Medal of Honor

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.