A fun and decent WWII shooter, but it offers very little that hasn't been seen before.
User Rating: 7.1 | Medal of Honor: Vanguard WII
If you've played MoH: Frontline, then essentially you've already played MoH: Vanguard. . . and if you've played the Wii version of Call of Duty 3, then you've already played a better WWII shooter on Wii. Vanguard is a by-the-numbers WWII shooter. It's definitely a fun game. It's just that there's very little here that hasn't been done before. It's not as big and ambitious as Call of Duty 3, which offered different styles of gameplay, and wasn't afraid of experimenting with the Wii remote. Vanguard is all-shooter from beginning to end. And the missions seem very familiar. Enjoyable, but largely formulaic. It uses the same control system already seen in other Wii FPSs (which is good) of moving with the nunchuck, and aiming and firing with the remote. Gesture-based actions also come in the form of thrrowing grenades by making a throwing motion with the remote. That is good too, but with the nunchuck, things get a bit frustrating. You can crouch and/or stand up by moving the nunchuck up and down. You can perform a 180 quick turn by tilting it left, and you can reload your weapon by tilting it right. A terrible setup since sometimes it's a bit unresponsive and often you end up doing one thing when you want to do the other. Visually, the game looks good and the audio is just as good. This isn't the first time you play as a paratrooper in a game, but it is the first time you actually jump from the plane. And these bits represent the only fresh thing about Vanguard. They're well done, they look cool, and they add realism to the feel of the game. Unfortunately, these parachute bits only last seconds, and once you land, the game plays just like any other WWII shooter out there. It's obvious that the series, and the genre are getting a bit tired. Personally, I'm not tired of WWII shooters yet, but I do see the need for innovation. Vanguard does very little. It even ignores the additions that the previous MoH game (European Assault) introduced, like the Adrenaline mode, and ability to command a squad. This would have been the opportunity to build and expand on that. But they are ignored completely. This can certainly be a satisfying shooter. Just don't set your expectations too high. 
