Medal of Honor

"Goldeneye on the PS? Nearly."

A note of correction first: the blurb on the box for this game states that Medal of Honor is the first game ever that allows you to fight the Nazis on a one-to-one scale. This is wrong. Anyone remember Wolfenstein 3D? The pre-runner to Doom, Quake (and, eventually, Goldeneye and MoH), this game battled against Hitler himself in a bizarre and vaguely twisted way. However, MoH improves vastly on W3D. For a start, the graphics are better (but how many years has it been?) and the game is much more realistic.

Realistic, that is, if one is American. This story is realistic in the same way that the film U-571 is realistic. Yes, things along these lines may have happened (although, thankfully, MoH never claims this). However, where the English were shoved out of the path of glory by the scoundrels of U-571 (awful film anyway, by the way), every other nation has been shoved out of WWII by America, England included. ''Churchill's small island nation'' is not so small, methinks.

After that brief rant, we find that, actually, MoH is a pretty good game. After the intro, America kind of steps out of the limelight a little (apart from the butch commanding officer, who is guts and grenades USA all over) and lets the Germans in, who, as with Wolfenstein, are there to be shot, albeit without so much blood. Or any blood, in fact. The N64's Goldeneye at least made the baddies go red when you hit them. MoH is laundry friendly.

This is not to say there's something lacking with the graphics - quite the opposite, in fact. The scenery (especially outdoors) is gorgeous and atmospheric, and the guns you fire look and move beautifully.

In fact, everything about the game suggests atmosphere. The music (ranging from cheerfully patriotic to creepy '50s warfilm) is spot on, coupled with the background sound effects throughout each level and the maniacal shouts of the Germans whenever they see you. And they see you a lot. This is a lead in to me talking about the major problem of the game.

It's incredibly hard to sneak up on most guards. Many have an uncanny ability to see you well before you see them, to the point where they can actually see round corners. On the other hand, guards in look-out positions (ie, high-up places) seem to be the human counterparts of Colin the Mole, having no discernible eyesight at all.

Strangely, this doesn't counteract the gameplay too much. The AI of the guards is generally high from the word go, with them hiding round corners and behind walls, popping round ever so often to loose a couple of rounds into you. Levels are well designed, with a clear theme to each of the seven stages (each with three or four levels). The main criticism with the levels is that they are a bit too well designed - gameplay can occasionally seem a little linear. It's quite difficult, I've found, to actually get lost. Objectives are arranged in a line along the levels, especially in the first few, but still in the last lot as well.

And by Jimminey do the objectives vary. You have to use false ID to sneak into installations, take out a submarine from the inside, find Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (don't ask - the Americans love English Literature as much as they hate the English, apparently) and blow up more people and objects than Jimmy Bond could ever do. All that without the aid of a mobile phone that can electrocute the guards or a watch that'll fire a missile.

Luckily, our hero has plenty of gadgets to help him, although these gadgets all take the form of hard artillery. From the basic rifle and pistols to the various sub-machineguns, shotguns, grenades and the wonderful (I repeat, wonderful) bazooka, this game is stocked. Occasionally, the Nazis fire big machineguns at your from their bunkers. Shoot the attacker, get behind the big gun in question and then you're in for some fun. The vibration is particularly noteworthy here. Normally, I wouldn't care too much about this, but MoH uses vibration excellently to accentuate gameplay.

Is it as good as Goldeneye then? Well... no. While the 1 player game is as good, if not better, the 2 player game leaves a little to be desired. Goldeneye has 4 player deathmatches that make the most hardened players weep, while MoH mosies around with a mere 2 player match with relatively few maps and slow gameplay. We know the PS is capable of 4 player deathmatches - play the excellent Quake II for some idea of how it's done!

This is a very good game that has taken the best parts of old war films and new games. Now that it's out on Platinum, costing a mere twenty quid, this is a wonderful purchase - don't bother hiring, especially if you're a big fan of this sort of game. However, it is not perfect - it is let down by a few glitches and a disappointing deathmatch mode. It's just not cricket.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 10/24/00, Updated 10/24/00