Medal of Honor Preview

Author:
John Lomaga
Published: March 11, 2010Posted in: Main Featured, PS3 Previews, PS3 Software, Xbox 360 Previews, Xbox 360 SoftwareTags:
Medal of Honor Preview

Ten years ago gamers were called up to the front-lines of World War II.  For ten years we trekked through Europe, parachuted into towns and cities and fought through history in various Medal of Honor titles.  This year EA is bringing Medal Honor to the battlefields of modern day Afghanistan.  As a Tier 1 Operator gamers will be battling todays terrorists across the rocky mountains and battle torn urban areas of Afghanistan.  Kicking in doors and not knowing what lies around the next corner is all part of todays war.

We recently had a chance to see the game in action.  While the game still has many months of development ahead the early alpha build we saw had the essentials all intact.  The level we saw finds a Tier 1 squad in the mountains tracking an enemy convoy.  The convoy was previously marked with inferred strobes(which you complete in an earlier mission).  As you track the convoy you need to be on the look out for enemy patrols.  Luckily for the team this mission is taking place at night so you can use the cover of darkness to sneak around and surprise the enemies.  Taking out a single enemy from the shadows will cause his partner to cower in fear.  Once you obtain visual contact on the convoy and confirm that it is the correct one using your night vision googles to view the strobes, you then call in the circling AC-130 gun ship to bring the rain.  Once the convoy is destroyed the team continues up the mountain encountering more patrols.  As you move through small bombed out villages you have the options of attacking head on or using darkness once again to hide and set ambush attacks.
And that concluded the mission we saw.

While the game is only about 60% complete it looks and played amazing.  At night various environmental lights from fires to headlights/flashlights all look realistic.   The various lights also cause nice lens flares and will blind you if you look into bright lights.  As you sneak through the shadows enemies will go about their business of smoking and looking out over the horizon just to all of a sudden feel you hands around their necks.  As firefights unfold bullets will damage various objects and leave apparent marks in walls and doors, each with their own unique look depending on the material they are made of.  Walls and doors will splinter or break off when shot, dirt and other particles are thrown up from stray rounds, and the all important blood spray will fill the air when bullets hit their targets.  This Medal of Honor is going to be M rated for the first time in the series after all.

While not many new details were confirmed, from the trailers we saw and our discussions with the developers on hand, there will be various drivable vehicles, as you can see by the ATV in the trailer.  No word on if their would be other call-ins besides the AC-130 but its safe to assume their will be.  No word on multiplayer details.

Medal of Honor as it stands right now is shaping up to be a great shooting experience and is poised to take the long running series to new heights.  Following the footsteps of the recent smash hit Modern Warfare, gamers of that series might now have a hard choice, and after seeing the game in action could be very easily swayed to Medal of Honor.  The team has been working closely with various Special Operations Community members to bring an authentic game to gamers.  We look forward to E3 to see more of what we can encounter on the front-lines this Fall.



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