Medal of Honor

There must be a book on how modern military shooters have to go: because Medal of Honor follows it slavishly. There's the on rails helicopter section they usually have (best part of the game I'd argue), scripted sequences, military jargon spoken aplenty, deserts, specific objective paths you cannot deviate from, the list goes on. The characters and story are just...there...to put it simply. You won't care about anything going on and will wanna press "skip" on the cutscenes, the graphics at times look pretty with some nice textures and other times they look murky and almost ugly. The game is competently made, that's what it has going for it. By not deviating from the modern military shooter template, and having a talented team at the helm, Medal of Honor manages to be a competent military shooter and nothing else.

Medal Of Honour returns and, with all the trailers and build-up we'd seen, with some panache too... ah but if only.

For the most part, the MOH reboot is a decent effort - an in-depth and heartfelt story more about the soldiers; their brotherhood; inter-dependence and, what we all came for, their sheer bad assery, than it is all-out Michael Bay action like your now annual Call of Duty releases.

Going up against the Taliban in dust-filled villages, treacherous rocky mountains etc etc and not being able to see where the shots are coming from is, at first, overwhelming and a little frightening but then it gets all too frustrating, all too quickly once you realise EA might have gone a -little- far with it when it comes to not being able to see more than 50 feet ahead of yourself (see mission: Belly of the Beast).

Sure, having actual Tier 1 operators on board with the development has helped add an entire new perspective to show you'll view FPSs for some time - new military lingo you've never heard before, some absolutely crackin' stealth-based missions (still don't quite top Modern Warfare's "All Ghillied Up" or World At War's "Vendetta" though...) and a few other touches really make the game feel a little more filled out than most military shooters but it's around this point where the pros end and the cons start to show.

Despite an otherwise brilliant (yet short) campaign and story to boot, there are a lot of bugs in this game. Hit detection, even in offline single player, can be off several times. Sometimes your squad won't move forward even if you do so first. The cover system physics are slightly off at some points, exposing yourself during major firefights - a particular annoyance when playing through on Tier 1 Mode where there are no checkpoints. You die, you restart.

As for the multiplayer, it's about as clichéd as any other FPS online nowadays. You play objective games, you get a team full of idiots more obsessed with getting a killstreak going than a little thing called "winning", you play straight up deathmatch, you get a match full of 85% snipers, 9% random campers and 1% runners'n'gunners who, in the end, are the sole reason anyone gets anything done in those matches.

It can be fun if you land yourself in a good lobby which, unfortunately, is all down to luck. Surely by now developers could simply integrate some system whereby only people who want to get an objective can play the objective games and base matchmaking on well, actually 'matching' players to equals. Sounds absurd I know...

Tl;dr version: Good singleplayer, good story, silly bugs cause great annoyances. Multi is good so long as you get good opponents and not KD whores.

So you play as a real life war on terrorism veteran with the name Dusty. The game switches between foot soldier missions and other gameplay action such as flying helicopters and riding a quad bike.

I don't think I can find any faults with this game. And given it is 2020 (or what is left of it) you should pick it up cheap.

If you want an immersive war on terrorism experience in Afghanistan you should buy this game. Medal Of Honor is cheap as chips by now.

Buy the personal computer version and upscale to 4K.

I played on the Xbox 360, however.

"Medal of Honor" (2010) is the game where the series decided to change scenery. Instead of the familiar World War II setting, we're thrown into a modern conflict in Afghanistan. You get deserts, cold snowy nights, and serious guys in sunglasses talking like it's a special forces movie.

There is a story, yes. And it's pretty standard, to be honest: rescue someone, provide cover fire, take bullets from around every corner, wait for backup (which may or may not arrive) - all of it backed by tense music and gruff dialogue. It's exactly what you'd expect from a military shooter. Not exactly emotionally gripping, but the cinematic feel is spot on. When you're covering your teammate under fire, it really feels like you've stepped into "Black Hawk Down".

What truly surprised me was the gameplay. The shooting feels great - punchy and satisfying. There's real weight to the weapons, the sound design packs a punch, and enemies drop with a heavy thud. The sniper mission, in particular, stood out: lying on a frozen mountain, picking off tiny silhouettes in the distance - it makes you feel like a true marksman. And in one mission, they even let you ride a quad bike. Who hasn't dreamed of speeding through rugged terrain, dodging obstacles at full throttle? Dream fulfilled. Sure, the environments are a bit samey - that's dictated by the setting - but they're nicely designed nonetheless.

Visually, for 2010, the game looks excellent. The terrain, the weapons, the character models - it's all well-crafted. Dust kicks up into your face, the sun blinds you, and you can almost feel the crunch of snow under your boots. It really gives the sensation of being in a warzone - safely, of course. Sound design is just as solid: gunfire, ambient noise, the whistle of bullets - everything pulls you into the experience.

Personally, "Medal of Honor" (2010) was a pleasant surprise. The gunplay is powerful, the graphics are impressive, and the sound hits all the right notes. The change in setting clearly breathed new life into the series. It's a fun game to play and to get immersed in - not because of the plot, but because of the sheer adrenaline. A much-needed jolt of energy for the franchise.

8 out of 10.

I suppose that this game was made for hardcore players, and I wouldn't know how it suits mediocre players, because I haven't been one for long. Despite, my experience and skills acquired I doubt that a beginner would be frustrated by the game, because the game requires minimal experience. You don't have to learn how to counter the recoil, because it's non existent. It doesn't require that you play for ages to unlock all weapons or perks-that aren't necessarily universally beneficial-, there're few to unlock to anyways. What this game emphasizes on is choices that you and your team mates make. The maps are big enough to always provide alternative route to destination, but are small enough that you have to make right choices to survive (a.i. turning around wrong corner.) The game requires that you analyze (through position of friendlies, and general knowledge of spawn of enemies) the likelihood of certain path being free of campers, and allows you to mount kill-streaks if you choose the right path. It's also adrenaline rich, because killing or getting killed is quick so you have to have top reaction and determination to kill- no shooter skills or long history of playing the game previously.

This game was truly designed with advise of tier 1 operators, as they shared their tactical knowledge, hence letting designers implement surroundings that would require their mindset to succeed.