In the crowded first-person shooter market, it’s important for a game
to carve out a niche–do something better than or different from its
competitors. Medal of Honor tries to do just that by representing a real
conflict that is really happening in a real country between two real
opposing forces. From the chatter among the soldiers and the authentic
weapons to the environmental continuity, there are many elements that
enliven the campaign with an invigorating sense of realism.
Unfortunately, this energy is diminished somewhat by a bunch of video
game-y elements, like invisible walls, invincible allies, and an
incongruous icon that pops up whenever you get a headshot. The campaign
finds a reasonable balance between realism and escapism, where it
manages to provide a fairly engrossing experience despite its flaws. The
online multiplayer offers many thrills of its own, and the adherence to
realism makes for battlefields where the only thing between you and a
swift death is your gun and your reflexes. Both the single-player and
multiplayer components provide some robust entertainment, and though
flaws and limitations keep it from being all it can be, Medal of Honor
still distinguishes itself on the field of first-person battle.
The single-player campaign takes place in Afghanistan, where craggy
peaks loom over dry, rocky terrain. You are part of an American military
effort to find and eliminate Taliban forces, and the
grounded-in-reality premise feels more immediate than those that feature
fictional enemies. The nicely varied environments provide an attractive
array of places to wage war, and even though the visuals suffer from
some technical imperfections, the fact that the whole campaign takes
place in one region of the world creates a good sense of cohesion. It’s
easy to keep track of who you are and where you fit into the offensive
even though you play as multiple characters. While come cutscenes
provide good dramatic set-up, the ham-fisted interactions that take
place in the command outpost often feel cliche and cheap. It’s probably
for the best that Medal of Honor didn’t take on a wider representation
of the current conflict, focusing instead on the characters you meet in
the field and their soldierly attitudes. The great battlefield chatter
portrays intriguing facets of professionalism and camaraderie among the
soldiers, setting an authentic tone that enhances the experience.
