Medal of Honor: Allied Assault is one of the most anticipated first person shooters ever released. Electronic Arts has struggled in the FPS market in past years and Allied Assault is their chance to redeem themselves. EA wasted no time after the announcement that 2015 would be developing their WW2 based shooter to set their marketing machine in motion and promote the game as early as possible.

The marketing hype lead to anticipation and skepticism by many gamers as to the direction that EA would take Medal of Honor. After several hundred screenshots, videos, and the very popular single and multiplayer demos, many gamers were looking forward to MOH’s release and hoped that the final product would be as good as or better than they had hoped.

After spending numerous hours playing through MOH’s single and multi-player modes I find myself wanting more, and at the same time, unsatisfied by some aspects of the product.

In Medal of Honor you take the role of Lieutenant Mike Powell, a West Point graduate with a degree in languages and military history. Powell, is a member of the famed 1st Ranger Battalion. After being recruited by the OSS your character enters WW2 and has to battle his way though 20 missions set in numerous locations.

Graphically, Medal of Honor uses id software’s Quake 3 technology and works on a wide-range of video cards and offers a number of settings to adjust the detailed level of the engine. I tested the game on a wide-range of hardware and it worked wonderfully.

The graphics have a slightly less artistic feel to them than id software’s Return to Castle Wolfenstein and take a more realistic approach, which I personally consider to be a good thing considering the realistic WW2 theme that the game is attempting to achieve.

The in-game models animate well, both player and weapon, although at times the animation can seem somewhat blocky. Despite the lack of blood, which many people have complained about, the atmosphere is not affected by it.

The visual effects are wonderful and ‘pull-you-in’ to the game as though you were stepping into “Saving Private Ryan”. Everything looks very realistic and the attention to detail makes the game that much more fun to play. Kudos to 2015 for taking advantage of what the Quake 3 engine can offer.

One area I am particularly impressed with is the sound and music. The weapons and explosions sound exactly how I imagine they should, and the voice acting for both America and Germany is very believable. The environmental sounds draw you into the game and make you feel as though you are part of a larger battle, an example of this would be the sound of distant explosions and gunfire. The music in the game is very impressive and it is obvious that EA used the game’s big budget to produce quality in-game music.

The story in Medal of Honor is set by mission-to-mission based objectives with mission briefings set in a ‘slide-show’ format to direct you to each mission’s story. One weak element of this is that each mission does not seem to tie together very well at times and leaves you feeling somewhat perplexed as to how you are progressing through the game. Overall though it is forgivable because of the immersive environment that each objective offers.

AI and Gameplay

As you progress through the story you will meet several in-game characters that help you as you journey from level-to-level. The game offers a lot of scripted sequences that keep the story interesting and help immerse you into the environment. An example of this would be taking control of a machine gun in the back of a jeep as an AI controlled character drives you around an airfield as you destroy several planes. I was a little disappointed with the lack of interactivity with the environment. Radios, pictures and other objects could not be destroyed and as a result it left me feeling like I could not interact with the game as much as I would have liked.

Although the artificial intelligence in the game is not revolutionary it is very refined and offers many surprising elements to it. A great example of this was the second mission into the game. I was disguised as a German soldier working my way though a military base when I came across a guard that asked me to show him my papers so that I could proceed through a doorway. I had trouble locating the key on my keyboard that would show him my papers and as a result he pointed his gun in my face and threatened to shoot me if I did not quickly show him my papers. I quickly found the key and showed the papers to him as he shook his head and apologized to me in a very convincing German accent and told me that I could proceed through the doorway. It was very engrossing and had me on the edge of my seat. Its things like this that make each mission exciting to play.

Another element that the AI excels in is the area of combat. I played through the game on medium difficulty setting and found the enemies to be very smart in their combat abilities. Peaking around corners, ducking down or jumping out of the way of my gunfire, the effect that the AI has on the game makes you take each step very carefully.

The level design in the game is perhaps its greatest asset. It is some of the best I have seen and fits the WW2 theme to the core. From small muggy corridors to large levels like the Omaha beach landing it never made me feel like I was lost and it kept a nice ‘flow’ to it all the way though the game.

Although the game does engulf you with its story and gameplay, one element that left me a little disappointed was the ending.

Without giving anything away, not that there is much to give away, the ending is very anticlimactic considering how great the game play is all the way though. You would expect something special at the end of such a big budget title. Unfortunately, Medal of Honor does not deliver in that respect. Still, it can be overlooked because of how well the game draws you into it.

Multiplayer

After EA released the multiplayer demo many people got a bad taste in their mouths as to what they could expect from this component of the game, rightfully so in my opinion.

Editor’s note: I shared this sentiment at first, but after I located a very robust server for objective match play, multiplayer became very fun – I especially enjoy how there is always more than one way for the enemy to approach, making teamwork essential.

Multiplayer is something that can depend on the individual playing and the style of gameplay that they enjoy. As a result, hardcore gamers will probably not enjoy the style of play that Medal of Honor offers in its online mode, mainly because they are most likely already playing something similar to it in another game.

The game’s strongest mode in multiplayer is the objective based play, where the Allies and Nazi’s compete for objectives on one of the games 6 objective based maps. This mode of the game remind me of counter-strike in some respects, although not as enjoyable to me personally.

The game also offers team deathmatch and free-for-all deathmatch, which does not seem to fit very well in a WW2 style game and will quickly be forgotten by the majority of gamers.

Final Thoughts

If the game had one weak point it would be multiplayer. It really offers nothing that is not already available in other games on the market, such as RTCW. That’s not to say it isn’t enjoyable, it is. It’s just not innovative in any respect. Perhaps with future patches it can become something special, although right now it did not really stand-out to me and felt a little unrefined.

Half-life started out with a weak multiplayer element and four years later it is one of the most popular online games to date. Hopefully EA will continue to support the multiplayer community for Medal of Honor. It has a lot of potential with the proper support.

When you get right down to it, if you want a game with great graphics, great sound and gameplay that drops you right in the middle of World War 2 then Medal of Honor is the game for you. Although it has its weak points and the multiplayer is somewhat unpolished, overall the game is enjoyable and will leave you wanting more despite its easy to overlook shortcomings.

Graphics: 90% - a great example of what can be done with the quake 3 engine when used properly.

Sound/Music: 93% - excellent example of great sound and music working together in a polished gameplay environment.

Gameplay: 96% - engaging, exciting and loads of fun. Welcome to WW2.

Multiplayer: 82% - Nothing special that you can’t find in other games, has potential if EA continues to support it.

Final Verdict: 92%