Ever since EA announced it was rebooting it's Medal of Honor franchise and setting it in modern day Afghanistan, I have been excited. It takes a serious effort to pull off the feat of depicting a very real war at a time when that war is still current; soldiers are still out there doing things being portrayed in this game. Turn-on CNN or Fox News for 10 minutes and see if they don't bring it up. EA tasked its LA studio, turned Danger Close with creating the single player portion of the game, and Swedish Battlefield developer DICE with crafting the multiplayer side. The result is essentially two games that do not feel connected to the other. Unlike other modern war shooters where the single player doesn’t stray far from the multiplayer, Medal of Honor feels like two different games in one package. The result: a jarring mixture of different ideas, designs and overall feel. The single-player campaign is set up by the September 11th terrorist attacks that ignited the war on terror and takes place over a six-month period. From there you strap on the boots of two different Tier 1 operators, Rabbit of AFO Neptune and Deuce from AFO Wolfpack. Through out the campaign you take part in various real world events, such as the capturing of Bagram Air Base from the Taliban in late 2001.
The real purpose of the campaign isn't to provide an action packed thrill-a-minute experience, though it is but rather to open the window into the lives of the men who are on the front lines of this war, the ones who have sacrificed their lives at home in order to protect the country they love. A brothers-in-arms story takes shape though the 6-7 hour experience, as you shift story perspectives between the different characters, which all link together in some way as their paths intersect. As they interact with each other, you move from one character to the other and it makes for great pacing as there is hardly a let up in the action or story telling. The story is also broken up with a variety of things to do and accomplish, as you don't just run and gun the whole time, but rather you are rewarded with a few gems through out the game. At the end of Medal of Honor's story, I was feeling the same thing I did when I first saw Black Hawk Down, empathy. After you finish a level in the game for the first time, a new mode is unlocked called Tier 1 mode. In Tier 1 mode the difficulty is ratcheted up and a series of stipulations are put into place as it acts as a score attack mode with leader boards for different categories like head shots, grenade kills, accuracy and so on. For those who want a serious challenge with leader board ranking on the line, Tier 1 mode isn't to be missed and a very welcome addition to the single player campaign.
Multiplayer is a different story, and a larger part of Medal of Honor's package than the single player offering. DICE built the multiplayer on it's proprietary Frostbite engine, the same as it's Battlefield Bad Company games, but don’t expect huge levels with massive destruction and vehicles. It's a faster pace than Battlefield, more akin to the Modern Warfare series. The multiplayer is much like those before it, choose a class, rifleman, spec-ops or sniper, which dictates what kind of weapons load out you can choose from the beginning and go to work. As you progress in multiplayer you will unlock attachment options for your weapons load outs. Nothing that hasn’t been done before in other modern war shooters but is essential to the depth of the multiplayer. It also has a great set of modes available, including my favorite, combat mission, which is much like Rush Mode from Battlefield, but given its own set of rules for Medal of Honor. DICE does introduce a few interesting twists to the kill streak idea in that it's not given for a set number of kills, but at a set number of points, of which you get a minimum of 10 for a normal kill, but you can get an additional five points if you gamble and aim for for a head shot, and even five more for a savior kill resulting in 20 points per kill when you need 50 for your first kill streak.
The risk reward element is a welcome addition. The other addition is the option of an offensive or defensive choice. Offensive options benefit you, where as a defensive choice will benefit your whole team. The problem with multiplayer is that it feels unpolished. Level design is fine when you have upgraded weapons, but when you have to cover a large area on foot to get to your next cover and only have a weapon that can see 50 feet in front of you and there are snipers and sharp shooters everywhere outside of that 50 foot range, getting started can be frustrating. Controls in Medal of Honor are inline with most other first person shooters of the past 10 years, quick and simplistic with multiple setup options, but sadly no custom controls. Medal of Honor also has two different visual styles, the result of two different engines powering the game and two different developers. The single player is gritty, sharp and detailed. Character models are large and pack sharp textures and animate fantastically. The levels look fantastic are large and require no loading as you progress through your mission. Weapons models are really to be celebrated here as they are spot on accurate but also look like they've been well used and beat to hell by their operators and the rugged Afghan terrain.
One negative to discuss in the single-player is a few spots of textures loads that come-in late on a few weapons and backgrounds. In multiplayer texture resolution is reduced and colors are washed out, blacks become grays, and browns almost become yellow. Likely a necessity to be able to provide network stability, and doesn't ruin the experience visually. The one part of Medal of Honor that comes off without a hitch is their audio presentation. They literally turn it to 11. Every single part of it is artfully crafted and applied, from voice acting to the sound effects and the music, Medal of Honor nails it. The constant radio chatter during single and multiplayer add to the authenticity that you are partaking in a real operation and moving towards a real objective. Little touches also add to the incredible audio like a small echo when you’re within earshot of the person talking and you can hear him and also hear it reverberating through your coms. Weapons sound authentic, and pack a massive and satisfying punch when they hit their target. The voice acting is to be commended, not only for the authentic military chatter that is constantly coming through the radio, but also when things turn nasty. At one point you’re with a group of Army Rangers who are ambushed and over whelmed and running out of ammunition fighting for their lives begging for help over their coms. The quality of the voice acting really made it a moving moment in the game.
At the end of the day Medal of Honor is the result of two developers and two completely different games, each of which feel disconnected from the other and end up weakening the overall package. Not so much that you shouldn't play it, but enough for it to be pointed out and to dock the score. The top strength of Medal of Honor is in the single-player campaign, and Danger Close has done an incredible job of putting together a tribute to the Special Forces community, honoring their many sacrifices. The same can't be said for the effort DICE has put forth with multiplayer, as it feels unpolished and in some regards unbalanced and unfinished. We aren’t completely not-recommending Medal of Honor but came away a bit disappointed by the entire offering, here’s hoping that Call of Duty: Black Ops, coming in November, can fill that need for amazing multiplayer gaming.
http://www.planetxbox360.com/article_11936/Medal_of_Honor_Review/2
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