Medal of Honor Airborne Review (PC)

Just when you thought that World War II as a video game setting had run it's course in the shooter genre, game designer's have come up with something new to keep it kicking. Medal of Honor is first person shooter that puts players in the role of an elite US paratrooper as he drops behind enemy lines to help free Europe from the grips of the Nazis. The mulit-objective, non linear missions and intense firefights are notable high points in the game while certain game mechanics and AI fall a little short by today's expectations and standards

Pros

• Action packed firefights.
• Parachuting element nice addition to genre.
• Good mulitplayer game mode.

Cons

• Short storyline with only 6-10 hrs of game play.
• Disappointing and unbalanced AI for both friendly and emeny soldiers.
• Inconsistent weapons; Aiming and damage.

Storyline & Game Modes

In Medal of Honor Airborne, players take the role of PFC Boyd Travers of the famed 82nd Airborne Division through Europe; from the invasion of Sicily and Italy to the final battles in Germany. Each of the six missions in the single player campaign of MOHA are somewhat unique to the World War II game setting as they begin with an airborne drop into hostile territory. The mission are multi-objective based and independent of one another, thus giving you the option to complete them in any order. Many times the objectives completed first depends on where you direct yourself during the parachute drop.

Technically the missions are not linear but that doesn't mean the overall storyline isn't. The laundry list of mission objectives can be accomplished in any order but ultimately this order has no impact on out come of the story except that they must be completed to advance to the next mission. This is most notable in the first few missions where you're going through the motions fighting waves of Nazis to push along the story. This would have been great for a game developed a few years ago but there's more of a demand for game stories to take on a different flow depending on the success or failure of play.

As mentioned previously the single player campaign includes six missions, each mission can be easily played in under two hours for a total of about 10-12 hrs of total game play. There is however an excellent multiplayer game mode that makes up for the short single player mode. Medal of Honor Airborne includes three multiplayer modes of note is the Team Deathmatch Airborne; The Allies will enter the match from an airdrop, while the Axis team begins on the ground.

Game Play

Unlike many World War II shooters that involve airborne troops, Medal of Honor Airborne lets you control the action from the moment you jump from the plane. Controlling the parachuting gives you the ability to pick where you land and where on the map you start the mission. The game does provide green smoke signals to help guide you to landing zones but you are by no means obligated to land there. At first look this is a fun new concept but after the first few drops you realize that typically the safest and easiest places to land are the ones with the smoke signals. This does take away some freedom but it's still a nice feature and a great way to get a bird's eye view of the map prior to being thrust into combat.

Medal of Honor Airborne has all of the standard weapons one would expect in a World War II shooter, M1 Garand, M1902 Springfield, and Thompson sub machine gun are just a few of the Allied weapons while the Axis soldiers have their MP40, Panzerschreck and others to fight with. All weapons look and sound as authentic as you're going to get in a video game, but fire power and aiming seems to be a little inconsistent from one enemy to the next.

Graphics/AI

Visually the environments in Medal of Honor Airborne are appealing. Most buildings, streets, and other objects are nicely textured while the lighting adds some realistic atmosphere effects. The environments are not destructable and although this does not detract from the overall enjoyment of the game it would have added some more realism and features seen in many newer games. Random falling rubble to take out a few enemies would have come in handy on more than one occasion.

Frustration is one word that comes to mind when describing Medal of Honor Airborne's AI; both for enemy and allied units in the single player campaign. Enemy units have seemingly dead on accuracy across hundreds of yards of the game environments while your weapons become wildly inaccurate at any distance over 10-15 feet. This inaccuracy really leaves you scratching your head when you've just unloaded multiple rounds into an enemy only to see him emerge unscathed. Friendly units can be just as frustrating to deal with by randomly blocking both your path and line of sight.

Bottom Line

The bottom line is that Medal of Honor Airborne hits more than misses. The game shines with it's multiplayer modes and options, at release however there have been dedicated server issues that EA is working to correct. The single player campaign comes up a little short in both length and expectations with some fundamental AI flaws. That being said, the single player portion is enjoyable and intense fire fights that will have you ducking in your seat, while the parachuting element adds an exciting feature to the genre.