Man of War (video game)

Man of War is a 1997 real-time strategic naval combat video game developed by Strategy First and published by Virgin Interactive Entertainment for MS-DOS compatible operating systems and Microsoft Windows. A sequel, Man of War II: Chains of Command, was released in 1999.

Man of War
Developer(s)	Strategy First
Publisher(s)	Virgin Interactive Entertainment
Platform(s)	MS-DOS, Windows
Release	1997

Plot and gameplay

Players complete naval battles through a series of historical scenarios.^[1] The games included a character creator, and a scenario editor.^[2]

"It was a turn-based game wherein you plotted your orders on a 2D map, then watched your turn play out in real-time 3D from the deck of a ship; while you could move about the ship and watch the action from different perspectives, you had no control during this real-time phase—you were only an observer."

— Scott Udell, CDMag^[3]

Development

The game was developed by the small studio Strategy First (established in 1991^[4]), and would become one of its flagship series.^[5][6] Man of War was released December 31, 1997, while the sequel was released December 31, 1999.^[7][8] On June 17, 1997, Virgin Interactive signed a distribution agreement with Strategy First for North and South America; as part of the deal Virgin Interactive would also distribute two additional titles from Strategy First.^[9][10]

Reception

CD Mag felt the game took players to places they had never been before,^[11] though described it as a "pretty straightforward classic wargame with a new-fangled wrapper".^[12] Game Revolution said that while the game sounds good on paper it falls flat in its execution.^[13] The game sold 30,000 copies by April 1999.^[14]

Legacy

Man of War II was released in North America in 1999 by GT Interactive.^[1][15]