Medal of Honor

aka: Medal Za Otvagu, MoH
Moby ID: 4753
PlayStation Specs
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Description official description

Medal of Honor is the first in the long-running series of World War II shooters, originally created by Steven Spielberg. The play assumes the role of Lt. Patterson who has to complete different tasks in the OSS. The missions vary from securing a small French village from any Nazi forces, to taking out a Heavy armored German rail gun. The player has access to a wide selection of antique weapons such as P38 pistols, M1 Garand carabines, MP40's and more. The goals also include undercover missions. Split-screen multiplayer is supported for two players.

Spellings

  • Медаль за Отвагу - Russian spelling
  • 荣誉勋章 - Simplified Chinese spelling

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Screenshots

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Credits (PlayStation version)

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Original Concept
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Writing / Dialogue / Story
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[ full credits ]

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 84% (based on 26 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.8 out of 5 (based on 65 ratings with 4 reviews)

Pretty good

The Good
This game has plenty of fun action and cool missions. Some of the missions require stealth, others require all the ammo you can carry. The graphics are okay but rely heavily on fog to keep the frame rate up- however, I have no recollection of the frame rate ever dropping to an unreasonable point. Also the multiplayer is great fun.

The Bad
Enemies act dumb when you get up close to them, some graphical glitches. Multiplayer maps are too small.

The Bottom Line
You should definitely try this game. If you like WWII shooters then you'll love this. There's a great mix of action and stealth, lots of great missions and cool multiplayer. Give it a try!

PlayStation · by Ben Fahy (92) · 2001

A great WWII shooter.

The Good
A must have for the Playstation, it was an instant classic in '99 and stood out as the first WWII game that took itself very seriously. This is where we're introduced to the main character Lt.Patterson and the Col.Hargrove who recruits you to the OSS to perform special missions such as espionage and sabotage.The game has many sides to it, in some missions you have to steal disguises and use silenced weapons, in other missions you need to go Leroy Jenkins through the entire map to finish it.

The Bad
Some enemies are much too overpowered, you can take many hits from enemies with handguns or rifles for example but you die in one hit if shot by an enemy with a rocket launcher, witch makes sense but is still frustrating.

There can sometimes be slow down when certain effects occur such as explosions etc.

The controls are not bad but could have been better both in aiming and button layout.

Too short. The game has 7 missions spread across 24 levels but when it comes down to it you can finish this game in a matter of hours.

The Bottom Line
An awesome game to play and one you can be proud to own, it has it's good and bad but the bottom line is it's a great game. It's a much outdated by today's standards but if you can enjoy older games then this should be a thrilling game for you.

PlayStation · by buckarooskij (2) · 2010

Time to earn your medals

The Good
Gameplay is absolutely satisfying with just the right amount of places to crouch and platforms to jump from. Weapon variety is well balanced and suited to different enemy encounters, be it killer dogs or SS-Waffen. Some of the physics in the game are cool and realistic, such as soldiers plummeting off balconies and the camera tumbling when Patterson is killed. The objectives that you complete really give the missions some flavour, as opposed to a simple task to "kill everyone on sight", which would make the game stale in one playthrough.

The historic documentary footage that accompanies the game gives some educational value for players, especially about the V2 rocketry, although it would have been nice to understand more about the Nazi looting of priceless works of art as opposed to the irrelevant Me-262. There are also some nice rewards including behind the scenes content and the DreamWorks Medal of Honor. And how can you forget the beautiful and atmospheric music by Michael Giacchino?

The Bad
The game is a notch or two away from being perfect, being downgraded by a few issues, particularly, spots where you can get stuck especially in the Rail Canyon, forcing the player to restart. What is inconsistent in the game is that you need a 95% kill ratio in every level to earn a medal for completing the mission, which kind of defeats the purpose of going undercover in the train station and the Wolfram ship. And then the Multiplayer mode with its split screen mechanics is distracting and lacks the intriguing gameplay from the missions.

There are a number of historical inaccuracies that should have been addressed and fixed, such as the fictional Dachsmag port in Bremen (plus U-boats discontinued in production in the city by April 1944) and the inconsistent reference to both the Altaussee and Merkers-Kieselbach salt mines. And speaking of that, some of the mission briefings you read seem like lazy writing, such as the second part of the "Sabotage the Rjukan Hydro Plant" mission, when Manon talks about the BAR as if this was Patterson's first time using it.

The Bottom Line
While Medal Honor cannot really compare with the action-oriented Return to Castle Wolfenstein which came out the following year, it does go in the direction of semi-historically accurate events and technology of the second world war. Still the developers ought to have done better research instead of filling the gaps with fictional or speculative material.

Regardless, Medal of Honor has certainly earned its medal on the PlayStation. Even today this first game in the series has homage and respect paid to it, seeing as there are many references and nods in the newest "Above and Beyond" game that recently came out. This is a must have title for WW2 enthusiasts and action players alike.

PlayStation · by Kayburt (30392) · 2021

[ View all 4 player reviews ]

Discussion

Subject By Date
First game with an orchestral soundtrack? BurningStickMan (17916) Nov 19, 2011

Trivia

Beta version

The beta version of the game had much more graphic violence. An early trailer found as an extra feature in the VHS copy of the film Small Soldiers depicted enemy soldiers spurting out blood when shot and being blown apart into chunky pieces from grenades or bazookas (with appropriate amounts of blood and gore).

German index

On April 29, 2000, Medal of Honor was put on the infamous German index by the BPjS. For more information about what this means and to see a list of games sharing the same fate, take a look here: BPjS/BPjM indexed games.

Awards

  • Electronic Gaming Monthly
    • February 2006 (Issue #200) – #167 out of 200 of the "Greatest Games of Their Time"

Information also contributed by Big John WV.

Analytics

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Related Games

Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond
Released 2020 on Windows, 2021 on Quest
Medal of Honor: Allied Assault
Released 2002 on Windows, Macintosh
Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault
Released 2004 on Windows
Medal of Honor: European Assault
Released 2005 on PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube
Medal of Honor: Allied Assault - Breakthrough
Released 2003 on Windows, 2004 on Macintosh
Medal of Honor: Allied Assault - Spearhead
Released 2002 on Windows, 2003 on Macintosh
Medal of Honor: Infiltrator
Released 2003 on Game Boy Advance
Medal of Honor: Vanguard
Released 2007 on PlayStation 2, Wii

Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 4753
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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Goteki45.

PS Vita added by Charly2.0. PlayStation 3, PSP added by Foxhack.

Additional contributors: Macintrash, Unicorn Lynx, Xoleras, Cantillon, Patrick Bregger, Tony Denis.

Game added August 14, 2001. Last modified January 18, 2024.