Medal of Honor (Tier 1 Edition) (DVD-ROM)

SINGLE PLAYER REVIEW
I didn't expect much from this title, but a few good reports and a lower than usual price enticed me to try it.

The single player mode is entertaining, allowing the player to play as three separate characters in the US army fighting in contemporary Afghanistan. A Navy Seal, Ranger and a Tier 1 operative. The player characters are the silent type, with personality coming from squad mates and the tasks assigned to the player.

The Seals and Tier 1 guys are similar, in that they fight behind enemy lines, with the Tier 1 squad being a more extreme version (you don't want to mess with them). Standard gun play is mixed up with calling in air-strikes and participating in some great sniper missions.

Where the Seals and Tier 1 guys use stealth and precision. The Rangers are all brawn and bravado so those missions stick more closely to standard FPS convention, yet still manage to create some of the most intense shooting levels I've played - being pinned down in a mud-hut under a barrage of RPG fire was a particular highlight.

I also want to give special mention to the section where (as a Ranger) the player must put covering fire on an entrenched machine gun position, to allow others in the squad to approach it so it can be targeted for an air-strike. The game isn't going for all-out realism (thank God) but moments like this help add to the authentic feel for the likes of me (who'll never be in these situations).

MULTI-PLAYER REVIEW
A watered down Battlefield is essentially what you get here. 3 classes of soldier, 4 game modes, great graphics and very enjoyable gameplay are the order of the day.

Levelling up occurs quite quickly, which helped me have the 'just one more go' feeling. Though some may not like that the game has a limited weapon set and maps and doesn't have Battlefields array of vehicles, but it is still a great game and a worthy addition to the single player package.

Special mention should go to the fact that a different engine has been used to produce the multi-player mode, so you do essentially get 2 games for the price of one (and it's already cheap!).

Medal of Honor is a modern military FPS developed by Danger Close and DICE (of Battlefield fame). The game was released in October, and is a clear competitor for Activision's Call of Duty: Black Ops. Trying to compete directly with the Call of Duty franchise at this point is a suicide mission, but Medal of Honor managed respectable sales and has carved out a modest niche in the online community.

The obvious comparison for Medal of Honor is the Call of Duty franchise, and people are generally quick to make a judgement about which is a better game. I'm going to try to avoid comparing the game to Call of Duty specifically, at least until the end of the review, and instead discuss the game on it's own merits, which are, in my opinion, fairly substantial. I think the games play differently enough not to warrant a very close comparison, and they're also targeted at slightly different markets. This review is only about the single-player portion of the game, developed by Danger Close, but the same will hold true when I review multi-player at some point after I get the thing WORKING (don't worry, it's not the game that's buggy, it's PunkBuster. I have perpetual issues with it).

Probably the first thing that stuck me about the game was that it has a very deliberate pace. You move through the levels and the game's story gradually, instead of in a constant state of rushing. This isn't to say that there aren't hectic moments – there certainly are – but they are not the norm, and their impact is, as a result, heightened. I also felt like the games pacing gave you a closer relationship to the story and the characters in it. Some of these characters are very cliché, and most of them aren't fleshed out very much, but they are all a little distinct and you are given the opportunity to grow somewhat attached to them.

The next thing that hit me was the sound. The quality of the sound design in this game is second to none, and I don't say that lightly. I really think that this game raises the bar. It's hard to describe all the little parts that make up the incredible sound in the game. Everything is so authentic, from the distinctive crackling of an AK47 to the echoing booms of shell impacts. The environmental audio effects are spot on, too, and they add a whole lot of atmosphere to the game's areas. Little details – like the difference in sound of weapons fire depending on where you're standing, and the fact that when you're standing near somebody speaking on the radio you can hear both the fuzzy sound of the radio and their actual voice together are seemingly minor, but together, all these small things add a whole lot to the game. The game sounds amazing.

The voice acting is also very good, dipping to average at times but never really below, and is augmented by a strong script. You can believe that this is the way special forces operators would talk to each other in the field, and you can hear the strain in your comrades voices over the radio during a fire-fight, or how tired they are after a long day, or hear them panting because they're running, or hear them coughing and choking on dirt after a nearby explosion. All little things that contribute in some way to the game's atmosphere.

It also looks great, and by that I mean, it ran very poorly on my PC (more a reflection on my aging hardware than on the game's software in this case, I think) even on very low settings. But even on those settings, the game was still quite striking. It features so many grand, sweeping environments that you'd think the impact would be lost, but it's not. The landscapes in the game are stunning to behold, augmented by excellent lighting effects and effects such as fog or thick smoke which look absolutely spot on. The game is incredibly atmospheric. The same level of detail extends to character models, with people all looking very individual.

