Medal of Honor

"War is Hell....err Dull"

After reading all the rave reviews on this game, I was massively disappointed to discover how boring Medal of Honor really is.

OK, so I'm not a massive fan of First Person Shooters, but at least Doom and Quake, et al, are fun. MoH goes no further than ''go into an area, kill everyone there. Go into the next area, kill everyone there.'' It's almost completely on-rails; there are no puzzles; mission objectives are incredibly easy, and there are only seven missions.

Even the so-called ''stealth'' missions simply involve shooting enemy characters in a specific order to get their ID papers, using these to fool the next guard, and then blasting the poor schmuck in the head as soon as his back is turned. In fact, it is essential that you exterminate every enemy on each level in order to get your 3-star ratings and secret codes. This is not stealth. It's not even challenging.

And what about the much-publicised realism of this game? C'mon, how can a First Person Shooter, a single guy strolling thru' some heavily defended enemy stronghold and just blasting the hell out of 50 or 60 guys, be realistic? Add to this the historical inaccuracies - uniforms, weapon rates-of-fire, the assumption that all German soldiers were members of the Nazi party - and it makes the whole experience a bit unsatisfying.

The look of the game is nasty and blocky, and the enemy characters look wooden. The worst has got to be the Attack Dogs, who look like barrels with four spikes stuck on for legs. Particularly irritating is the way every level vanishes into darkness very quickly, and you can't even penetrate the gloom with the sniper scope.

On the gameplay side, the controls are crude, with a poor range of actions (the ''jump'' is particularly laughable), and there are also some annoying glitches in the programming. I got shot several times by enemy bullets coming thru' walls, and frequently got stuck on corners/edges with the whole frame jittering about whilst I tried desperately to break loose. Consider that you're gonna spend a lot of time sneaking round corners in each mission, and, well, you see what I mean. I also spent a lot of time climbing ladders that I didn't want to climb.

On the upside, the music is fantastic. The full orchestral score has an authentic Forties feel, and, along with some great SFX , creates a tense atmosphere, especially in the sewer levels.

Also, some of the early environments are really tasty, for example the occupied French Town looks genuine, and the enemy AI is pretty good, although it's not until the last mission that they really get smart enough to take cover behind corners and boxes and lob grenades at you. Probably the best thing is the death sequences, particularly the fella toppling off the balcony, western style. There are some funny touches, too, like catching a bunch of Stormtroopers making a snowman, and using the Heavy Machine Gun is a blast - literally.

Gameplay - 2. Zzzzzzz
Controls - 2. Send for Gabe Logan
Music/SFX - 9. Wonderful stuff!
Replay- 4. You could try to get a better rating, but why bother? You'll just be searching the level for the enemies you missed first time.
Overall - 3. Wolfenstein anyone?

Reviewer's Score: 3/10, Originally Posted: 03/08/00, Updated 03/08/00