A reboot to the series, does the game live up to expectations or miserably fall flat on a first approach?
Medal of Honor is set in the year 2002 and focuses on the raging battle in Afghanistan. For a first real modern gaming take on the war it was interesting to see Danger Close's take on the action and issues at hand the real soldiers would be presented with. The single player campaign is gritty and incredibly realistic, which has been nailed with extreme accuracy and never becomes too old to play. Medal of Honor's single player experience is really well developed through the many well varied missions set throughout the game. There will be missions such as stealthily taking out a camp of unaware Taliban enforcements, taking command of an AC-130 and destroying an Al-Qaeda camp or just generally storming into a battle with all guns blazing and explosions rioting. The story however in the game is boring and just plain uninteresting, with the several different cut scenes seemingly pointless and bland, with the characters being undeveloped and not helping out the situation at all. This was a real shame because of the fact the game could have been so much more if the characters and story had been more thought through. Dialogue can also be hard to keep up with, with different commands and different objectives being described and handed out at random points, it is sometimes difficult to know exactly what situation you are about to be approaching in the game. In the game there are multiple characters to play as, each being part of different units and all with different objectives, the game does do a good job however of tying these different characters together for a final and enjoyable battle to the end. The campaign is really great, however it is definitely too short and this is a really bad point considering the game is so fun but over far too quickly, clocking in at about 4-5 hours playing time. The single player also has some frame rate issues at some points during the game. There are not many and this isn't a huge point to make, however these moments are clearly noticeable.
The gameplay in Medal of Honor is excellent. The feel of shooting with the simple control design is a blast to continuously progress and enjoy, with the realistic death animations of foes and the realistic blood effects which follow every kill and the pivotal and satisfying headshot which is rounded off by a blood curdling sound to notify the player. Gunplay is always great fun throughout the game given any situation, any weapon is realistically designed to its real life counterpart as well as vehicles being incredibly fun sequences during the games campaign. Another huge mention to the weapons and vehicles is the incredible sound design which goes along with the gameplay. Danger Close have perfectly nailed the sound design on every weapon, which silenced weapons perfectly taking out foes with the quietened effect, compared to the devastating impact of the AC-130 as it tears apart an Al- Qaeda camp in it's path. There is a nice variety of weapons throughout the single player campaign, with enemies carrying different weapons with additional scopes or attachments, compared to the always different default weapons you get given to start off a mission, every gun is extremely enjoyable to handle and have in your arsenal of weaponry, each offering a new sense of power or accuracy to add some different impact during gunplay.
An additional Tier 1 mode has been added to give the game added replay value. Tier 1 mode is the single player campaign completely the same, however with several different factors which change and have a big difference on the way you play. In Tier 1 mode the difficulty cannot be changed from the hardest difficulty, offering the greatest challenge in enemy effectiveness and how the game plays out to a whole. Also what is new is there is a specific time limit to each mission to be completed by. This really can be tricky, as the game is much more of a challenge with the difficulty being at some points harsh and cruel, and the times being fairly inaccurate as to be completed by. Plenty of frustrations may arise during playing Tier 1 mode, however the challenge is fun to compete for and makes the campaign different from a normal play through.
Medal of Honor is also equipped with a unique multiplayer experience. Danger Close decided to leave the multiplayer for this time to focus on single player, and left multiplayer duties to the developers of the battlefield series, EA Dice. EA Dice are well renowned for making an enjoyable and very open multiplayer experience and it is clear in Medal of Honor's multiplayer that some contributing elements have been passed over. The single player campaign uses a completely different engine to multiplayer, with the single player utilizing the unreal engine 3 advanced engine, whilst the multiplayer focuses on using the frostbite engine. So comparing the two, single player and look quite different in contrast to multiplayer, however this isn't a bad thing. Gunplay is still kept fairly similar, added with the brilliant sound effects of single player. The multiplayer is action packed in Medal of Honor and is really fun just to get into and start shooting people up. There are four modes to choose from each with different challenges and scenarios to handle; Team Assault, Combat Mission, Sector Control and Objective Raid. Each are just as enthralling as each other and all offer a different experience in multiplayer worth playing. Certain maps are available for different modes, which isn't necessarily a bad thing but can be awkward if your constantly given the same maps, and a bad point to note about multiplayer is customization. There are 3 classes in multiplayer, and in each different weapons are able to be sorted out and chosen at the players will. However there are only about 3 to select individually for each and this can become boring for the experience as some weapons are worse than others to use. Different attachments help to change up the weapons, however these are few and far between. Multiplayer is a really good experience with levelling up and really good gameplay, however gaining experience points is not much use to the limitation of unlocking not much variety.
Overall Medal of Honor has a really good campaign, filled with solid gunplay and excellent variety in missions and replay value is increased with the addition of multiplayer which is fun for a short time, until the novelty wears off.
Good Points:
-- Excellent realism detailing what the real war was like
-- Great visual presentation and satisfying gameplay
-- Sound design is perfect
-- Well structured missions offering plenty of variety
-- Nice variation in weaponry
-- Action packed Multiplayer Experience
-- Tier 1 Mode offers additional challenge
Bad Points:
-- Campaign is far too short
-- Story is uninteresting and at times difficult to keep up with
-- Characters are forgettable
-- Limited Customization in Multiplayer
-- Some Frame Rate issues at points during game
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Gameplay: 9/10
Presentation: 8.5/10
Graphics: 9/10
Story: 6/10
Characters: 6.5/10
Enemy AI: 8/10
Sound: 10/10
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Overall: 9