Medal of Honor – first look

Moving on from there, it goes without saying that you shouldn’t go expecting any OpFlash or Armed Assault-style simulation antics here. Medal of Honor is going to be true to its roots, the ones that pioneered the Hollywood FPS type of game. Exciting set-pieces with rockets hitting jeeps, moving around the dusty streets of embattled Afghan towns, growing your characters’ beards to phenomenal lengths in order to infiltrate the enemy cells: it’ll all be in there.

One of the big selling points EA are keen to play up is how you’ll be playing as more than one character (yes, but didn’t you do that in Modern Warfare as well?). Anyway, this might lead to a tighter, less stretched storyline than MW2’s, one of the main stumbling blocks found in Infinity Ward’s magnum opus. It’ll also have dedicated servers, which could be a line in the sand checkpoint between the two combatants. And, perhaps most excitingly, there will be drivable (and pilotable) vehicles, something the MOH team can definitely point to and look a bit smug about. There’ll be obligatory static gun situations, but you’ll at least be able to trundle about a bit. And the controllable attack helicopters look fun.

Despite our MW2-related concerns, we’ve got high hopes for this shooter. Remember we’re talking about Medal of Honor here. So Airborne wasn’t much to write home about, but there’s a history here, one that EA have made great noises about staying true to. Well, beyond changing the time, setting and, we presume, getting a recharging health system in there.

Even if MOH turns out similar to what’s come before it, it should still be good. We know it’s going to be epic, exciting, edge-of-the-seat action with even some stealth thrown in. There’s going to be a load of vehicles and aircraft to control, and it’s got some of the toughest people on the planet making sure it’s all authentic (to a point).

If it can deliver a storyline that doesn’t descend into silliness, there doesn’t seem to be any real reason why EA won’t cudgel its way back into the shooter arena with this one, especially when you consider that DICE are going to be handling the multiplayer side of things, which is exciting news. Look out Modern Warfare 2, the Tier 1 Ops guys are behind you, poised to snap your neck like a twig.

Feb 22, 2010