Taking a Shot at Medal of Honor From IGN.com

We're getting into the holiday release season, and you know what that means: it's time for the high profile, big budget first-person shooters to hit the market. Bungie's Halo: Reach is already out and Treyarch's Call of Duty: Black Ops is in November, and in the middle sits Medal of Honor. The name isn't new, but this subtitle-less version of the game represents a reset for the franchise. Traditionally, it'd been set in World War II, but like Infinity Ward did with its Call of Duty franchise, EA's bringing Medal of Honor into modern times. 

Development isn't taking place all in one studio. The multiplayer component is being built by DICE, the studio behind the Battlefield franchise. Only a limited number of modes and maps have been shown off so far, playable in a beta that started up a few months ago. The single-player portion, which follows various American soldiers as they fight for their lives in Afghanistan's rocky mountains, is being built at EA LA. Up to now we'd only seen a few stages demoed for us, but recently had the opportunity to go hands-on with three brief levels. If you don't know what hands-on refers to, it basically just means I played it. Here's what it was like. 

The action begins with a mission called Belly of the Beast, which is about midway through the game. I'm told in total the single-player portion of Medal of Honor will offer around eight to ten hours of content and will be divided into multi-mission chunks that flow into each other and follow different protagonists. There will be mission briefings between these stitched-together outings but those weren't shown while I was playing. The protagonist in Belly of the Beast is Dante Adams, part of a group of Rangers who are about to drop into hostile territory. Riding in Chinook transport choppers the mission begins as the soldiers bark back and forth amidst the whine of machinery. They offer encouragement to each other and make nervous jokes about the similarities between the Chinook's exit door and the landing craft used by the Allies in the D-Day invasion. 

The aircraft land and doors open to a sunny, dusty vista as everyone piles out. All's quiet for a moment as additional transports drop off more soldiers all around, establishing a sense that there's a major offensive about to begin. Amidst the excitement of the landing, bullets whiz through the dust and a rocket strikes the side of a Chinook, causing it to veer out of control. Those on the ground scatter as the rest of the air force takes off, and you rally with a smaller group of soldiers near the foot of a rock hill to assess the next step. 


The enemy isn't far, and before long the sound of gunfire is all around, echoing off the walls as bullets chip away at cover. To survive, it's necessary to hide behind rocks while your AI-controlled compatriots fight alongside. Two weapons are available initially, a shotgun and a rifle. You're free to switch between the two and should ammunition reserves run low, additional magazines can be requested from friendly soldiers. It's also possible to pick up weapons dropped by the dead, but if you decide to scoop up enemy guns it won't be possible to acquire additional ammunition. 

In terms of controls there are a few things you can do. The mechanics feel solid and allow you to point, shoot and kill quickly and efficiently. I know that may sound psychopathic to something who hasn't played a first-person shooter before, but it's important in this kind of game since it's a majority of what you do. There's also a lean feature, which is notable because I was playing on an Xbox 360. By holding LB on the controller I could then move the left thumbstick left and right to peer out from behind cover spots to fire at foes. It seemed to work alright, though holding LB, moving the thumbstick left and also holding left trigger to zoom was a little awkward. Aside from that, the game makes it easy to swiftly duck out of the way of incoming fire by giving you an option to slide while running. To be clear you do not stick to cover, but just slide in behind rocks and walls after which gameplay continues as normal. An option to go prone is also built in case you need to make yourself a smaller target. When things get too hectic, lobbing a grenade into enemy territory is usually a good idea. 


Back in Belly of the Beast, enemies surge behind rocks and clamber down the sides of ravines. This means it's necessary to focus in front as well as above and to the sides since enemies will often be running alongside the ridges of hills and will fire from on high behind cover. It's not all long-distance fighting, however. I switched to the shotgun while approaching a town and ran behind houses to surprise enemies who were staring in the other direction under the assumption that my squad would all stick together. Between firefights there are often dialogue sequences where decisions are made about where to go next. The dialogue here helps lend a sense of authenticity to the characters, who often shout during combat, calling out enemy positions and other threats worthy of attention, establishing a sense that they care about your well-being. 


