Medal of Honor

Let's be honest, it took either bravery or stupidity on the part of Electronic Arts to decide that now is a good time to release a game based directly on a very real and very current conflict, especially one so tainted with the deeper undertones of political and cultural polarities such as the war on terror which followed the events of 9.11. As it happens, the gamble has paid off, because not only does this reboot of the ageing Medal of Honor franchise manage to circumnavigate much of the criticism levelled at its controversial setting, but it also delivers one of the most structured and intense single-player campaigns you're likely to come across.

It's entirely possible that a game based on the US-led coalition's war against Al-Qaeda and the Taliban would try to rely on controversy alone to get people interested, but Danger Close Games, the developer behind the single-player campaign, has done a commendable job of almost separating the story from the bonds of its setting, focusing instead on the individuals involved. Don't expect any grand political statements or sweeping inter-cultural undertones here. Medal of Honor is about the soldiers on the ground, following orders, getting the job done and trying to stay alive long enough to go home once it's all over.

This micro-level context means that while playing through the short but engaging campaign you are never overly concerned with the overarching story of the war, but there is never a time when you don't know exactly who you are up against. In fact, the first few times you hear your squad leader barking commands to engage Taliban forces it's actually slightly jarring, but only because it's something we're not used to. Shooting hordes of Nazis lacks relevance to our generation, because it's in the past. Even the fashionable choice these days of having the Russians or some dodgy Eastern Bloc hoodlums act as the bad guys doesn't mean much because to us it's more of an "imagine if" kind of scenario. In Medal of Honor, you are dealing with enemies you hear about on the daily news, in decaying villages and cave-riddled mountain areas you see scattered around maps on CNN, and it suddenly has meaning. There will be those who criticise Danger Close for not capitalising on this opportunity to make more of a statement about the underlying issues of the war in Afghanistan, but the mission wasn't to make a statement, it was to tell the personal stories of the men doing the dirty work.

The setting and story might be bold and pioneering in its fresh honesty, but the actual gameplay which ties it all together is quite derivative, to the point that sometimes it plays like a tribute to Modern Warfare 2 and to a lesser extent the Battlefield: Bad Company 2 campaign. That doesn't have to be a bad thing, though, since both of those titles had riveting single-player experiences, and similarly Medal of Honor doesn't disappoint. The story is played out through the point of view of three soldiers, all subtly and cleverly interwoven throughout the game. Missions alternate between SEAL Rabbit, Army Ranger Adams, and Tier 1 Special Ops guy Deuce, each playing a significant part in tying the campaign together. The three different main characters, plus one mission played as an Apache helo gunner, mean that the story can switch between different scenarios without being unrealistic. One moment you will be a Tier 1 operative, stealthily creeping through a Taliban stronghold under cover or night, knifing bad guys in the shadows, and the next you will be in the boots of an Army Ranger trying to blast your way out of an ambush in the sun-baked mountains, yet it never feels disjointed.

The story itself focuses on a two day period of heavy combat and casualties on both sides, with all three characters and their respective squads each having their own objectives en route to hunting down terrorist elements in the region. Once on mission, there is very little expanding on the context of why you are there, and as one commanding officer comments during a bit of in-game chatter "find the bad guys, kill the bad guys" remains your primary modus operandi for most of the game. Conveniently for a game so focused on action, the gameplay is concise and slick, with intuitive controls helping to keep things moving. Sure, Medal of Honor doesn't bring much innovation to the genre in terms of run and gun action, but what it does it does smoothly and efficiently. There are a few other elements to keep things interesting, such as night-time quad biking and plenty of scripted sniping and user-controlled air support sections which break the flow of the main gameplay in a good way and keep it fresh.

Scripted events play an important role in carrying a story like this forward, as we've seen many times in the Modern Warfare titles, and they act as useful narrative tools if used correctly. Sadly it could be said that these events are somewhat overused in Medal of Honor, tearing control away from the gamer to let an event play out, and breaking the immersion which the gameplay does so well to create. Too often you will be in the middle of a gunfight or sneaking around an enemy base when suddenly you are no longer in control of your character as some scripted event takes over, whether it's sliding down a hill or being dragged out of a burning hut by your squad mate, snapping you back to the reality that this is just a game. Adding to this is the very linear nature of each mission, not just in terms of your goals, but on a more tangible level too. We're talking about highly trained special operations forces here, but if it's not part of the mission your character will not be able to hop over a tiny fence to explore the other side, or kick down a flimsy door until your leader tells you to. Try to venture off the beaten path, and you realise just how much you are being funneled through each scenario. Then again, this isn't a sandbox shooter, it's a tightly focused narrative, and I guess this linearity is necessary to push the story in the right direction.

