Medal of Honor

The Good
Steven Spielberg's endorsement of this game through Dreamworks could never harm Medal of Honor (MOH), especially as it came out around the same time as Saving Private Ryan. Though we'd have to wait for the third instalment of the series for the epic D-Day landings, this games goes all out to present an authentic slice of WW2 all wrapped up like an action film.

It certainly delivers. Taking all the standard aspects of FPS games (health packs, varying weaponry, one-man armies) MOH polishes the concept in a game world that is a mix of historical reality and silver screen Nazis. They even talk English with German accents! The player takes the role of Jimmy Patterson, a US special forces soldier selected for the S.O.E. To be planted behind enemy lines in a series of daring raids. Each raid is based loosely on historical fact, and then broken down into a series of levels. The game sends Patterson across Europe both before and after D-Day, supporting the Allied campaign.

The levels themselves are varied, Patterson often has to don German uniforms and fool the guards, he also has to recover documents, sabotage trains, and stop the sabotage of a mine. The game has been crafted as a linear experience with levels cleverly designed to appear vast, yet with one clear guided path through. This linearity creates several set-pieces, often involving a handily placed machine-gun nest for you to use.

The game looks great too, with a similar colour palette to Saving Private Ryan, all muted greens, browns and greys. Mixed with the swelling orchestral score it creates a strong ambience leaving you peering around every corner trying to spot Nazis. They are quite characterful too, diving for cover and trying to sneak up on you, requiring well aim shooting to take down.

The Bad
As in all FPS Jimmy Patterson is a one-man army and the mission certainly do stretch their historical accuracy thin. This is inevitable as the genre conventions dictate a high body count and missions which seem impossible. There's also a lack of blood, making for a very tidy war, as well as bodies which disappear after dying, keeping the horror of war quite distant.

The levels are very linear, and exploring them fully does tend to undo the tension somewhat. I find this facet forgiveable though as you'd hardly expect the developers to program a fully functioning French town.

The Bottom Line
Medal of Honor is a great, polished FPS that brings cinema-style entertainment to the Playstation, though in less detail. Whilst it creates high tension moments of action, it can't deliver any more emotional impact in the way that cinema can. Still, it's a fun shooter.

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!

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.