First, let me say that I love the Medal of Honor series of games. I think that no other FPS immerses the player in such a way. Ambient sounds, scripted characters, fog and lighting effects, if you've played Allied Assault or the Spearhead expansion, you know what I am talking about.
Let me also add that my experience with MOH has been exclusively single player. Since the game has such a good level of single play, I've never felt the need to play multiplayer, especially since I feel that games like Battlefield 1942 satisfy that need already.
Breakthrough takes you once again into the European theatre of WWII. This time the focus is on Africa and Italy. Kasserine Pass in North Africa, Messina in Sicily, and Monte Battaglia in the heart of Italy. That means new enemies, and thus a new assortment of weapons and vehicles that you will have to face, and get to use.
The sensory experience is one again top notch. The levels look beautiful, even though they really don't push any graphic boundries. The models are accurately skinned, uniforms have nice detail and the weapon models look realistic too. The sounds are simply amazing. Each weapon sounds different - I wouldn't be surprised if they actually recorded the real weapons when making the game. Voice acting is again very convincing, from your frequent run ins with superiors while in the field (receiving your orders often while bullets are whizzing over your heads!), to the reaction of enemy soldiers who have spotted you. Lighting and fog are used frequently, making nighttime operations very exciting.
The enemy AI is pretty much the same. They spot you and go into attack mode, meaning they fire at you (with fairly amazing accuracy) and move to keep you on your toes. If they are near cover, they use it, otherwise they do this little strafe back and forth which is either annoying or laughable depending on your accuracy and the type of weapon you are using. The enemy is stuck in reality too, glady. They reload, run out of grenades, limp when severly injured and can yell for assistance if it's around. There are little quirks that remind you that you are playing a videogame. When using cover, sometimes they forget that you are there and simply go back to sentry mode, often with a gun barrel and hand sticking in your line of sight. If you shoot at the soldier, he takes damage, but returns to sentry mode, thus allowing you to shoot again - and again. How's it go? One time shame on you, two times shame on me? They are smarter than your average shooter. If you open a door and run away, they don't come barrelling out single file to get mowed down. They often wait for you, or one poor soul gets sent out to investigate. They never seem to get caught up on the terrain, which is good.
The missions sound like they could be exciting, and some are. Here is where Breakthrough starts to falter. It's more of the same. If you've played the original and Spearhead, you will see nothing really new here. There is even another sniper alley mission (although it's shorter, thank goodness). The reason I disliked the sniper alley mission so much is that the enemy AI ignores soft cover. Hiding behind a bush, a tree or the like means nothing to the AI. People got through the Sniper level by saving every step, noting where they took damage from, reloading and firing before you took the hit. Boring.
These mission have you blowing up artillery again....and again... Linking up with airborne forces...again...following a spy through a city...again... disabling enemy vehicles...again... C'mon guys. I realize that some of this stuff is the staple of the genre but give us something new to do. The levels are linear, you feel like you are on a ride at disneyworld, especially the vehicle missions. You can't go to many steps to the left or right before you reach the edge of the navigatable map. Cities feature mostly locked doors and very few doors open that don't lead you to the next part of the mission.
Other staples of the game are still here and getting tiring. How many times have you walked up to a machine gun emplacement and immediately upon hitting your E key to use it, suddenly a drove of enemy come walking at you, willing targets for your newfound statically placed toy? Give us a break. Reward the player with another option or something. Whenever you find a mortar, MG or other static heavy weapon it's practically a guarantee that something will waltz in for you to shoot at. Since these mission typically involve blowing up these peices, why not have the tank appear later, giving us a risk of blowing up a piece of arty too early?
Again, enemy tanks pretty much roll up and fire a few shots and sit there, allowing you to take them out in a few shots before any real risk occurs.
The enemy AI spawns are rediculous. They often pop out of thin air, or walk THROUGH those unopenable doors after you've triggered some sort of object. I walked past a building that I was supposed to go into, looking into the windows as I walked around it - all empty rooms. When I went to the door and opened it, my screen jerked a bit and suddenly, the rooms ar full of bad guys eager to fight. Lame, EA. Why not reward a player for scouting around a building? Lastly, enemy soldiers must be part cyborg because most can take several bullets to the torso before falling. You can empty nearly a who magazine into a guy and he is simply on the ground, dazed and getting up again. Headshots seem to be the only way to alleviate this (and if they are wearing a helmet, chances are the first shot will knock his helmet off instead). There is a shockingly small amount of ammo available in most mission. I was down to my pistol and had to run the last bit of one level on only rifle butting. Enemy soldiers rarely drop ammo, weapons or health canteens when they die. Health seems to be well thought out. A good player will rarely die from a lack of health powerups, but rather from walking into an MG fire arc or a room full of MP40 toting sharpshooters.
Let me say finally that I think MOH games are a brand, a staple. There are those who, including myself, will most likely buy and play anything that comes out with the MOH name. Why? Because despite the shortcomings, it's still cool to play through, at least once - to expeience the feel of the game. It's just too bad that EA is going for feel exclusively over innovation and improvements in gameplay and design. I hear that the Pacific game will be different. We'll see.
