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Xbox 360: Medal of Honour Airborne |
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Written by Jason Tan
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 World War II seems like it is becoming a generic setting for first person shooters. If you've played the Call of Duty series or a previous Medal of Honor game, then you know what to expect here. So what makes Medal of Honour Airborne any different?
Story wise you play Boyd Travers - Private First Class of the US 82nd Airborne Division, and for the first time ever you jump out of a C-47 aircraft and land in an open battlefield. One of the much-vaunted features is the apparent freedom to 'engage anywhere' from the point where you leave the aircraft. Once jumping out of the plane (or pushed if you’re too slow) you'll want to maneuver toward the green smoke which is a safe landing zone as well as nailing your landing.. It’s an amazing achievement to create a non-linear game world that looks this good and works this well. To a certain extent that's true, but invisible walls keep you within certain parameters. In saying that, I did
appreciate the sense of freedom which is more so than most shooters of this genre. The ability to land on a roof time gave me an advantage from the onset. From here, combat on the ground offers unprecedented tactical choice as you engage the enemy with an open variety of combat routes and flanking opportunities. The enemy AI is impressive and perhaps some of the most difficult opponents I've seen in a game. They're constantly on the move, hiding behind cover, or darting quickly over open ground with a seemingly sixth-sense for knowing if they're being targeted when lining them up in your sights. I wish I could have said the same thing about my comrades, who seemed to be on a kamikaze mission in comparison. The amount of times they jumped in front of me whilst unleashing hell became a bit frustrating.
The main part of the game is the shooter-style battles using the cover points to your advantage, from which you can look over obstacles or peek around corners of a building whilst safely staying out of the path of bullets flying towards you. The controller layout I found a little different from other FPS games but still worked well once I got used to the layout. You don't have or need a map during the missions and there is a small radar that shows the location of nearby allied soldiers, enemies and objectives. Objectives that are further away are shown as compass arrows on the radar, so you'll never be lost wondering what to do next.
You can play the campaign at Casual, Normal or Expert difficulty, but you'll find out what's different between them only when the enemy starts shooting at you. There are 6 campaigns in total which are supposedly based on real world event. Each of the six levels take around an hour each to complete with the approach that makes how an objective is completed entirely up to you. Of course, the end result is the same but how that end result comes about is more important, whether you attack head-on and take the casualties, or take to the many roofs and snipe at your foe.
Another innovation of the game is how Airborne deals with weapons. Instead of just giving you a standard selection of weaponry to choose from, the game actually tracks how much you're using a specific firearm and automatically rewards you with upgrades as you go along. For example, a scope might be added to your favourite weapon or you might be able to reload quicker or benefit from reduced recoil.
EA has also bundled in online play which is pretty standard fanfare. Multiplayer action certainly has its merits and is ultimately fun, but it's not the incredibly deep experience that can be found in other games I have played. You get your normal match types via Xbox Live. Gameplay modes include Team Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch Airborne and Capture the Flag.
The integration of cut scenes into first person action is exceptionally good, and a great example of how close interactive entertainment has come to cinema standards. I was lucky enough to have a look at this on both the PC and xbox 360, and though my PC had a tough time coping, both versions looked excellent, and virtually indistinguishable from one another which is due to the modified Unreal Engine 3 technology powering the game.
If you’re a fan of FPS and have played one of the many games out there (Battlefield, Call of Duty series) you will get much of the same here with some nice innovations that keep the franchise ticking along. With excellent visuals and gameplay, MOH Airborne will keep most fans satisfied and it will be interesting to see how the Call of Duty 4 will compare when it comes out. In the meanwhile the game offers plenty of challenging competition for shooter fans, I only wish it was a bit longer.
8/10
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