Medal of Honor: Warfighter preview Ingenious multiplayer mechanics

Medal of Honor: Warfighter’s multiplayer has all the accoutrements you’d expect from a modern-day military shooter: customizable characters, unlockable weapons, and ranking up with each spectacular kill. But we got the chance to see the game’s Fireteam mechanic, which brilliantly promotes teamplay and comradery by pairing up soldiers to act as a closely-knit unit.

Fireteams join two soldiers up and treat them as partners, who will constantly provide covering fire and scouting over the course of a match. This is accomplished mainly via the spawning mechanics: if your partner dies, you can take cover and lay low until he spawns on you. Better yet, you can act out every cinematic revenge scene by killing your partner’s killer – at which point, your partner will instantly respawn on your location. Restoring life to your partner or avenging his death with the AK-47 of justice is sure to be a thrill every time, and will bring you and your buddy closer together (in a totally platonic way).

There are six classes total, comprised of the Tier 1 operators from around the globe. Assaulters pack a punch, and are perfect for beginners that just want to jump in a shoot stuff. The Pointman is all about speed and scouting out the best position, but he has high-damage “heavy hitter” bullets to defend himself in a pinch. The Heavy Gunner has superior firepower, and is great at providing covering fire or pushing the advantage. The Spec Ops unit is the most adaptive of the classes, able to assist his team by calling in an A-10 airstrike to bomb enemies. The Sniper is your classic long-range headshotter, though they can switch things up by crashing an airborne UAV into an opponent’s skull. Lastly, the Demolition class is all about wading into battle with a shotgun in hand - when the going gets tough, they flip the visor on their bulletproof helmet and can soak up damage like nobody’s business.

We can’t wait to tackle the world with a friend, acting as a two-man team of roaming death. Check back for more impressions of MoH: Warfighter as it approaches its October 23 release date.