These factors all contribute to a very strong sense of authenticity around the game. It feels very real, and very solid. The more deliberate pace reflects actual combat or special forces engagements much better than an absurdly fast rush. The sound draws you into the game. The voice acting and script make you feel like you're fighting alongside real people. The detail on the environments and characters draws you into the world. This leads you to having a very strong connection with what's going on in the game, even moment to moment. At one point in the game, I was frantically and repeatedly stabbing a terrorist to death in combat, and I saw the guys face and I actually felt a little sorry for him. It's rare for a game to draw you in that much and to create that level of empathy, and it helped emphasise the horror in the events being depicted. This game can be pretty confronting at times because of how real it is. Or maybe I'm just a big softie.

Another factor is that the game isn't particularly over-the-top. It has its moments, sure, but for the most part the circumstances and events in the game are quite believable (and many of them are closely based on real battles). And when the shit does hit the fan, oh boy, is it good. This game has some extremely tense, dramatic moments that are so effective because they are few, and because the game is so successful at creating a believable atmosphere.

But I haven't really talked about how the game actually plays yet. I think that's because in some ways, the game-play is the least interesting aspect of Medal of Honor. I enjoyed the campaign. I like it very much, in fact, and I'm going to say now that I liked it more than the single-played components of the more recent Call of Duty games (I haven't played Black Ops, but I doubt it'll change my opinion). But the reason I liked it so much was for its authenticity, and its characters, and its story, not for the game-play.

Don't get me wrong, the game-play was good. It was quite solid. It didn't really do anything new, though. It was enough to carry the game and it fit well with the general style of the game as being a little bit slower paced and a little bit more realistic. Shooting felt good, moving felt good, but it wasn't anything special. Probably my biggest complaint was that I felt the game was a little too easy. I only died a few times on the highest difficulty. That said, it gave the game a smooth flow, which is nice, and it's possible I'm just a super-ultimate bad-ass. The campaign is also quite short (5-8 hours depending on skill and swiftness, I'd estimate), which is about par for the course these days. It didn't overstay its welcome, which is important, but I felt like it could've been a little bit longer, all things considered.

There was some good variation in the different levels in the campaign which ensured that it didn't get too stale. You get to drive an ATV and play as the gunner for a helicopter pilot. There are some very long-range sniping segments. There are some stealth segments (and these are actually GOOD, surprisingly). I liked the fact that they mixed it up a little bit and gave you a taste of different roles within the army. I know, I know, you're thinking “But I saw all this stuff in CoD. What a rip-off!” but the fact is, the game plays so differently from Call of Duty, and FEELS so different, that I hardly noticed and it really didn't bother me. Besides, Call of Duty wasn't the first game to feature any of these things.

The only troops depicted in the game are American soldiers, despite the fact that many nations contributed troops to the war in Afghanistan, including fighters in the specific battles and regions shown in the game. This seems significant because in a lot of ways the game is about celebrating the courage and dedication of armed forces members, and it seems like kind of kick in the teeth to exclude soldiers who didn't happen to be American. I'm sure this wasn't Danger Close's intent, but it kind of comes off that way. There's also a dedication at the end of the game, which I felt was a nice sentiment but came off as extremely cheesy and a little forced.

At the end of the day, though, despite a few flaws, Medal of Honor's single-player game is an rewarding and varied experience, and separates itself from the crowd and from the mammoths of the genre with its own unique style, although it does borrow heavily from similar games. It's a shame the campaign isn't a little longer, but I guess I'm just going to have to accept that that's the way shooters are made these days.

I mostly bought the game for the multi-player, and I'll have a full report on that soon I hope. I can't really recommend the game based on single-player alone, if only because it's over so quickly, but it's definitely a very solid experience.

Well made game overall, but I didn't expect the single player campaign to be so short and easy. I played it through on highest difficulty and it took only something like 5-6 hours. And I'm not a pro shooter... But I give a thumb up for the courage by bringing Afganistan on.

yeah, i'm a medal of honor fanboy. even after all the major internet sites gave this game a bad review, i was still keen to get it.

i'll tell you this: it was fun to play through sp. it was great to level up in mp. but both areas lack serious lasting power. buy it if you've got nothing else to buy.

This game borrows heavily from games like Call of Duty obviously, and it works well. For the most part. If this game had a couple more months of polishing there would be a lot less bugs and problems with the single player campaign. Fortunately the story is compelling and the battles you are in feel real and authentic, unlike some CoD games with seem sensationalized for the pure reason of increasing intensity. Multiplayer is fantastic, developed by DICE, and I'm addicted to it right now! Great levelling system, better graphics than single player, and overall great fun! Solid FPS