Medal of Honor
Set during the ongoing Afghanistan conflict, Medal of Honor aims to recapture some of the first person shooter market from Call of Duty with realistic combat, modern weapons, updated controls and doing everything Call of Duty does.
Notice that sentence didn’t say “Do Everything Call of Duty does, but better.” The developers at Danger Close chose to use many design, presentation aesthetics and controls that Call of Duty does, yet they do nothing innovative to improve upon the pattern developed at Activision. Instead they use Call of Duty’s success formula to drive the gigantic plane called Medal of Honor straight into the ground.
The developers of Medal of Honor opted to use the exact controls found in the Call of Duty games. This makes it easy for Call of Duty players to transition to Medal of Honor without much fuss getting used to the controls. While the controls are no doubt familiar, they can’t help but give the impression that the mandate during the development of Medal of Honor was to make a Call of Duty clone.
There were however many things about Medal of Honor that were enjoyable that weren’t lifted directly from Call of Duty. During the campaign, players running low on ammo will not have to trade their military issued weapons for those of downed enemy combatants like they would in Call of Duty. Instead approaching a squad mate and pressing the X button will prompt a teammate to give the player another clip of ammo for the current weapon. This mechanic is actually pretty thoughtful. Often times I hate to downgrade to an enemy’s weapon, and have in the past, shot a teammate in order to refill the ammunition of my current weapon.
Another interesting mechanic the developer introduces is the ability to slide. If you choose to press the crouch button while sprinting you will immediately slide down with the left over momentum from the sprint. The same button combination in Call of Duty results in an automatic stop. Being able to run and quickly slide behind cover is a great dynamic in the middle of combat that I hope finds its way into future shooters.
I also appreciated the story presented in Medal of Honour, particularly the command conflict between the general behind his desk in Washington and the Major on the ground in Afghanistan. Unfortunately the story is also one of the places that hurt the Medal of Honor experience. Basing the entire story on an actual conflict limits where a game can go creatively. Call of Duty 4 and Modern Warfare 2 both have breakneck stories that are loosely based in reality. Instead of a real account of war they play out much more like an action movie or an episode of 24. Medal of Honor is grounded much more in reality and as a result the pacing of the game suffers and limits the story that the developers can tell.
The story of Medal of Honor is constructed in much the same way as past Medal of Honor and Call of Duty games. The narrative is broken up between three different character’s viewpoints which rotate every level. Each character also travels with a different group of teammates, who are essentially indistinguishable apart from their call signs and facial hair. The game follows each character over the first few days of the United States Military’s conflict with the Taliban in Afghanistan.
The biggest issue with the single player experience of Medal of Honor is how damn easy it is. Even on the hardest difficulty, Medal of Honor is a breeze to play through with the only tension being from scripted events. The enemy A.I is horrible both at aiming and using any sort of battlefield tactics. There were times in the single player where I had my back to an enemy for a prolonged period of time before I noticed they were shooting at me.
Another significant issue with Medal of Honor’s campaign is the level design. Most of the levels obviously appear to have a corridor shooter framework. The way many of the levels are designed do not feel organic but manufactured. There are also many design flaws within each level. For such a blockbuster title I encountered more invisible walls and terrain that couldn’t be traversed than any title in recent memory. This not only decreased the game’s realism but did a tremendous job at taking me out of the experience.
In additional to the short single player campaign, Medal of Honor also has an online component. The multiplayer component of Medal of Honor is far different than the single player, almost to the point where they feel like two different games. This is no surprised based upon the fact that two different developers worked on both portions of the game.
While the multiplayer is not bad, it is also not very good. Compared to Battlefield or Modern Warfare 2, Medal of Honor’s multiplayer is not up to snuff. Even though DICE teams were behind both Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and Medal Honor, Battlefield is clearly the better product. Medal of Honor has a progression system that is a hybrid of Battlefield and Modern Warfare 2, with an unlock/upgrade system mixed with a class system. It is an interesting concept on paper but the execution did not appeal to me. On a whole Medal of Honor’s multiplayer component did not work when compared to Battlefield: Bad Company 2 or Modern Warfare 2.
