Medal of Honor Heroes 2

"A solid shooter, but nothing special"

Medal of Honor continues to be a huge brand, and EA just keeps pumping out WW2 shooters despite the fact that most of us (myself included) are pretty tired of them. So, what makes Medal of Honor Heroes 2 worth playing?

Story:
MOHH2 won't win awards for story telling. The plot is pretty run of the mill: you're an OSS agent who's sent behind enemy lines to gather intelligence on the Fuhrer's secret project, which has the potential to turn the tides of war in favour of the Axis. Each mission is precluded by a short cinematic briefing that drives the story along, but other than that it feels pretty cut and dry.

Graphics:
It's likely the setting that dictated the colour palette, but MOHH2 is filled entirely with dull browns and grays. Environments are pretty well done, but they're all everything we've seen before: churches, villages, sewers, warehouses, etc. There's some pretty nice effects going on in the game, such as the shellshock effect from when you're damaged by a nearby explosive. Enemies animate pretty well, and for the most part the framerate is silky smooth.

Sound:
The audio is quite derivative, but there's nothing bad about it. Like all MOH games, this one is pretty cleaned up, so no derogatory insults, but the speech that is there is pretty solid, if repetitive. Germans usually yell "Amerikaner!" every time they see you, and your American allies will usually yell "Germans!" when they spot enemies. Gunshots sound nice and beefy, and all of the weapons have unique sounds, so it's pretty easy to tell what weapons your enemies are using. There's little music, except during the briefings and within the menus, but it certainly is fitting.

Gameplay:
MOHH2 plays very much like Call of Duty. It borrows liberally from Call of Duty's control scheme - you can fire your weapon from your hip with an ambiguous crosshair, or aim down the sights for a precise shot. You can also hide away to heal if you've soaked up a considerable amount of damage, instead of hunting for health packs. Aside from these features, MOHH2 plays very similarly to other MOH games, and to WW2 shooters in general. MOHH2 uses the tried and true control scheme of using the face buttons to aim, and the default controls work great. The only time they are a detriment is when you need to sprint and when you're completely surrounded. When you need to sprint, you tap the analog nub forward twice to do so - it works only 30% of the time, so you'll sometimes find yourself dying because you couldn't run to cover, fumbling to perform the sprint command you so desperately needed. Other times, you'll find yourself heavily outgunned and completely surrounded and you simply cannot react fast enough due to the limited control - the game mostly avoids throwing you into these kinds of situations, but when it does it's simply frustrating enough to make you destroy your PSP.

The game tasks you with a variety of objectives in each level, all the while throwing hundreds of Germans at you to shoot. The objectives are pretty basic - bomb this thing, retrieve those items, etc. A few of them are pretty fun, such as having to cover a squad of soldiers with a rocket launcher or having to use a mortar to blow up incoming reinforcements. Completing all of your primary objectives is enough to beat any mission, but for the completion obsessed, each level has hidden secondary objectives that you can find and finish. As for the hordes of Germans... they just don't stop. Enemy soldiers respawn a lot, and at specific points, they just don't stop, and will completely overwhelm you. Sometimes they spawn from thin air, or right in front of you, and unless you haul your ass forward through the level or hole up and kill enough of them, they usually keep coming. It's quite annoying, especially in some parts where you cannot stop the spawning until you move forward, but you cannot move forward because you're completely pinned down by fire.

The singleplayer campaign is fairly short - around 6 to 7 hours at the very most. If you want online multiplayer and Call of Duty: Roads to Victory left you disappointed, then this is the game for you. I haven't played it much, but it's got a fairly robust online system that supports 32 players. There isn't a lot of variety in the game types, but if you're looking for an online FPS that's portable, this is the game for you.

Summary:
Pros:
+ Solid control (except for sprinting)
+ Solid presentation
+ Nice mix of realism and arcade-like elements in gameplay
+ Solid online
Cons:
- Enemy respawns completely overwhelming
- Incredibly derivative with little hint of originality
- Short

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 02/14/08

Game Release: Medal of Honor Heroes 2 (US, 11/13/07)