Let me also add that my experience with MOH has been exclusively single player. Since the game has such a good level of single play, I've never felt the need to play multiplayer, especially since I feel that games like Battlefield 1942 satisfy that need already.
Breakthrough takes you once again into the European theatre of WWII. This time the focus is on Africa and Italy. Kasserine Pass in North Africa, Messina in Sicily, and Monte Battaglia in the heart of Italy. That means new enemies, and thus a new assortment of weapons and vehicles that you will have to face, and get to use.
The sensory experience is one again top notch. The levels look beautiful, even though they really don't push any graphic boundries. The models are accurately skinned, uniforms have nice detail and the weapon models look realistic too. The sounds are simply amazing. Each weapon sounds different - I wouldn't be surprised if they actually recorded the real weapons when making the game. Voice acting is again very convincing, from your frequent run ins with superiors while in the field (receiving your orders often while bullets are whizzing over your heads!), to the reaction of enemy soldiers who have spotted you. Lighting and fog are used frequently, making nighttime operations very exciting.
The enemy AI is pretty much the same. They spot you and go into attack mode, meaning they fire at you (with fairly amazing accuracy) and move to keep you on your toes. If they are near cover, they use it, otherwise they do this little strafe back and forth which is either annoying or laughable depending on your accuracy and the type of weapon you are using. The enemy is stuck in reality too, glady. They reload, run out of grenades, limp when severly injured and can yell for assistance if it's around. There are little quirks that remind you that you are playing a videogame. When using cover, sometimes they forget that you are there and simply go back to sentry mode, often with a gun barrel and hand sticking in your line of sight. If you shoot at the soldier, he takes damage, but returns to sentry mode, thus allowing you to shoot again - and again. How's it go? One time shame on you, two times shame on me? They are smarter than your average shooter. If you open a door and run away, they don't come barrelling out single file to get mowed down. They often wait for you, or one poor soul gets sent out to investigate. They never seem to get caught up on the terrain, which is good.
The missions sound like they could be exciting, and some are. Here is where Breakthrough starts to falter. It's more of the same. If you've played the original and Spearhead, you will see nothing really new here. There is even another sniper alley mission (although it's shorter, thank goodness). The reason I disliked the sniper alley mission so much is that the enemy AI ignores soft cover. Hiding behind a bush, a tree or the like means nothing to the AI. People got through the Sniper level by saving every step, noting where they took damage from, reloading and firing before you took the hit. Boring.
These mission have you blowing up artillery again....and again... Linking up with airborne forces...again...following a spy through a city...again... disabling enemy vehicles...again... C'mon guys. I realize that some of this stuff is the staple of the genre but give us something new to do. The levels are linear, you feel like you are on a ride at disneyworld, especially the vehicle missions. You can't go to many steps to the left or right before you reach the edge of the navigatable map. Cities feature mostly locked doors and very few doors open that don't lead you to the next part of the mission.
Other staples of the game are still here and getting tiring. How many times have you walked up to a machine gun emplacement and immediately upon hitting your E key to use it, suddenly a drove of enemy come walking at you, willing targets for your newfound statically placed toy? Give us a break. Reward the player with another option or something. Whenever you find a mortar, MG or other static heavy weapon it's practically a guarantee that something will waltz in for you to shoot at. Since these mission typically involve blowing up these peices, why not have the tank appear later, giving us a risk of blowing up a piece of arty too early?
Again, enemy tanks pretty much roll up and fire a few shots and sit there, allowing you to take them out in a few shots before any real risk occurs.
The enemy AI spawns are rediculous. They often pop out of thin air, or walk THROUGH those unopenable doors after you've triggered some sort of object. I walked past a building that I was supposed to go into, looking into the windows as I walked around it - all empty rooms. When I went to the door and opened it, my screen jerked a bit and suddenly, the rooms ar full of bad guys eager to fight. Lame, EA. Why not reward a player for scouting around a building? Lastly, enemy soldiers must be part cyborg because most can take several bullets to the torso before falling. You can empty nearly a who magazine into a guy and he is simply on the ground, dazed and getting up again. Headshots seem to be the only way to alleviate this (and if they are wearing a helmet, chances are the first shot will knock his helmet off instead). There is a shockingly small amount of ammo available in most mission. I was down to my pistol and had to run the last bit of one level on only rifle butting. Enemy soldiers rarely drop ammo, weapons or health canteens when they die. Health seems to be well thought out. A good player will rarely die from a lack of health powerups, but rather from walking into an MG fire arc or a room full of MP40 toting sharpshooters.
Let me say finally that I think MOH games are a brand, a staple. There are those who, including myself, will most likely buy and play anything that comes out with the MOH name. Why? Because despite the shortcomings, it's still cool to play through, at least once - to expeience the feel of the game. It's just too bad that EA is going for feel exclusively over innovation and improvements in gameplay and design. I hear that the Pacific game will be different. We'll see.
