Best FPS Experience to date!!!
Written: Dec 31 '02
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Excellent Gameplay, Normandy Beach, Superior Use of Q3 Engine, Top notch Replay Value, SOUND!!
Cons: Makes it frustrating that "Frontline" was not released for PC
The Bottom Line: A must buy for any FPS fan. MOHAA is superior to both RTCW & Battlefield 1942. MOHAA is easily the best game of 2002. BUY IT NOW!!!
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| c0rk's Full Review: Medal of Honor: Allied Assault For Windows |
Test System:
Gateway - 1.8Ghz Pentium 4
512MB SDRAM
64MB GeForce2 MX400
Sound Blaster Live! w/ Boston Acoustics Surround
As a fan of the First-Person-Shooter (FPS) genre, I can easily say that Medal of Honor: Allied Assault (MOHAA) is the best single player FPS experience that has ever been put on the market. Never have I been so awestruck with a game, including the first time I played Wolfenstein 3D at my neighbors house all those years ago ... with only a PC speaker no less. Obviously the technology of the gaming industry has grown by leaps and bounds since the original Wolfenstein, but what makes MOHAA stand out from the competition is the realism of the game play, and its storyline based on or around actual World War II military campaigns.
The much anticipated sequel to Wolfenstein 3D was released a month or so before MOHAA. Also using the Q3 engine, Return to Castle Wolfenstein (RTCW) was slated to be the FPS that most gamers had been waiting for an entire decade. Unfortunately, RTCW did not live up to any of the hype. In addition to a long list of shortcomings, available in my review of RTCW, the game simply lacked the clean polished accuracy gamers expected from such a popular title.
Luckily Electronic Arts was there to pick up the pieces when 'this' gamers hopes were crushed by Id and Activision. My solace lie in the form of MOHAA. MOHAA delivered a compelling storyline taken right from the history books encouraging the player to lace up his or her infantry boots and grab his Thompson Sub Machine Gin as he or she assumed the role of Sgt. Powell of the US Army Rangers. Integrating a variety of intriguing, not to mention engaging missions ranging from scuttling submarines, and taking out anti-aircraft guns to prisoner rescues and enemy logistic interceptions, MOHAA packaged hours of single player enjoyment, not to mention all the other game features that make this one of the greatest FPS ever to hit store shelves.
GRAPHICS:
Employing the versatile Quake3 engine, EA has made it possible for almost any gamer with a half-way decent video card and an adequate CPU to run this bad-boy with minimal lag. As with any game requiring 3D rendering, gamers can adjust their settings (screen resolution, texture detail, etc.) to allow a frame rate sufficient to make the game playable on his or her system. In actuality MOHAA is despite its good looks one of the least system demanding FPS to come out in the last year. Even with all the settings turned to the absolute minimum, the game still looks and plays great. Moreover, the in-game explosions and character animations are spectacular, and really add to the games sense of realism, especially during such high stress missions as the Normandy Beach landing. That right you read that correct… you actually get to land on Normandy Beach and move a squad of rangers up the beach to take out a Nazi encampment. I am not kidding when I say it feels like you are playing Saving Private Ryan the game. At other points in the game you must attack and pilot tanks and other vehicles that are seamlessly animated, and are more than adequate in doing tons of damage to enemy structures. Don't want to clear out a house alone with only a pistol? That's ok level it with your stolen Panzer tank. Overall the graphics are solid, character and vehicle animation is the best I have seen, and the explosions look like something out of a Hollywood movie. Some may argue that it does not have the best graphics out there, but it is certainly more than sufficient for my purposes.
