If you are at all like me, you would have much anticipated this next release in a long-lasting series. After getting somewhat sick of the repetitive formula being used in every recent COD release, it was refreshing to see a series that despite its continually diminishing reputation, at least tried to take further steps. While, after Frontline, the MoH games have struck me as little more than interactive Ads to instil annoying Patriotism, I still managed to enjoy them very much as each Medal of Honor game seemed to understand the need for taking new steps in a video game and trying harder to add new ideas. Instead of sticking to World War, this one would set out to be a realistically presented and produced game. One thing is for sure, this is the most realistic Medal of Honor in a number of ways, but that does not divert it from the position of a bad title.
Basically, the game has you playing as a member of the Tier 1, a Special Operations force seeing action in the conflict in Afghanistan. There is not much of a real story so to speak, which makes me wonder what is the use of (some of the) visually impressive-looking, but unskippable cutscenes. The game provides a variety of levels most of which have you piloting different vehicles or undertaking special stealth missions. There is then the multiplayer which I haven't tried out much, but was surprisingly fun (it's separately developed by DICE, so that's self-explanatory). I personally think it was ridiculous and nonsensical hypocrisy that there would be so much controversy surrounding the inclusion of Taliban in online play, especially considering that every war in history (including this current one in Afghanistan) is as grey as could possibly be, and this just emphasizes a further attempt by Politicians and attention-seeking activists to unjustly denounce the art of gaming. However, I still refuse to defend this game so much through elaborating on these grounds, since the game itself is plagued with its own issues.
So it's not as good as it turned out to be after all, but I have a number of reasons for thinking this way:
First of all, it has incredibly boring gameplay. In fact, so boring that I was glad that the campaign was short and did not last any longer than it did. The FPS mechanics on the single-player are so wooden that if I did not play this game on max graphic settings, I'd think this came long before 'Pacific Assault'. You aim down your sights and you're almost like a statue; the recoil, even on shotguns, is surprisingly small if sometimes non-existent. Even though this is the first Medal of Honor game to get an M rating, and deservedly so for its gore, the combat just doesn't get any more exciting or even realistic for that matter. While you do get some gameplay variety like stealth sniping (only truly good feature in the game), driving quad bikes etc it just doesn't manage to stir up enough excitement.
As if gameplay itself was not the only issue, even the campaign itself does not invoke an ounce of excitement during 90% of the time. Probably the only mission I found enjoyment in was when you manned the weapons in a helicopter, and even then it was more of an air show as you weren't the pilot. The rest of them were just corridor shooting from Point A to B, and the vehicle sections seemed more like the same object with different paint. So story, gameplay, level designs were all let-downs but is there anything else that hasn't been covered? The characters, which I must say were even blander than those other 3 elements combined. Honestly, a side-kick with dark glasses, a beard and a baseball cap sounds most promising if you foresee stereotyping but you would at least expect him to have some personality, even if 1-Dimensional. Alas, he is instead as boring as a rock; further proof that the game is all flash and no substance.
If a game's campaign is shallow, dull and annoyingly linear you can definitely assume that will completely tamper the replay value. Players have complained about the multiplayer being buggy from their own personal experience, so what should the developers do to make up for it, besides of course releasing patches and mods? Add a singleplayer that has replay value, of course. Unfortunately, compared with deathmatch replayability, the missions themselves don't offer any room for replay value whether by exploration or the element of choice and combat strategy. I mentioned before that it was all corridor shooting and it literally is. Remember MoH Airborne? Granted, that itself was not a particularly great game, but it at least had expansive mission environments and reason to retry those levels as result. So it's a big question why this excellent gameplay element which was new to the series at the time, was completely stripped away. It does nothing to improve things if the missions themselves were not enjoyable, and the ending is just a huge letdown which made all my efforts to complete the entire campaign feel like a total waste.
So what's left to criticise? Well, sound should not be overlooked. As I said before, the characters were amazingly shallow in contrast with the effort put into their unique images, and by golly does it show when you listen to the paper-flat voice-acting ranging through their dialogue. Music is a real hit-and-miss, with occasional good tunes but the rest of the time sounding a bit inconsistent (yet another feature that tarnishes enjoyment). As for the sound effects, well... the developer has admitted to collaborating with real servicemen throughout the game's production so I will trust that the gun sounds among other things were crafted from real experiments and therefore deserve to take place as the most admirable accomplishment for this entire video game.
Honestly, I find that war games are really going downhill these days, and it is not because they stick to the same old theatres and warring nations; it is because they seem to lack effort put into the most important factor of a video game and that is FUN. I would have just as much respect if somehow a war game was developed to showcase the reality of war, possibly by the horrors and deadliness behind, but instead of going for that approach or of actual enjoyment Medal Of Honor just lands in a pit of sheer boredom. With such excellent titles like Allied Assault and Frontline, it's hard to understand how this series has gone so much downhill. Certainly, I do not recommend this title if you have any respect for gaming as Art and/or Fun.