The anticipated Medal of Honor modernization has been released to the world with the badass bearded soldiers on the loose. The game has been released by EA and developed by two separate developers. The singleplayer mode has been developed by Danger Close while the multiplayer side has been given to DICE. There has been a great anticipation for this release from both old school series fans and for the new comers and was hoping to see a more polished game on the singleplayer, on the other side, the multiplayer is where the game shines.

So, let’s start from the singleplayer. There has been a lot of controversy around the storyline of the game, but then again players who are enjoying a shooter want realism and authenticity. Talking about myself, I don’t want to play a shooter in a fictional or over-hyped story, except when the game genre is sci-fi. People, this is just a game. So, the story is based on the Shahikot Mountains where a special operations task force is assigned the job to destroy some Taliban forces. These mountains which of course ireally exist have seen a lot of bullets, especially in 2002 while the Americans where fighting the Soviet forces while trying to occupy Afghanistan. The game also visits places like the city of Gardez, Bagram and of course Shahikot. After a very long night, you will finally see the light of the day and the singleplayer shines, showing a new and fierce world from the eyes of the special forces of the army. This is what I and other players will like in this game, i.e. it immediately can be identified from other shooters in the genre, since it immerses you into an ongoing conflict, the same conflict you would find in the news. You will form the part of team which is above the official military team which is called the Tier 1 Operators.

In-game graphics are great and they are quite detailed, and along with destructible environment these team up to give a great gameplay experience. Thou great, the consoles versions unfortunately have some discrepancies. For example, during gameplay you will easily bump in walls or fences that you are using as cover and they will be loaded in very low quality with large visible pixels. Also on the Playstation 3 you might get some framerate issues when having a lot of explosions on the screen, which of course in a war, this happens a lot.

The night missions were nothing special, but the daylight missions in Medal of Honor were astonishing having great lighting effects with very good texture work. The landscapes where beautifully crafted and it is very detailed. So yes, the daylight missions is where Medal of Honor shines, apart from that mission where you fall from the helicopter and you have to fight for your life in the dark Afghan nights with just your knife. That mission was one of my favourite.

Mind you, and this is important... this should not be taken in consideration for all the gameplay modes. The singleplayer and multiplayer are two separate things and some things are not replicated in another. Apart from sometimes having the graphics breaking up, it was noticed many times that I would have to restart to the latest checkpoint for the fact that the AI will fail to move forward and basically being stuck in the moment. After I have restarted from the last checkpoint the AI will be triggered and moves on.

Another thing which I personally liked in this revamp of the Medal of Honor series is the different mixed features in the singleplayer mode where it isn’t just a boring game where you just shoot the bad guys with your gun. The game has some moments of stealth, running around with your ATV, sniper missions and of course, my favourite... the helicopter shooter mission where you just use your guns or rockets to blast off the enemy’s camps and soldiers with their RPGs. Another thing was the binoculars with the pointing for the air strikes with different weaponry. The singleplayer is quite mixed and it’s not likely that you will end up with the same mission types for the whole storyline.

There was a very good effort by EA and Danger Close to make the game as accurate as possible with collaborations with real members of the army and it seemed to show it fruits, however parts of the story are a bit of clichés with giant explosions and huge armies of Al Qaeda soldier struggling to kill just one soldier i.e. you. The AI fires quite well and will make your life very difficult in Afghanistan but the way he positions himself, it is easy to identify and shoot since in many times the enemy will come out from the same position he has shot you before. The single player mode is more storyline driven.

Something else to add to the authenticity of the game is the sound effect. The loud noise of gunfire and explosions will make your floor rattle if you have a good sound system; it’s suggested to use it. The sound effects are a great deal in Medal of Honor along with a good hardcore rock song to complement the experience. Apart from that, the sound track is awesome with the music compositions of Ramin Djawadi, the guy behind Iron Man, Clash of the Titans and Prison Break sound tracks. It immersed me more into the moment, especially in the sniper missions.

Multiplayer, as I said before is another story. It has been developed by DICE, the guys behind the Battlefield series. The Single and Multi player modes are quite different indeed. While the single player mode uses the Unreal Engine 3, the multiplayer, uses DICE’s own engine called Frostbite 2.0. The multiplayer mode is a mix of deathmatch and good positioning and strategy. The multiplayer mode is a solid system and players who have previously played any game from the Battlefield series will surely get the hand of Medal of Honor easier than other players.
Each gun has it’s particular and individual capabilities and limitations, so you have to balance well the use of your weapons depending on the moment. The gameplay is much faster than your ordinary Battlefield “feeling” and you must be depend on your tactics to quickly shoot or make a counter attack on your enemy. It’s not an easy job to remain alive in the multiplayer or just take a coffee between a kill and another. The multiplayer modes are played with a 12 v 12 and the player will increase in level and customizations when increasing experience and level. Such customizations will be the perks on weapons, air strikes, special abilities and of course beards and sunglasses. Beards and sunglasses will be your daily identification to show who’s the badass player in the session. The multiplayer mode quite fun and it will be very enjoyable.

Conclusion

Medal of Honor was a great anticipation and there was some need to modernize the series. I liked playing the singleplayer since it had great graphics and I was never bored with the mission types and features, but it needed a more polishing, especially for the graphic and AI glitches. The music and sound effects are superb and the multiplayer mode was quite fun to play. Don’t know why EA decided to go with two developers but apart from some glitches in the singleplayer mode, I really enjoyed the game and it should be recommended to anyone who wants some real, authentic modern conflict.