SOUND:
What the game lacks in environment detail (which is not much) it makes up for with an appropriate music score, and the best environment/sound effects this reviewer has ever heard. Anyone who has played their share of FPS knows what your standard gunfire sound sounds like. RTCW is perhaps the most blatant example of developers neglecting the importance of a game's sound effects. Every standard gun in the RTCW sounds the same when it is discharged, making the game play both unexciting and unrealistic. MOHAA shines employing genuine environment and weapon sounds. Who ever heard of music playing during a battle? By keeping the music simple and conservatively administered the developers at EA maintain the realism of battle. Instead players are subjected to the real sounds of war which include the cries of fallen comrades, and the demanding of medics muffled underneath the constant sound of shell casings hitting the ground, not to mention the bullets that wiz by your head and the sound of spitfires flying overhead. All of this is done with an emphasis on direction. For gamers using a decently configured sound card and high quality speakers, those bullets, explosions, and screams will all be coming from the direction that they should be as determined by your position within the gaming environment. This is on top of all the distant background noises such as the roar of the ocean or bombs going of out of sight. This makes for a true feeling of realism but also makes the player more aware of his or her surroundings as he or she feels like they are actually there. Now I know I mentioned guns. This is another area in which EA grabbed the bull by the horns and really nailed down every little detail. You won't be hearing that standard FPS gunfire sound this time around. This is the first WWII FPS I have played where the German MP40 actually has that Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat sound. The team at EA sampled real WWII firearms in designing the sound scheme for these weapons. Every weapons sounds exactly as it would on any WWII battlefield, from the M1 Garande and the ping that occurs when the clip is ejected, to the subtle differences in sound between a US Springfield '03 Sniper Rifle and a German KAR35 Sniper Rifle. This game has it all when it comes to sound. You will not find a more thorough sound scheme than that developed for MOHAA by the geniuses at EA.
WEAPONRY:
Some of you may be disappointed to discover that despite MOHAA having the most realistic gunfire, it does not have a vast variety of weapons. There are only about 10-12 different weapons throughout the game falling under 6 different classifications (Pistols, Rifles, Sub Machine Guns, Machine Guns, Grenades, Bazookas). There are 2-3 of each variety, most categories having one American and one German model. There tends to be very subtle differences between firearms in the same class, excluding their sound and appearance. For example, the sight on the German sniper rifle has different crosshairs and a slightly stronger zoom (very slight) than the American Springfield, and the US Thompson SmG has a little more stopping power at close range than the German MP40, but is not as accurate over distance, yet they both hold the same amount of ammo per clip. These subtle yet accurate differences, and attention to detail, are just a few more of the things that make MOHAA such a polished and obviously well developed piece of gaming software.
CONTROLS/GAMEPLAY
Standard keyboard controls are the default for MOHAA, however users can customize specific controls to their individual gaming style. Overall the user has a sufficient amount of controls for manipulating their character yet not so many control options as to become overwhelming and thus slowing down the pace of the game.
When in the game the player has your standard FPS HUD including a life meter and weapon selection located at the bottom, as well as a convenient compass at the top that keeps you on track to your objective. The compass is especially useful in environments with low visibility, like when you are in the woods and it is snowing. Players can also get a checklist of objectives by pushing TAB, objectives are checked off as they are completed - yet another way of keeping on track. Mouse aiming is included of course, as is standard with all modern FPS, as well as body mapped hit points. This means that if you shoot an enemy in the head they will die instantly… as would be expected. However, if you shoot an enemy in the arm, leg, or whatever, they will react accordingly. Sometimes you will even find enemies you thought you killed, sitting up and attempting to get payback because you did not inflict enough wounds to ensure fatality. Did I say realism? Though this brings us to an element of the game that has most FPS enthusiasts upset - blood, or the lack thereof. As with all games in the MOH series Allied Assault adheres to a strict no blood policy for both ratings and realism. EA's argument is that all soldiers in the WWII wore enough clothing that when being shot, blood did not pour from every entry/exit wound (makes sense). For this reason EA elected not to include blood in the game in order to not only lower the violence rating of the game, but avoid the over the top blood bath that takes place in most FPS titles. This lack of blood does not hurt the fact that the game is incredible in its own right. Most features of game play are easy to access and make for little to no learning curve for anyone who has ever played a FPS on PC. Perhaps the only element of the game that shies from realism is the effects that bullets have on your character. As with most games, bullet damage can be adjusted by selecting higher levels of difficulty. However, the instant health gained from drinking the occasional canteen bends the laws of reality slightly, yet is necessary to prevent the game from becoming overly difficult or frustrating. Your character also seems to be able to carry a vastly unrealistic arsenal of weapons during the game which is pretty standard among all games of this nature and is an easily forgivable feature when compared to spending hours looking for more ammo. Nevertheless the game play in MOHAA is top notch in the genre, giving the gamer everything he or she needs and nothing they don't.
