the well-loved and known Commandos titles. Whilst the Commandos games have recently had some TLC work with the remaster treatment, you can still see their glorious age whilst playing them. War Mongrels comes across as a current-generation version of the genre, bringing tactical and carefully constructed gameplay mechanics to a well-thought-out atmosphere. The game is set on the Eastern Front of World War II and features tactical planning, dynamic action and urges you to carefully plan out your tasks.

Gameplay

The game layout is similar to the already mentioned Commandos titles and also Desperados games if you have played them. Everything is viewed from a top-down perspective with the early missions showing the movements of soldiers Ewald and Manfred and their escape from the brink of death. After learning what the Nazis are capable of, they decide to try and break free of that regime and link up with the Polish Army. It is an intriguing story and along the way, you’ll be ducking and diving amongst the shadows slaying Nazis and trying to achieve missions whilst obviously staying alive.

Whilst I have already grumbled about the terribly ported control scheme and boy is it bad. The UI is actually really clean and easy to grasp and understand. As you observe the minimap in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen you’ll see the viewpoints of enemies indicated by their red markers and also as you get closer the field of view they have. Success is mainly a game of stealth and choosing the correct method of attack along the way. Down the lower central portion of the screen, you’ll see any equipment you have in your possession, a lot of which can be plucked from looting throughout the environment. Knives, guns, frags, traps and more make up your inventory and it was cool to play around with these different tools despite everything taking an absolute age to figure out control-wise.

Lacking A Tutorial & Fluidity

Unfortunately, there isn’t much of a tutorial and this is perhaps because the PC version doesn’t really warrant one really. I’d imagine clicking on one feature and then directing the soldiers to use it is a breeze with a mouse. With the controller though, it wasn’t simple at all and some features required several chains of button commands and combinations that were simply overwhelming to learn and even understand. Nothing ever felt natural and fluid with the controller at hand and it made me really angry because I could see the ability in the gameplay loop. The game isn’t bad at all, how it plays though is what makes it awful to handle.

Graphics & Audio

Visually War Mongrels is one of the big plus points of the game. Every environment is really well created with excellent lighting and you can tell the era of World War II has been crafted to suit that timeline. As mentioned already the UI is superb and easy to follow along with great task indicators that are text-based to the right of the screen. Explosions, electrocutions, blood and gore are all well presented to echo the severity of the Nazi regime and the mood during those times. Voice acting and AI movement and behaviour are a little hit-and-miss, there are some erratic and robotic moments from some AI and then some really challenging and hard-to-get-past moments. The way soldiers are illustrated though is exceptional by the art design team.

In Conclusion

War Mongrels is probably a really great experience on a PC with a mouse and keyboard, but the shoddy port across to the console is not recommended whatsoever. I had hoped that as I ploughed through as much of the game as possible that I would get used to the control scheme, but this never happened. You can see the quality in the game design, the storyline and the atmosphere and it does shine there, but for me, it felt like an absolute chore to play. Aside from these issues, there are several bugs throughout the game that are hard to dismiss and I’m unsure if these still exist in the PC version or whether they have been transported across to the Xbox iteration as well.

If this is a game that still interests you despite my criticisms then it may be for you, but I’d advise anyone to steer clear on console for now and try it on PC instead. Destructive Creations has a bit of work to do to bring this title up to scratch for the console. Fingers crossed this happens as I have enjoyed previous games they have created for consoles such as Ancestors Legacy. If you’re after something with some Commandos vibes then proceed with caution.