From the town the soldiers surged toward a machine gun nest, taking cover as it unloaded. When things briefly went silent, it was necessary to pop out and send enough bullets at the machine gun operator to get him to stop firing, allowing squadmates to inch closer. Eventually smoke was tossed at the nest signaling to air support overhead that the site was to be demolished. When the bombs hit the sky filled with dust and soldiers coughed and complained as they move into a valley below, eventually reaching a house surrounded by looming hills. It was supposed to be a rendezvous point, but a cell phone is audible near the front door that triggers an explosive. The roof blows off and enemies stream in off the hills, leaving your squad to defend and pray for help. 

At this point the fighting got especially intense, as the squad was under near-constant attack by large groups of enemies firing from different positions across the hillside. By cowering against a rock wall and popping out quickly to make a few headshots it was possible to survive. Cover spots are whittled down by incoming fire and the enemies send an abandoned car crashing into the house's skeleton. Thankfully air support shows up just when you're about to completely run out of ammunition and cover to save the day. 


Through a cutscene the game then changes protagonists, transferring from the Rangers to the gunner in an Apache gunship. Here the flight action is on rails so there's no way to alter the course of the Apache's flight, but you can move around the targeting reticule to direct the ship's machine guns and, to a lesser extent, rockets. Alongside your chopper floats another friendly in this mission that's in constant communication, relaying enemy positions and other important information. The craft cut through the air over a sprawling landscape, weaving between hills and slowing when targets become visible in the distance. By zooming in it's possible to identify enemy mortar teams setting up on hillsides, and by locking and letting loose Hellfire missiles it's easy to bomb these bogeys into oblivion. In a cool effect, there's a period of delay between the action of firing and when the missile actually hits, again adding an undercurrent of realism beneath the otherwise blockbuster action movie pacing. 


The two Apaches continue to circle around hillsides, eventually identifying a line of enemy trucks that need to be demolished. A few rockets take care of that easily enough, leading to a hillside town swarming with hostile forces. Here the helicopters circle around making it easy to rain down bullets and explosives into rooftops and alleyways. There's no need to be overly concerned about ammunition here. Though you will need to manage an overheat meter for machine guns, it's still no issue to have a constant blanket of fire covering the enemy and using rockets to blast apart structures on the ground. 


Should your chopper be hit in the air it'll simply regenerate until stable, though the same can't be said of your airborne compatriots. Eventually they're hit and can no longer operate at full capacity, but will still fly around and designate targets for your Hellfire missiles. Beyond the town the Apaches move to another hillside surprisingly populated with heavily armed hostiles. After several minutes of embedding bullets and rocket shrapnel into the hillside a cutscene triggers that shows a hidden anti-air weapon just about to shoot down both choppers. Thankfully the operator is bit into by sniper fire. 


This section isn't all sniping. After picking off targets on a mountainside Deuce and Dusty take off, crunching through snowpack and squeezing through narrow spaces between rocks and roots to uncover more enemy encampments. An injured enemy is discovered and instead of charging in, Dusty leads the way up a steep incline to a cliff overlooking a small clearing. Other foes slowly creep in and fill the space to check on their fallen friend. Once they're all in view, both Deuce and Dusty open fire, bringing down all enemies within seconds with automatic weapons. Then you return to trudging across the mountain trails until you reach a group of friendly soldiers positioned across a valley on another mountain. 


It's back to the sniper rifle for this sequence, as you must peg enemies ascending the distant slope that are trying to wipe out your fellow soldiers situated near the peak. Since there are plenty of hostiles swarming up this hill this sequence was fairly frantic, and didn't leave a lot of time to carefully track targets to wait for them to slow down. When enough are wiped out your allies are able to escape over the peak. Had the demo continued, the perspective would change again to one of the fleeing soldiers as they blast their way down the other side of the mountain. 


Ultimately where this will stand against in comparison to its predecessors and the current crop of war shooters is something that won't be known until launch, but so far it's fun. It would seem EA LA is trying to deliver a kind of action movie feel with a touch of realism in the sound design and visuals. There's still a lot more to see in the campaign as well as additional maps and modes in the multiplayer portion. Hopefully the rest of the campaign can keep up the same kind of pacing and sense of urgency to make the entirety exciting to play.