EA announces Medal of Honor: Fighter Command

Electronic Arts has released specific details on Medal of Honor: Fighter Command for the Sony PlayStation 2. The game's story picks up following the infamous Pearl Harbor attacks and pits the player in air-combat missions over the South Pacific. The single-player modes in MOH: Fighter Command include such missions as dogfights with Japan's top aces, torpedo runs against battleships, aerial reconnaissance, search and rescue, and ground and air support for the US Marine invasion forces.

According to the developers, the missions are anything but straightforward. Players have to engage in the mission, complete it, and get back out of the area. "You have to make decisions about fuel and damage--you have choices in specific situations like going back to your carrier, jumping out of the plane, or going for a land base--and each decision has its own consequences," a member of the development team told GameSpot. "You have to constantly be thinking about what you do with your machine. If you end up in the water, depending on the decisions you made up to that point, you will be faced with different situations. For example, if you go down in a remote area, you may never be rescued. The single-player campaign has a very specific story. The idea is that we want to use the best aircraft that are suited specifically for each mission--we want to choose aircraft that we can create missions around."

Fighter Command will also include multiplayer gameplay modes. It is limited to two players, but there are unique missions where one player can serve as pilot and the other as tail gunner, and there are missions where some players have to escort another player through enemy lines. There are also a number of different aircraft in the game, ranging from the nimble fighters to a heavily armed patrol bomber.

Electronic Arts has not announced a release date for Fighter Command at this time. The game's musical score is being composed by Michael Giacchino and it is being created by the writer and producer of the original Medal of Honor game.