Medal Of Honor, and in fact
the entire realistic war-setting FPS sub-genre,
flew under the radar for me. I like pure action,
fantasy, medieval. Having to use realistic strategy
and tactics in order to avoid the one or two
hits it takes to put you down is not what I'm
used to. Until MOD:AA, I'd never actually played
a game from this genre. But having played through
it, it's in fact very similar to the Soldier
Of Fortune and NOLF series'. And in those games
I actually enjoyed sneaking around corners and
trying to make every press of the trigger a
headshot. This is the same, only even more emphasised.
You can take a number of hits
before hitting dirt, but there is more reloading
in this game than any I've ever played. At times
this can be slightly annoying, especially in
the sniper town where you'll have to reload
many times over before you figure out where
the next sniper is hiding. Nonetheless, this
was my personal favourite part of the game.
The comparison to Saving Private Ryan was obvious;
and a smart move as it made it even more realistic
actually pitting yourself in a destroyed town
with snipers everywhere, pretending your actually
in Saving Private Ryan.
The other highlight was, of
course, Omaha Beach, again from Saving Private
Ryan. It was a very difficult level to begin
with. I ended up getting through with 4% health
left, even with many, many reloads. But while
it was a highlight, it could have been much
more on a grand scale - the feature of the game.
I'd love to see the battle remade in a newer
engine.
The gameplay was surprisingly
enjoyable and well-paced throughout the game.
But while it was very fun, MOD:AA does have
some drawbacks. Firstly, it's far too short.
The ending was very abrupt, with no big battle
at all. The entire game I completed in just
two days, 3-4 sittings. Other games would only
be reaching the halfway point by this stage.
Fortunately, there are two mission packs available
for extra playtime.
The other disappointment for
me was the design. While this is a 2002 game,
getting on six years old now, the Quake3/IDTech3
engine is capable of better. Games that come
to mind: RTCW, American McGee's Alice, FAKK2;
all of which were released well before MOH:AA.
However, it was probably slightly better than
Soldier Of Fortune II, which used the same engine
and was released only months later.
Having said that, some of the
design was great for 2002 - the war-battered
sniper-town, the dark snowy forests, small villages
set among countryside. But there were other
levels looking very flat and plain such as the
submarine and Omaha Beach itself.
Overall though, the design
was good enough and even for a short game, MOD:AA
was a load of fun. Probably not quite as fun
as Soldier Of Fortune 2, but I'll be sure to
play the two mission packs and look forward
to the two PC sequels released since MOH:AA.
