Medal of Honor Heroes - hands-on

The story mode is split into three separate campaigns, which will give longtime fans of the series a chance to get re-acquainted with a few familiar faces. Lt. Jimmy Patterson, the first game's hero, returns to tackle Operation Market Garden in Holland, while Allied Assault Breakthrough's Sgt. John Baker heads to Italy to seize an Enigma code device and generally cause as much damage as possible. Meanwhile, Lt. William Holt from European Assault slips into the Ardennes for a secret mission during the frosty Battle of the Bulge.

As usual for Medal of Honor, each of the 15 missions carries different objectives, some of which are optional. What's interesting is that you can tackle these in any order; rather than squeezing you along tight corridors and wreckage-blocked streets, the levels in Heroes are open to free roaming, with enemies that trickle out constantly to give you a hard time. Fortunately, you'll have a few troops along to watch your back, and while they're not usually smart enough to stay out of harm's way, they'll at least be replaced by new guys at certain points during each level. And while there aren't any vehicles to improve your odds, you'll at least be able to commandeer a few stationary machineguns and plant a few explosives here and there.

Through it all, the series' attention to detail shines through. The levels we played - a German airfield and a Dutch village (which was re-used in a later night mission) - were big and sharp-looking (by PSP standards, at least), and the guns are as accurately modeled as their console and PC counterparts. The trusty M1 Garand rifle is still super accurate and tough to reload, the Thompson submachinegun still feels powerful and the German Sten submachinegun (which you can pick up from dead enemies) is still good for massive, semi-accurate hails of bullets. Even bazookas are in full effect for when your enemies are bunkered down.