This creative focus does lend itself to building some great tension and atmosphere within missions though, and there are sections of this game where you will feel genuinely involved in the lives of the characters portrayed. It took me a little while to grow accustomed to the different personalities of my squad mates, but before the end I felt I had forged a camaraderie with them at least on par with the characters from the Modern Warfare and Bad Company franchises. This is thanks in no small part to the authentic and excellent voice work done for each character, lending real personality to the men fighting alongside you. There is an air of military professionalism amongst these guys, with a level of military jargon beyond what we've come to expect. At first it's like they are speaking a different language, but I was soon mesmerised by the authenticity of the way your team mates communicate. You can tell that there were real military people involved here. Clever use of music to build atmosphere also adds to the experience, either dramatic or energising depending on the moment, but never overpowering to cheapen the effect.

The single-player campaign makes use of the popular Unreal Engine, and while the engine has proven its worth over the years, it perhaps wasn't the best choice when it came to the expansive environments seen in Medal of Honor, with the engine struggling at times with the long draw distances of the open terrain. Pop-up becomes a recurring problem, and there are many times where textures will take a while to load fully, leaving some elements looking bland and ugly in the interim. This, coupled with some strange graphical and physics glitches (such as enemies occasionally flying across the map when they die, or squad mates suddenly just disappearing before your very eyes), eats away at the suspension of belief which the enthralling campaign tries to build. There are moments of beauty though, with great use of lighting, reflections and particle effects to set the mood in some instances. Close up the character models aren't up there with that of Bad Company 2, but your squad mates are believable and fairly lifelike. Overall, Medal of Honor is a good looking game with plenty of charm, but perhaps a little behind its closest competitors.

It's clear that Danger Close put a lot of effort into crafting the single-player campaign, and the end result is not far from a masterpiece in terms of gripping storytelling. Perhaps it was a good idea on the part of Electronic Arts then to let them focus on the campaign and hand the multiplayer duties over to Battlefield veterans EA DICE. There is quite a disparity between the single-player and multiplayer aspects of Medal of Honor, to the point that in some ways they feel like separate games altogether. DICE used their own Frostbite engine to power the multiplayer component, and the game looks better for it. On the other hand, the multiplayer menus and presentation is also very different to the single-player and seems somewhat rushed and rudimentary. The gameplay itself, though, is just as action packed as we've grown to expect from DICE, even if it's not quite as polished as their own Bad Company 2's multiplayer component.

The four multiplayer modes available are all easily recognisable variations on common themes. We've got Team Assault, which is effectively a team deathmatch mode, Sector Control, which is your capture-the-flag mode, and then Combat Mission and Objective Raid which are reminiscent of Bad Company 2's Rush mode. The maps available for the Combat Mission mode are quite big, and it's this mode which most gamers will find intriguing since it offers some kind of mission structure to each battle as gamers try to either defend or attack specific choke points on the map. In comparison, the maps for the other modes are relatively small and feel a little claustrophobic with 24 players at once. Playing as either the US forces or the Opposing Forces (the Taliban in all but name), there are three classes to choose from: Rifleman, Spec Ops and Sniper, each of which has unlockable equipment upgrades including red dot sights and extra magazines, nothing you haven't seen before.

Maybe it's just me, but I preferred the Bad Company approach where both teams look the same, and it feels a bit strange playing as a fully kitted out modern soldier up against the Opposing Forces with their dusty robes and turbans. The multiplayer modes are also vastly more difficult for beginners than DICE's own Bad Company 2, and after being sniped countless times by unseen foes hiding in the hills it takes some courage and persistence to keep coming back for more. The lack of a kill cam makes this all the more frustrating as you never get to see the camping bastard who keeps popping you in the head. Don't get me wrong, the multiplayer modes on offer here are a lot of fun, and stand up well against much of what has come before, but I don't know if it is enough to drag the Modern Warfare 2 and Bad Company 2 faithful away from their chosen shooters for very long. It must have been tricky for DICE though, because they were obviously instructed to build a multiplayer component for a game that had to be different from what they had done for Bad Company 2, and probably had a hard time thinking of things to change or add. Strangely enough, there are useful gameplay elements of the single-player mode which didn't even make the cut here, such as the the ability to slide into cover or lean around cover. Still, persevere long enough to upgrade your chosen class up to a respectable level, learn your way around the different maps, and there are great times to be had with the various modes available here.

Considering the competition which Medal of Honor faces, one could say that this franchise has come to the modern military combat party a little too late, but that would be selling this game short. The multiplayer is solid and will be appreciated by those who have the patience to overcome the initial learning curve, even if it doesn't offer a whole lot beyond what's been before. The joy derived from a multiplayer game like this is quite dependant on the kind of people who play it, so only time will tell how the online community reacts to this games nuances. Granted, in terms of the genre there isn't a whole lot of innovation or ingenuity here, but the combination of a cracking story, believable characters and superb gameplay results in a thrilling ride from start to finish. By the time the campaign comes to an end, somewhere between 5 and 8 hours later depending on your skill level, your mind will be left reeling from the sheer pace and intensity of it all. The end result is a slightly flawed but adrenaline-fueled rush, a title which overcomes its own controversy, and a shooter well worth your hard earned cash.

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