“Kick that sh#t in Deuce”
The command every man wants to hear when standing in front of a door that
blocks your path. Medal of Honor “The Reboot” is certainly what it sets out
to be, an ‘authentic’ shooter, its not a sim, but it aims to take you to the
gritty battlefields in the current day conflict that is Afghanistan. I for one
was really looking forward to it and unfortunately its a very mixed bag.
You play the majority of the game as Tier 1 operators, the best of the best
military operators working inside enemy territory out numbered with only your
skills etc etc… Then later you hit the dusty hills in the boots of a Army
Ranger, the whole time being bombarded with great sound effects, radio chatter
and acronyms ripped straight from the source material.
Right, the first and most important thing in a FPS, the shooting is solid, in
fact the opening sequence I squeezed off a few rounds from my M4 and thought,
that sounds just right. An M4 is one of the few assault rifles I have actually
fired regularly and the sound designers got it spot on. I also like the ability
to change from full auto to semi automatic firing if you so desire, once again
full-filling the “realistic itch” I like in shooters. The game has a slide
to cover mechanic and lean mechanic which I used once, thought that it was cool
and never used it again, even when playing on hard (which is not hard enough).
All your time is spent in the dusty buildings and mountains which characterized
the early battles of Afghanistan, but the developers did well do give you a good
mix of locales and gameplay to keep the painfully short campaign fresh.
Everything from hitting people over 1000 yards away with a sniper rifle to
being the gunner in an Apache chopper or riding an ATV.
Its just the huge amount of little things that stops this being in the
company of other Tier 1 games. For example, The odd AI partner getting stuck in
a door or when an enemy spawn points are painfully obvious. In the sniping
sequences there is no need to allow for windage and drop which was
disappointing, but boy what satisfying hits, talk about early Peter Jackson
“Bad Taste” effects, with chicken jibblits bits flying every where. There is
the standard paint the laser on target for bombs etc.. Which was very tick the
box, the enemy AI is not up to snuff on occasion and the obligatory army story
of a General “back home” with no understanding what is in front of the boots
on the ground, its probably based in truth but its has soo been done before.
I would still say though these together are not complete game breakers, just
frustrating.
Graphically it has some very high points and real low points. In spots the
game has some of the best looking, most intense battles I have played in a
while, then you see a truck blow up or some texture pop-in and you are ripped
out of the situation, thinking, damn that was half-assed. Funnily I think the
game looks better the further in you get into it as does the mission quality.
The lack of camera control in cut scenes left me feeling “trapped” in the
moment, especially when compared to that epic opening sequence to CoD4 which was
brilliant.
Now you can't talk modern day shooter without pulling in the powerhouse that
is the Infinity Ward Call of Duty's and doing a side by side. I did this and
it is glaringly obvious that MW2 has a longer, better looking campaign, awesome
MP and the best bit of all Co-Op Spec Ops. BUT MoH still grabbed me for some
reason, I respect what the Danger Close guys were trying to do. They set out
NOT to make that Michael Bay big budget, low integrity pop-corn fest. They tried
to give us “the civies”, a glimpse of what these modern soldiers face, while
still making it entertaining and I think they succeeded.
My final thoughts are, a 5 maybe 6 hour campaign is criminal if there is
nothing else to fluff up the pillow, I hated the limited MP from DICE, mainly
because its tacked on and I sucked at it and there is no Co-Op anything. That
being said, as soon as I finished the first play through of the Campaign,
I started again without hesitation. I would advise waiting for a bargain bin
buy or Rent it for a night, because there are better games and overall packages
out there, however Medal of Honor does one important thing very well for us
military shooter fans, its believable.
Comments and feedback are always welcome!!