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Developer: Dreamworks Interactive
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Genre: FPS
Region: NTSC
Format:
Release Date: 13 May 08
User Rating
9.3 (21 votes) -
Overview
Set in and around the time of World War II, Medal of Honour is the first Doom-clone that I am aware of to feature Nazis as the bad guys. The main character is Jimmy Patterson - a pilot who was shot down during the Allied Invasion of Europe. Patterson took out half dozen nasty German misanthropists to protect his crew and then made his way back to safety dodging patrols on the way. For this reason he was recruited by the American OSS, a shady James Bond style security force, and the game begins with Patterson's first mission into enemy territory.
Gameplay
The gameplay is out of this world. Medal of Honour is one of those game which hooks you as soon as you start playing and pastimes such as eating and sleeping will quickly become obsolete.
The computer AI has to be the best I have ever encountered in any genre on any machine. The Nazis are smart, inventive and quick to punish your mistakes. From the outset of mission one your will see troopers dropping to the ground to make themselves a smaller target, they will also hide behind obstacles, lean out to fire and then hide back round the obstacle again. They throw grenades backwards while they are in this position and you will also see them giving covering fire if somebody needs to find better cover. If you try to overrun their position they will try and retreat and regroup behind other obstacles. Throwing grenades at enemies can sometimes be precarious as they are known to kick them back at you! Dogs will often pick up grenades and carry them back to their masters or you! The AI is the defining advantage to the game, it is in my opinion seriously groundbeaking.
Graphics
Very good indeed, Medal of Honour is practically a Goldeneye on the playstation, but it does offer a much deeper, more atmospheric one-player experience. Backgrounds are well-presented, enemies move and act realistically and their death scenes are spectacular. Rather than your regular hero shooting all the bad guys FMV, Medal of Honour uses actual footage of the war to really drag the player into the game. One small problem is that the game does suffer from a small degree of pop-up syndrome with enemies firing at you from places where they are not yet quite in view - but this is only a very small issue.
The sound is exceptionally good, every gunshot and grenade blast carry an extra degree of realism than does Goldeneye and the voices in the background as Germans are panicking and shouting orders is really effective. German accents from enemies you meet face to face, however, are generally crap, which is a shame.
Fun Factor
The one-player mode is the by far the best section of the game with its deeply atmosperic effects and engrossing storyline and gameplay. There is nothing quite like going undercover as a German Officer and having your cover busted while on board a boat full of Nazis.
Naturally there also exists a multiplayer alternative to the main game in which two 'buddies' run around a simple level with the aim of making the other eat a bullet/grenade/shell. While a lot of fun, the multiplayer game doesn't really measure up to Goldeneye for various reasons including the fact that the small pop up problem prevents picking people off from distances with any kind of accuracy. The number of weapons is also very limited - normally no more than four a at time and some can be a little similar. A better multiplayer game is probably the only thing this game really lacks.
Overall
The AI makes the game, and with Medal of Honour it surely does. Damn good, I would recommend that every PlayStation owner everywhere should own this title.
- Gameplay
10.0 - Graphics
9.0 - Fun Factor
9.0 - Overall
10.0
