lirubis's Full Review: Medal of Honor: Underground for Game Boy Advance (...
I could have avoided the disappointment, that is why the many gaming review websites exist for. Being one of my all time PS1 favorites, I really flipped when I found out that the fabulous Medal of Honor: Underground was available for my GBASP (Game Boy Advance SP).
I am not going to comment about the many things that made both the original and the follow up Medal of Honor games so dear to me. I only found them to have a special way of immersing the player deep into the game ambience, a task not quite mastered by many games out there, but reaching sublime levels in games like Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Duke Nukem 3D, and Metal Gear Solid (all PS1 versions).
WHAT IS TO LIKE
Seriously, not much. The intro screens are almost exactly the same that on the PS1 version, with fewer menu options, of course. Game play consist on performing a series of tasks wich sometimes kill the momentum of the game, but you basically spend your time squirming around maze-like scenarios, in several different setups. What for?
Well, it depends. For one part, is to kill Nazis. Molotov bombs, handgun (need 3-4 shots to put those loud german yellers to rest), rifle, machine gun, hand granades... not what youŽd call an arsenal...and on the other part, you have to find specific items and/or people, which become essential for completion of that level.
THE UGLY SIDE
There are many things to cry about this game (even if you did NOT play its PC or PS1 Versions before). The graphs are miserable, it is almost impossible to spot an enemy unless you are close. Now it is impossible to aim and shoot at specific body parts of your enemies, taking away one of the most entertaining features of the game: shooting Žem on the head. In fact, given the poor graphic definition of this game, aiming becomes automatic. Where is the challenge?
The missions have been skinned down to a barely essential expression, so there are fewer and shorter missions than in the original. Replay value is very low (some of my friends tossed the game away before even finishing the second mission), as levels became simpler and less challenging.
Finally, the worse I can say is that this game gave me one of the most severe headaches Išve ever endured, mostly because I strained my vision too much trying to figure out what was happening on the game.
IF you liked the original game, the GBA version is not for you, because none of the good stuff is present. I have played other "shooters" on the GBA, and believe me: Medal of Honor for the GBA Advance is not even remotely close to the original
My advice is: save your bucks for a better shooter, or rent it first.
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