Flanked by grizzled veterans eyeing up the door in front of us hesitantly, my haggard companions swiftly order a breach and clear before readying themselves for the inevitable spray of retaliating gunfire that will follow. Wood splinters magnificently beneath a heavy boot, grenades are thrown into the unsuspecting crowd, bullets rip through the hostage situation to gorgeous slow-motion… and then one of my foes ditches gravity to glide calmly through the flames like some holy vision of Jesus.
Quite understandably, my initial reaction was unprintable.
Despite a lengthy development time, barrels of cash and two separate teams working on both the single and multi-player aspects of this big budget re-boot, the end result is a surprising disappointment that won’t even come close to knocking Call of Duty from it’s lofty perch any time soon. If this charge back onto the shooter scene played out anything like a real battle, for example, then the combatants would be falling over each other’s feet, holding their guns backward, staring
aimlessly at the nearest wall or playing poker behind the crates when they think no-one is looking.Shambles
It’s clear right from the start of Medal of Honor’s lacklustre campaign that this is a title with a deep-seated identity crisis, and despite assurances that it would be a realistic portrayal of the current war in Afghanistan it can never quite work out if it wants a bit of Hollywood glitz or gritty drama instead, desperately settling for both in a bit of a hodgepodge effort to appease all audiences. A sense of grounded accuracy is a particular high-point here, true (forging convincing characters, situations and storylines that will strike a chord with any who have family in the conflict), but when this is juxtaposed by sudden, thunderous theatricality? Well, it just doesn’t make sense at all. I mean, a streamlined HUD largely devoid of clutter settles you right into the experience but you’re promptly dragged out again by the likes of a ‘headshot’ marker that slaps itself across the bottom of the screen if you score a decent blow. Foes fall realistically with weight and believable drama during firefights but if you happen to use a high-calibre weapon their heads will explode like over-ripe melons. Military jargon and tactics are brutally offset by increasingly over-the-top conflicts with hundreds of Taliban arrayed against you, while secretive seek-and-destroy missions are interrupted by moments of such gung-ho intensity that it wouldn’t be entirely out of place to see Arnold Schwarzenegger spouting rappelling into action amid a cloud of fiery explosions.
Which is a shame, because the actual missions are quite well crafted; underneath the mess of horrible mistakes lurks a fairly decent shooter. Gunplay is eminently satisfying, many of the set-pieces are proper, white-knuckle fun - such as the Apache gunning stage or the final push toward an amazingly tense finale - and many of the levels you’ll encounter are simply stunning to the point of jaw-dropping amazement. A later level with the Army Rangers, for instance, is a masterpiece in tension and overwhelming odds where you are thrown head-first into noisy hell against hordes of foes, no way of escape and very little chance of survival, surrounded on all sides with cover being blasted away and ammo fast depleting. This can only be topped by Medal of Honor’s consistently phenomenal sound effects and score. It’s massively exciting, genuinely terrifying, and at moments like these the whole thing suddenly, wildly makes sense.
But then, annoyingly, one of the many just has to go and ruin things. In all honesty, the glitches on this game nearly cripple it and the technical issues render Medal of Honor almost broken (demonstrated perfectly by dismount my quad bike during a tense night raid and becoming surgically glued at the hip to its seat every time I tried to get up). It’s even more tragic when you consider many of the badly scripted levels that have you running into invisible barriers until the next set-piece is finished, horrendously stupid AI that often meander hopelessly past each other, an objective marker that goes on walkabouts or textures and effects that - while pretty in the right lighting conditions - turn out to be absolutely sickening up close. Take a look at the PS2 style fire if you want a decent example.
Silver Lining Indeed
They always say that there is a silver lining to every cloud, nevertheless, and this most certainly arrives in the multi-player component expertly crafted by Bad Company 2’s Dice. Crafted on a different engine entirely (e.g. one that works), it’s a heady mix that combines the afore-mentioned Battlefield’s tactical approach with Call of Duty’s whip-crack pacing. The end result is the perfect mix for those who want a change of pace from Modern Warfare 2’s manic stat-bashing and for Bad Company veterans who feel like a faster, more brutal game with all of the teamwork they’ve since come to love.
Split up between familiar match types such as team deathmatch and territory control while boasting kill-streak abilities or unlockable weapons, Medal of Honor online really sets itself apart with an amazing amount of polish that sets up each match with a brief and voice-over, addictive and a flexible system where you can play more or less how you fancy. While you can rush in and start pwning fools like some avenging Rambo, you can equally spend your time working together with your team-mates to gain an edge over the foe or lone-wolf it to mop up kills across maps that are varied, distinct and (more importantly) concise enough to avoid those long, dull slogs of the Battlefield franchise when you had to traverse huge distances to get into combat.
But this is where it starts to unravel a bit, as one of the few flaws of this portion would be a lack of what made the other, fantastic FPS it apes popular
. Wouldn’t it make more sense to stick to the current chart toppers or wait until their new instalments arrive? There is very little in the way of vehicle action here like Bad Company (sticking to the odd, rare light tank rather than the plethora of wonder-machines available on it’s sister title), the twitch shooting or arcade elements of Modern Warfare 2 are painfully missing and the deep character classes of the former simply aren’t present. It’s true that you can choose between riflemen, snipers and spec ops during play (essentially mid, long and close range specialists), but seeing as they only differ in weapon type they don’t really add anything to the experience other than from a point of personal perspective. This doesn’t help to keep the gameplay fresh, either, and you’ll soon find yourself getting bored once the initial novelty begins to wear off.Still, modes such as the Objective missions really balance things out with something very similar to Bad Company 2’s Rush, where player lives are dealt in tickets and your team are tasked with taking the other’s objective before those same points have all run out, losing you the game. It’s fast paced, tactical and - best of all - superbly addictive with that familiar feeling of ‘just one more’ after each and every match. OK, so it might not be particularly friendly to newcomers, but once you’ve gotten into the swing of things it’s got a lot to offer. Which, oddly enough, sums up Medal of Honor nicely - despite the numerous issues hiding around every corner, there’s still a decent amount of fun to be had in there somewhere if you’re willing or patient enough to find it.
The Bottom Line
Medal of Honor should be hugely commended for it’s brave attempt at a realistic, respectable modern shooter, fantastic multiplayer and some very good snippets of gaming bliss that occasionally manage to claw free of some awful mistakes, but sadly can’t be forgiven for the mass of technical and design faults that can repeatedly render it near unplayable. The multiplayer goes some way to pulling it back, true, but with Black Ops so close and Bad Company 2’s Vietnam expansion about to hit, why invest time and effort when they do the same job, only better? If you’re a fan of the franchise or want to fill a gap until Call of Duty’s next landing then it’ll keep you busy for a little while, but that’s assuming you don’t tear your hair out first.
Rating: 60%
(Alright)
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