Re: Games Discussion Thread
Alright, Medal of Honor.
The newest First Person Shooter to enter the fray of modern combat in which only Americans ever really do the fighting and the rest of the Western world just kind of sits back and goes about their days. I will give the game some merit in that it uses the word Coalition more than American Forces, and the Coalition Forces have a Nato Flag in the flag capturing game modes rather than an American one, but still. It's obvious that the U.S. is once again the center of attention.
Still, it's the newest FPS dealing with Modern Warfare which replaced WWII after Call of Duty 4 hit the shelves. Many of these games have a lot of elements starting to bleed into one another and don't have too much to set them apart. Medal of Honor does indeed stand on its own, but I wouldn't give it the FPS crown anytime soon.
Now as I get into the meat of my thoughts here, I'd simply like to point out that I'm going to split this into two segments; single player campaign, and multi player, because they do feel like two different games much of the time.
Single Player:
Quick bit on it. Simple linear campaign from the point of view of multiple American soldiers. A Navy SEAL, Tier 1 Operator, Army Ranger, and Air Force Apache Pilot, all fighting in a particular valley in Afghanistan near the Pakistan Border.
Bad Points:
-Short. Seriously this game is short as fuck. If you do not have multiplayer capabilities or have no intention of playing online, rent this game at most. At fucking most. I like games that are able to carry themselves on singleplayer alone, and while I liked much of the game four and a half mother fucking hours is not enough to make my enjoyment worth 60 fucking dollars. You like the FPS genre a lot for campaigns, rent this game do not buy it. End of story right there.
-Some graphical glitches. Now, I keep saying graphics do not make or break a game for me. However, I at least like them to be constant. Textures loading in a cutscene that's supposed to be tense but instead had me looking at a white block shaped like a goat before suddenly turning into a goat, really takes away from any immersion gained from the whole thing. Bring in a semi-entertaining loading screen like 'the Darkness' did and let the whole damn thing load. Also, random bodies taking off into the sky like they wore rocket boots really takes away from the vibe the game was going for.
-A few bugs that prevent advancing in the levels. Leaving bugs behind that prevent you from advancing in the game does not mean you have a feature length game on your hands. It means you have a buggy game on your hands that should be fixed. Now there was only one place this happened to me, but I've heard of it happening to other people. Thankfully the loading of the last checkpoint solves the glitch and one can move on. However, for me it was not so easily solved. I'm a cautious player, and in one instance later in the game I was hanging back during a fire fight instead of charging in. When my sergeant called for an advance I moved up slowly and the Taliban soon turned around from their retreat and attacked again. When I eventually won the fight, the sergeant went behind some boxes that the game thought he should have been past already. I loaded the checkpoint and went through the fight 4 times before I decided to say "fuck it" and charged in with guns blazing and knife flashing. Voila I was moving forward. Don't make your triggers such a bastard to trigger.
-Faceless Soldier Syndrome. Once again, in a war game, my character is given a random name, but no face and no voice. He does not appear in any cutscenes (which makes some of them just awkward) and is only referenced by other characters when they tell you "good job" after you've saved the world's ass for the fifth time in that level while they cried in a corner (to be honest the AI was not that bad). Why can more games not go the Halo: Reach way and let you make a character. This way you can show up in the cut scenes and actually be a part of the story, and feel more connected to what's happening in between each head shot. Fuck, I'll be happy with a character that has a name, face and voice that I play as. I'll be able to connect with him more than 'SPC Dante Adams'.
Good Points:
-Authenticity. Of all the modern warfare style FPS games I've played, this one had a solid feel of authenticity about it. From the conversations between NPCs, to the environment, to simply the feel of what was happening. The developers did a damn good job here with the campaign.
-Excellent pacing. I will the give the game this. It wasn't breakneck all the time. Indeed some levels were very slow, very plodding, which made those high octane fire fights feel even better. For example one level I was running through a canyon with Taliban fighters firing RPGs and AK's down at my from the walls, men were screaming and casings and tracers were flying everywhere. Mass chaos. A little while later I was in a mountain sitting behind a sniper rifle, spotter calmly pointing out targets while I found them and picked them off. Slow, calm. The pacing was very done.
-Friendly AI. I say friendly because there were some questionable things done by the enemy AI, but for the most part I found it solid. However I noticed in certain missions my AI partners were on the fucking ball. I've had him save my ass as many times as the two partners from Rainbow Six: Vegas.
Multiplayer
For a quick recap on what the multiplayer is like... a fusion of Call of Duty and Battlefield 2. I'm not going to go into too much depth here, because if you enjoy both, or one of those games, you'll probly like what's offered here.
All team based game modes, Coalition against the OPFOR (renamed from Taliban for controversial issues... but they still look and sound like the mother fuckers) who use different weapon sets (which have the same stats) and three classes, Riflemen, Special Ops, and Sniper.
Each class levels up separately and unlocks new shit. However there is a low amount of content in here. A handful of guns and attachments are all that's available.
Anyway, that's all I really got on the multiplayer. It feels like it's been done before, except now its in Afghanistan. The single player felt more original and able to stand on its own... except it was way too fucking short.
Anyway, that's all I got. Enjoy multiplayer it's probly worth the money unless you're on a tight budget and would prefer Call of Duty come November. Only want singleplayer, rental at most.
Fuck you game developers and your short fucking campaigns.
