The Medal of Honour series has been running for more than a decade and has
made its first jump from the long stale WW2 genre to the ‘straight from the
headlines’ world of modern day Afghanistan. Unfortunately they only jumped far
enough, weather by design or accident, to land firmly on the 2 year old coat
tails of the Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare series.
Set in modern day Afghanistan, you predominately play the role of a Navy SEAL
in the ongoing battle with the Taliban. This campaign jumps backwards and
forwards, and between several characters over the course of a 72 hour timeline
that makes up this one particular mission. This period is then condensed down to
little over 3 hours of gameplay, which is lifted, almost verbatim, from key
points of Modern Warfare 1 & 2 (MW – the last of which was released
nearly 12 months prior to this game).
The game is incredibly easy, even on the hardest difficulty, making no
attempt to mask the extreme linearity of the level design. Most gamers will
spend more time installing the game than it actually takes to complete. The
characters are given a little substance with what little story is attached but
even if they could die, you wouldn't feel the impact of their deaths like the
characters of MW2. While the graphics are well done, the overall experience is
negative.
The gameplay is heavily scripted, telegraphed and predictable; in typical
Medal Of Honour style you will encounter waves of enemies flooding from rooms
too small to contain them, or appearing out of nowhere from the sides of
mountains.
The game AI is extremely limited but is camoflauged fairly well by the heavy
scripting and forcing you down the linear path through each level. Your AI
teammates are completely invulnerable while at the same time being extremely
ineffectual in combat. The enemy movement patterns are fairly routine as the run
to the nearest rock/bush/crate, pop out for a few seconds to ‘aim’ then fire
wildly in your general direction. Which is only a danger to you at close range
or when encountered en-mass (which is the normal method of attack)
As is the current vogue, your character is limited to two primary weapons, a
pistol with limitless ammunition, a knife and grenades. The majority of weapons
are forgettable, with similar performance and inaccuracy. The gun battles are
artificially intensified by forcing both sides to loose as many rounds as
possible at each other.
The very brief story features the majority of MW 1 & 2's set pieces,
with little attempt to disguise the fact and leaving you feeling you're been
here before. Three of the most obvious almost comprise whole levels; One level
focuses on sneaking through a snowy Taliban base to plant tracking devices on
some trucks, while avoiding detection, and escaping on quad bikes
(Cliffhanger – MW2). Another sees you and a companion crawling an entire
level on your bellies to avoid enemy patrols (All Ghilled Up – MW1). A third
sees you controlling the weapons of an Apache gunship, mowing down insurgent
RPGs before they can shoot your down (Of Their Own Accord – MW2). The
remaining majority see you battle your way through ambush after ambush,
including a climactic downhill retreat against hordes of enemies only to be
rescued, near death, by reinforcements. The only thing missing from this replay
of the MW 1 & 2 finales is killing the triumphant villain with a slow
motion pistol shot/knife toss.
The two most interesting and coincidentally most intense and atmospheric
levels: Breaking Bagram and Belly Of The Beast. The later features a small team
trapped in a ruined building, increasing waves of insurgents pour down the
hillside, your ammunition dwindles, and is exhausted… Until you remember your
sidearm with infinite bullets and the illusion is completely shattered. This
level also features the sole gameplay innovation (that too is lifted from Earned
In Blood); the play must use suppressing fire on a MG nest to enable the
squadmates to flank and destroy it. However such a feature requires more open
ended gameplay and less forced linear progression – features that are not
provided in this game.
Sadly, this game could have been much, much better if it had aimed to
improve, rather than copy, what had gone before it.
