Medal of Honor: European Assault

"Another flawed entry in the quickly aging Medal of Honor series."

The Medal of Honor series has been around for a very long time now, and quite frankly, it is beginning to show.

This installment, as usual, sends you into various battle areas during World War 2, where you then play through each successive mission to complete the area. A new addition to the Medal of Honor games is the ability to command a squad. With the press of a button, you can send them to a certain spot where they will then find cover and act accordingly. It is just as simple to call them back. However, as a whole, the whole ‘squad' idea feels incomplete. While it is a neat feature, it isn't very necessary. The distance you can send the squad mates is quite limited, and their AI is not exactly top-notch. Often they will not find cover very well which leads to them dying rather quickly. At times, they can even get in the way. It would be nice to add some strategy and tactics tot his aging shooter, but each mission can just as easily be completed by running and gunning.

Each mission contains a main objective, and several bonus objectives you may encounter along the way. The trouble is that these sub-objectives are only slightly varied from level to level. A puzzling inclusion is the boss figures in the levels. I realize it is only a game, but with the setup of such a tense serious war going on, and then all of a sudden reaching a boss who takes many, many shots to take down feels out of place. While the inclusion of these sub-missions may add to the potential replayability, I never felt motivated to seek out all of them, or go out of my way to complete some strange task. The difficulty of these missions is deceptively difficult. Often times, you can play through fine, but on some occasions you will suddenly be surrounded my many enemies, some that spawn behind you. After fighting through an area, and completing an objective, you may find that you have to fight through the same, repopulated area, filled with troops that appear from nowhere. Although the leaning/crouching system is nice, I rarely felt the need to worry about strategy or ducking for cover, as there is a plentiful supply of medkits and revives. You are able to line up your sights to get a better shot, but I wish there would have been something between the running, less accurate shot, and stopped, honed in sight. Being able to slowly walk, and aim slightly would have been nice.

The overall presentation of the game really pulls things together. As expected, you fight through with weapons true to the time, with their appropriate sounds. The graphics are good, but some textures are a little rough, and fall short of what you may expect from a game so far in a series. The music is good, peaking during tense firefights, but not too over the top. As for the controls, they are responsive and effective, but the control of the squad feels rather shallow. There are a few different pre-set control schemes, but a feature to be able to completely customize the control would be nice.

A major downfall of the game is the inconsistency. At times you may find yourself getting pelted from long range, rapidly losing health, and at others, standing right next to a completely oblivious enemy. With the ability to only carry two weapons, and the addition of a squad, the game seems to have a slight focus more on reality. However, enemies can still take multiple direct hits from weapons, and at times the collision detection of the shots is not exactly right.

A further stray from reality is the ability to be revived when you die, and the ‘adrenaline' meter. After building up from fighting, you can enter this slow motions mode where you are not only invincible, but also have infinite ammo for an amount of time. All in all, the feature felt downright out of place.

As a standard console first-person shooter, European Assault does not bring enough new to the genre to warrant a purchase, and is short enough to be completed during a rental.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 08/29/05