While full of cinematic moments and action, the difficult controls are what stand between this game and greatness.
The game obviously draws upon classic cinematic translations of the World War II experience. Several of the levels are basically set-piece battles which play very well and provide a good deal of excitement. Whether the player is storming the beach at Normandy, fighting his way through the entire length of a German U-boat, or trying to steal an experimental jet fighter, players can depend upon quite a few interesting levels to keep things interesting. Scripted events and cut-scenes also give the game a much greater cinematic feel, and most players will be amazed when they see some of the scenes in Frontline. The music is also key in creating a grand atmosphere around the events being played through.
However, for each of the very interesting levels, there are at least three more levels in Frontline which can best be described as lackluster. These are comprised of slogs through an uninteresting countryside, sneaking and shooting through German bases, and making a path through bombed out cities. These are not particularly bad levels but the presentation is so bland and progression so straightforward that they suck the fun out of playing.
Another issue are the controls. The game starts you off with a control scheme similar to the N64 game GoldenEye. Players who find this awkward or are more accustomed to more modern control schemes can switch to a mode more akin to games like Halo. However, while movement controls well the aiming function with the second joystick is somewhat touchy, making it difficult to accurately target enemies. One could use the zoom function to refine their aim but that requires you to stop and risk being hit by enemy fire. Whether the sensitivity of the aiming controls are caused by the game or are an artifact of the GameCube controller is unclear, but it causes needless frustration as players struggle to put their cross-hairs on a moving target.
Controls aside, the combat has its own issues to contend with. Enemies can hit the player with gunfire through trees from very far away, but it is nearly impossible for players to do that since bullets are actually stopped by tree branches. Grenade tossing is awkward. In addition, it make take several shots from a sub-machine gun to take down an enemy, but for some reason one melee attack with a pistol is likely to produce the same result. What ends up being the case is that the player's best bet is simply to run-and-gun, since staying in one place for too long only results in getting killed.
Overall, Medal of Honor: Frontline has flawed game-play that gets in the way of a great concept. If one has the patience to deal with these flaws and dislikes Nazis there is matter worth enjoying. Otherwise fans of shooters will want to pass on this game.