LEVELS/MISSIONS:
Your character will be assigned to several single man and team missions throughout Europe and North Africa. Engagements with enemies will occur on a variety of different battlefields including submarines, churches, dirt roads, wooded areas, bombed out French villages, and even a top secret German mustard gas installation. Some missions will require you to escort or ally with forces in the area, command mounted machine guns, or drive and fire shells from stolen tanks. In addition to gunning down enemy forces, you'll have to accomplish your missions, which sometimes involves infiltrating German installations with the use of a stolen uniform and identification papers, or maneuvering through complex environments while avoiding enemy sniper fire, all while it is raining. There is no shortage of variety in MOHAA and there is a nice balance between instances that require running and gunning, and ones that require the most delicate stealth tactics.
In addition to having no shortage of mission variety, MOHAA has some of the finest enemy AI ever developed. Because the intelligence of enemies is so advanced, you are almost forced to use the element of surprise to lay down a few Nazi's before running for cover. Speaking of cover, it is not uncommon for enemies to turn over tables and other furniture to hide behind during a gunfight. Don't expect these guys to give up any free shots. In fact, if you can speak a peak before they try to flush you out with grenades, some enemies will hide behind a wall and only hold their arm around the corner and take blind shots at you, leaving you very little in ways of a target to shoot at, which forces your to employ flanking tactics, moving only when they take their arm back to reload. Think you are going to take out a whole room of Hitler Youth with a grenade? Think again, some self-sacrificial enemies will jump on top of your grenade smothering it with their body leaving their friends unharmed and ready to fight. The AI elements in this game are not to be believed.
MULTIPLAYER SUPPORT:
When it was first released MOHAA required that users wishing to play online exit the MOHAA menus and logon to games VIA GameSpy. Luckily, EA identified this as a major flaw in game design and added in a game server browser in version 1.11, which is available to download from EA.
The multiplayer capabilities of MOHAA are not as exciting as those from other FPS titles, and it is certainly no Counterstrike. MOHAA supports the standard multiplayer modes (DM, TMDM, CTF, OBJ) and does a pretty good job of keeping the excitement up. I have been engaged in several riveting games over the net, but for some reason the there is something to RTCW's multiplayer that makes it superior. However this superiority in rooted purely in its lack of latency, highly customizable game play options, and Bot feature. To be honest I prefer playing MOHAA multiplayer better purely based on my allegiance to the better game, yet recognize the multitude of advanced gamer elements present in the multiplayer version of RTCW developed by Nerve Software. Despite its lack of features one can still have plenty of fun in the multiplayer arenas available for MOHAA. The realism makes for some real strategizing that is absent from some other titles, yet some may find the lack of fast paced action like that found in Unreal Tournament & Quake 3 to be a bit boring, whereas some may enjoy finding a nice sniper position in the extremely complex multiplayer maps and just waiting for a unsuspecting victim to walk down the wrong street or in front of the wrong window.
OVERALL: 5 out of 5
MOHAA, for this reviewer, stands as the best single-player FPS gaming experience available today. With stunning graphics, and sound usage superior to anything in the gaming industry today, MOHAA is a heart pumping, stomach turning joy ride from start to finish that will have you playing again and again (I have beaten it 3 times). Focusing on realism and accuracy, MOHAA, with its adherence to historical accuracy and polished, well designed cohesiveness, presents a standard that all future FPS titles will have to live up to. Electronic Arts has raised the bar and produced a product deserving of the Medal of Honor franchise name. I eagerly await future Medal of Honor releases.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
c0rk
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Location: Voorhees, NJ
Reviews written: 3
Trusted by: 0 members
About Me:
Student at Drexel University - I study IST. Enjoy reading, writing, skiing, and tech gadgets.
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