Medal of Honor / Medal of Honor: Underground on the Sony Playstation. Published by Electronic Arts. Developed by DreamWorks Interactive. Released in 2002. Download game manual. View video of game. Screenshot of game. Title screen. Medal of Honor Vanguard lets you return to the days of the Second World War, for more of its pioneering first-person shooter action. Join the ranks of the elite 82nd Airborne Division as Corporal Frank Keegan. You’ll guide him through some of WWII’s deadliest operations — dropping behind enemy lines, sometimes right on top of.
Playing A Beta is a risky thing. It's very easy to fall into the trap of thinking what you've got is finished code, especially when things go wrong.
At the time of writing Medal of Honor is due out in just under four months' time, and there's a lot of work to do to make this worthy of the franchise's name. (Or at least the first one.) Yet there isn't one issue in the beta that can't be fixed, nor is there any question about the game's fundamentals, which are tried, tested and extremely popular.
As its being made by the company behind Battlefield, Medal of Honor has a pedigree that makes tills ring around the globe, but in a world where time is limited and a gamer's attention is held by the likes of the Call of Duty franchise and Bad Company 2, it's going to take more than a good reputation to dislodge the behemoths of the military FPS genre.
The multiplayer beta showcased two of MOhfs game modes that'll be on offer when it's released - team deathmatch and an objective-based assault They're both familiar, perhaps overly so. The team deathmatch map is very similar to Modem Warfare's Backlot map, set in a partially constructed section of Kabul. It plays just as you'd expect - the battle lines shifting constantly and your back needing eternal watching because you never know when an enemy will come from behind to bury a dagger between your shoulder blades.
The second mode is of more longterm interest although it's a clone of Bad Company 2s Rush mode. One team has to defend a location against a perpetually spawning group of attackers. This mode works just as well as Rush, delivering incredibly tense action interspersed with frequent comedy rag doll trips into the land of the dead.
The beta demonstrates that the fundamentals are being adhered to, so if you liked Modern Warfare and Bad Company 2, you'll like this.As we played an early beta, it's worth stressing that the following criticisms will likely be addressed by DICE over the next few months, but currently they're all relevant.
The most obvious problems are the lack of team balancing and restrictions on which team you can join during games. At one point in a particularly gruelling match, where the team were being spawn-mortared and sniped, a tap of the Tab key revealed the sides were 10 vs 4, in favour of the defenders. The worst thing was, it was still possible for a player to switch sides and make it 11 vs 3.
A full server at least guarantees even sides, if the server browser lets you in. During our play test it was flaky, with either the list failing to refresh or the connect button remaining unresponsive. Once in, there are plenty of ' other niggles plaguing players: a text chat system that freezes the player in place and requires a death to clear it from the screen; no information as to who you've just killed; no information as to which server you're on; a friends system that deletes your buddies when you try to click the join button; and even the lack of information as to your latency.
There might be tonnes of little flaws and oversights that an experienced developer like DICE shouldn't miss - really basic things like the team balancing - but there are plenty of reasons to be positive, because MOhfs foundations are as good as you'll see in any other modern multiplayer shooter.
When it works, MOH's reboot is the equal of anything out there, and all of the problems should be fixed by the time the game comes out. They're not crippling flaws, but glitches and oversights that'll likely have been fixed and included by the time you read these words.When this is the case, we'll be able to get a much better idea of what Medal of Honor is going to be. At the moment, the beta has provided far more questions than answers.
Dreamworks Interactive is quick to point out MoH Underground isn't simply a mission disc--it has a new main character, plot, levels, weapons, enemies and more. The last of us ps3 user manual. But at its core, it's still Medal of Honor. It looks, plays and sounds a lot like the original. But when the original is one of the best first person shooters on the PlayStation, we aren't complaining.
You're Manon, the French woman (that's right, a woman) who helped James Patterson while he was in Europe in the first game. Underground actually takes place before the first Medal of Honor--when Manon was in a small group of freedom fighters in the French Resistance. The Nazis have just occupied France, and many French are forced to make a difficult decision: Surrender or resist. Obviously, Manon couldn't go over to the 'dark side,' so she went on board with her brother in the Resistance to fight for freedom. This is where Underground starts.
So what's different this time around? There are seven main levels, made up of 22 separate missions that take place throughout Europe and North Africa. Underground features 12 authentic German and French WWII weapons, and of course plenty of Nazi soldiers and vehicles to use them on. Enemies are smarter as well, and use suppressive fire and squad tactics to take you down. Luckily, Manon's not alone in her fight. On a couple of occasions, she's assisted by computer-controlled companions who fight by her side (ala Syphon Filter). In one instance,
Manon's brother helps mow down some Germans, and picks the lock of a building so Manon can gain entry. If he dies, the mission is over.
Of course the most memorable aspect of the first MoH had to be the audio (it won EGM*s award for Best Sound Effects). Luckily effects man Erik Kraber and composer Michael Giacchino are both back doing the sound for Underground.
The two-player split-screen multiplayer mode also returns, essentially the same as before, except with new levels, weapons and characters. Oddly enough, it's the gripping story line and atmosphere of the single-player game that has us excited about Underground.