Players complete naval battles through a series of historical scenarios. The games included a character creator, and a scenario editor.
Development
The game was developed by the small studio Strategy First, and would become one of its flagship series. Man of War was released December 31, 1997, while the sequel was released December 31, 1999. 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. Justin Przedwojewski served as lead programmer and designer for Man of War II. Having served in the Canadian military himself, he was inspired to pursue that genre for a game, despite being considered a niche. Man of War II was released to retail outlets in North America via distribution partner GT Interactive Software Corp. For the first few weeks after release, customers struggled to find it on store shelves due to a distribution snafu. In October 1999, Man of War II was one of the three titles that debuted on Strategy First's new Heat.Net server. In November of that year, a patch was released that made the game Heat.net enabled, and included DirectPlay lobby support. Man of War II was part of A&E; Network's Horatio Hornblower Nationwide promotion. The "cross-merchandising effort will include 5,000 retail displays and provide CD-ROM customers coupons for “Horatio Hornblower” videos, as well as video buyers with CD-ROM coupons". As part of the promotion the marketing team set up a booth at South Street Seaport in NYC and arranged a mock battle to be performed.
Critical reception
Man of War
CD Mag felt the game took players to places they had never been before, though described it as a "pretty straightforward classic wargame with a new-fangled wrapper". Game Revolution said that while the game sounds good on paper it falls flat in its execution.
Man of War II
Gamezilla deemed the game a refreshing take on the naval combat genre. Absolute Games suggested that its "army of fans" would anticipate a third entry in the series. GameSpot felt the title would only appeal to fans of the genre. IGN felt there was a great concept behind the game but that it was let down in execution due to obsolete technology. PC Mag said that fans of TalonSoft's Age of Sail would like the game. Lady Dragon would have liked the historical information to be more in-depth. and that players would love it if they overlooked its glitches. The Adrenaline Vault felt it wasn't particular complex and has a short learning curve. Game Pen appreciated the unique take where players are promoted in rank throughout the campaign. Computer Gaming Review felt it would be the perfect game for those who liked historical battles without the "frenetic clicking" of more arcade style games. Rich Cacace of GameSpot deemed the graphics "terrible" and the site's Michael E. Ryan commented they were "poor, blocky, and outdated". Intelligamer thought the core design of the game was "excellent".
