Developer: Danger Close / DICE (Digital Illusions CE)
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Rating Guide: How I Review Games

Review:

War.  Afghanistan.  Al Qaeda.  Tier 1 Operators.  Beards.  If you mix all of these things together then you get one of the most intense campaigns in a first person shooter on the Xbox 360 to date.  Medal of Honor is not an action movie game like so many others on the market right now.  This game is gritty and for lack of a better word, it’s real.

The shit has definitely hit the fan and you are right in the middle of it with nothing to do but step up and execute the objectives.  Are you able to be the bad ass, beard wearing Tier 1 Operator that you are?

Gameplay, Graphics and Sound

Medal of Honor is exactly what the first person shooter genre needs.  When you play a first person shooter you expect to feel like you’re in that moment.  It’s supposed to give you a perspective that equals actually being behind someone’s viewpoint.  Medal of Honor does that.  It is a bonafied first person shooter and not just in cosmetics.  You get to play as a Tier 1 Operator deep behind enemy lines as well as play as other members of the US military.

Medal of Honor jumps out at you immediately with its decision to tone down the “Michael Bay” you may be used to in games today.  Danger Close took all of the flare you see in games like Call of Duty and replaced it with “the shit”.  What I mean by that is that the weapons, the atmosphere, the language and the overall look of this game is one that puts you right in that valley and right in that firefight…right in the shit so to speak.

Bullets bounce off of the terrain in a way that just intensifies the moment.  The hit detection is a thing to experience.  If you shoot someone in the leg, don’t expect them to die.  Instead they’ll just hop around while still trying to take you out.  You have to get a kill shot or shoot them until they aren’t moving.  If you wound them in the shoulder, that’s all you’ll have done….wound them.  I loved it because it forced you to be aware of shot placement.

Controls are pretty standard in the game.  I did enjoy the sliding (press B button).  I’m not sure why but I just felt cool running into cover, pressing B and then sliding.  And yes you can get into prone if you’d like.  One of the more interesting choices was how ammo was handled.  You never run across ammo on the ground for your weapon.  Instead you simply hit X on your squad mate and you’ll be refilled.  The reason behind this was explained to me when I visited with Danger Close a few months back.  Would you expect a Tier 1 Operator to drop his weapon?  Of course not.  Most of these weapons are unique and heavily modified so you wouldn’t drop to switch so to speak or find one in the wild.

There are instances when you’ll have to pick up an RPG or a sniper to complete a sequence and you can switch out for any weapon left behind by the enemy.  But again why when yours is better?

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