Medal of Honor Pacific Assault

"A much more realistic and harrowing approach to World War II."

I bought this game about a week ago, not expecting too much considering it had been getting bashed on the forums. People had been complaining about problems they'd had in the game and how difficult it was. It was quite worrying.

I got it home, installed it using the DVD within a few minutes. At least us lucky people in the UK got a DVD disc regardless of what package we got. I got the normal edition because I had barely any cash. Anyway, I booted the game up. Yeah… It ran like a dog, just like everyone had said. Turned the settings down. Yeah, a bit better. A solid 50 fps. That was fine for me. So, I returned to the opening scene of Tarawa Atoll and I was met with a humbling scene with very deep writing. I go onto the beach… Wow… I'm amazed at it. It cuts to Boot Camp. Private Thomas Conlin's journey through Hell begins here.

Gameplay: 10/10
Let me start by saying that I was shocked at the whole presentation of the game kind of scared me. It seemed so *real.* The fighting was brutal, but not gory, but brutal enough to make me think about what it was *REALLY* like. The little touches like Jimmy (Your medic, more on the characters later) throwing up if you were really bloodied up. Your guys wearing less clothing, as in, un-buttoning their shirts and rolling their sleeves. It all added to the harrowing experience that I got from this game. The fighting was semi-realistic and VERY tense. A lot of the game involved strolling through the jungle and fighting Japanese patrols and then moving on to take out a fortified emplacement with very few men. Very few shots could kill you and you only get 4 heals from your medic per level. Some bits of the missions would take you down to your last medic heal with miles of jungle to go. It felt very un-fair at times but it seemed to even up a bit after Makin Atoll.
Boot Camp was short but was well designed and taught you everything you needed to know. Pearl Harbour was amazing. Planes fought between themselves further away and scripted planes flew past you and made strafing runs at your little PB boat. And let me say, this game was HEAVILY scripted, despite what EA games had said. The only people who were disappointed with this game were the ones who expected it to be revolutionary. After Pearl Harbour's frenetic action, Makin Atoll came along. It was long, boring and overly difficult because you were stuck with a Springfield rifle *or* when ammo for that ran out, an Arisaka rifle. Makin Atoll, as a consequence of being stuck with a Springfield, was a very slow moving level that took me a VERY long time to complete. It took the best part of 2 days to finish it. I was literally forcing myself to play on through that level. Luckily, things really did manage to pick up after that. Henderson field was a fast and frenetic level. After that, was Bloody Ridge. This level was un-usually intense. It gave a sense of a real Struggle. Men scream all around you and the Japanese are Banzai charging through your lines. In between missions, truly harrowing little speeches come from Tommy Conlin outlining the horrors of what the Pacific Theatre was like. It really managed to get me to think… No game has ever done that for me.

Sounds: 8
I, for one, didn't much like the sounds. The Thompson had a nice sound. The M1 Carbine had a nice sound, too. But, for me, that's where it ended. The music stood out from the rest of the sounds, though. It was obviously written with honouring the US marines in mind and came across as a very emotional score. The characters had good voice actors and sounded individual. The ambient noises were good but hardly noticeable at some points.

Characters: 9.3/10
You have 3 main guys fighting alongside you. There's Frank Minoso, your power house and guy with the leadership qualities. There's Willy, your sniper. There's Jimmy, your medic. And, finally, there's you: Private Thomas Conlin. Cut-Scenes show these guys interacting like *REAL* people. The facial animation is good as is the lip-syncing. Each one of these personalities manage to come together to make a feeling of comradery. It's a well thought out part of the game.

Controls: 9
The standard WASD configuration is here, as it is in all FPS games for the PC. The extra squad controls are easy to reach and calling for a medic is easy, as well.
Standard FPS controls, and if you don't like it, go back to playing your PS2.

Overall: 9/10
Everything in this game comes together to make a *TRULY* harrowing and emotional game. The squad combat is well implemented, the combat is fierce and frenetic and the characters seem real. Though, the physics “lag” which takes away from the realism, a bit. Also, this game has high system requirements (1.5 ghz computer and direct x 8.1 card or over) but I had no problems running it.
EA has done the Medal of Honour Franchise proud, indeed.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 12/05/04