The war is on, that’s right, not just the one on your screen but, EA vs. Activision or more precisely Medal of Honor vs. Call of Duty Black Ops. EA’s approach was to develop a first-person shooter that would equal the success of Activision’s Call of Duty series, if not exceed it. Does Medal of Honor live up to the huge expectations and possibly grab game of the year? Well, it seems the impossible task of producing a game that plays better than soon to be released Call of Duty Black Ops really was impossible for EA.
Medal of Honor takes on the modern day setting, which is based on the current conflict in Afghanistan. World War II was the setting until this series reboot. As the game was been developed concerns started to arise, this was because players would have been able to play as the Taliban in multiplayer. EA addressed these concerns to prevent the risk of the game been banned from sale, instead of playing as the Taliban you now play as the opposing force. It should also be noted that, unusually, two portions of the game were developed separately: the Single Player has been developed by Danger Close and the multiplayer by DICE.
I must say I was expecting very little from Medal of Honor. Going from what it did best, World War II first-person shooter gameplay, to modern warfare seemed a sudden transition after such a long time. I wasn’t totally convinced by the pre-release footage of the game, it looked like a Battlefield clone. I thought is this going to ruin the series?
I am pleased to say I was wrong. This is a strong reboot of the franchise and has plenty to offer first-person shooter gamers. But it does have some disappointing areas which should have been so much better.
The single player campaign feels short in length, quality ahead of quantity applies here, but the campaign really captures the realism of the war happening in Afghanistan. This isn’t to say that you will be spending much time waiting for something to happen, as often is this case in the real war. This is the life of a soldier in an accelerated timeline, focusing on the action. Regular changes of pace makes it a real thrill. Some of the vehicles you will come across throughout the campaigns are motor bikes, quad bike, land rover, armoured car, attack helicopters and gunships. In certain missions and operations you will get to drive vehicles.
I am going to cover the multiplayer in far more detail and depth in this review as the single player is short and self-explanatory and you will be spending most time in the multiplayer modes with Medal of Honor.
The multiplayer is totally different to the single player, as mentioned earlier on; this is because both were developed separately and by different developers. As a result you will notice that the graphics are actually better in the multiplayer, something I don’t think I’ve really come across before.
There are only three Classes to choose from: Rifle Man, Special Ops and Sniper. Each of these classes has its own unlock tree. The full unlock system for multiplayer allows players to unlock weapons, weapon accessories, barrel types and clips – similar to the Call of Duty system.
The ranking system is now Call of Duty styled. You earn XP points, which rank you up. The top level is 15, where you need to gain 4800 points. This system works well, but it’s not quite as rewarding as Modern Warfare or Black Ops offerings. If you’re not aware, you gain XP points each time you kill an enemy in any multiplayer mode or do something special such as planting a bomb in Objective Raid mode. You also get more XP for a double kill, triple kill, revenge kill head shot and more.
A system similar to Call of Duty’s Kill Streaks has been introduced. In a multiplayer game you need to unlock points, which will give you access to these kill streaks. They range from Tier 1 to Tier 7 and the higher the tier the more points you need.
There are four different multiplayer game types on offer: Team Assault, Sector Control, Objective Raid and Combat Mission. Team Assualt is basically 12 vs. 12 team death match. Sector Control is Domination / Capture the Flag variant. Objective Raid is similar to the Rush Mode in Battlefield: Bad Company 2, which features two bomb sites with a defending and attacking force. Combat Mission is my favourite mode, which is similar to the Halo: Reach Invasion Mode, an attacking force attempts to complete a variety of objectives, completion of which opens up a new section of the map, while the defending team try to stop them.
Sniper rifles are extremely overpowered in multiplayer and you can kill opponents with one bullet by hitting anywhere on their body – its way to easy. As a result you have to constantly take cover, which for many if off-putting – the sniping in the single player is far better. Another thing that you can’t do is prone just like with Bad Company 2. There is no kill cam and when you die the game has the tendency to respawn you where you were killed, creating a lot of frustration, unless you are a spawn killing fan!
Medal of Honor provides a solid first-person shooter with a great but short campaign. The Multiplayer offered by DICE doesn’t really offer anything new and hasn’t delivered what was expected. The visuals and presentations are very impressive with thrilling set-pieces. This game is far from a total disappointment, but it just doesn’t reach out far enough and feels a little familiar. Medal of Honor is worth checking out and is a decent improvement for the series, but with Call of Duty: Black Ops coming out shortly, unless you are looking for something to fill the stop gap you’re better waiting.
7 / 10