The second mission pack for
MOH:AA, titled Breakthrough is exactly that;
a breakthrough. But while it's much improved
on the previous mission pack, titled Spearhead,
yet it was the very brief and unpolished Spearhead
that was more popular and received the favourable
reviews.
Of course Breakthrough still
had it's own set of flaws, different from the
original game and Spearhead again. But it was
the professionalism of the level design that
saved Breakthrough - it looked much better than
it's predecessors. Same engine, same graphics,
but better build quality and a much more intense
atmosphere. It kicks off intense right from
the beginning in the Battle Of Kasserine Pass
- a pass which is so thick with fog you can
barely see in front of you. Very atmospheric
and intense. This continues throughout right
until the finale in an Italian castle. There
are no levels here that really stand out as
being sub-par, unlike the original game.
That covers the positive, so
what of the flaws? This time, it's fairly big
one - lack of ammo. While I never completely
ran out of ammo, throughout the game it was
really touch and go. I was forced to make every
single hit count. Even then you may be reduced
to the pistol in a couple of levels. Mission
two, which takes place in a canal, is the worst
for this. All I had left were about 30 shotgun
shells, but a shotgun is hopeless when your
enemy is 100 metres away sitting in a machine
gun turret. So while I never truely ran out,
it did force me to play much more conservatively,
which had a slight impact on the enjoyment levels.
The other problem I found was
the amount of times your put in a gun turret,
the back of a vehicle or a tank having to hold
off enemies. The problem is your nothing but
a sitting duck which a huge gun. While this
was fun for a while, it occurs a little too
often in Breakthrough. The worst of it being
in control of two rather awkward and frustrating
mortars as several tanks appear over the horizon.
I prefer solid run-and-gun gameplay, with only
the very odd gimmick.
Breakthrough is overall a much
longer experience than Spearhead and with the
subtly improved level design, fans of MOH:AA
really should not skip on Breakthrough. Just
make sure your hits count, because the level
of difficulty is slightly harder this time.
