Medal Of Honor Allied Assault has now set the new standard by which future action games will be judged. What it lacks in puzzlesolving and originality it more than makes up for in pace and action, and while most other developers have been trying to better Half-Life by emulating it, the developers of Allied Assault have instead taken inspiration from outside the confines of PC gaming.
They have instead focused the action on the successes of the new breed of console-styled shooters like Halo, and even the ground-breaking achievements of Medal Of Honor on the humble PlayStation.
It is a stunning and invigorating experience, easily the best first-person action game since Half-Life and for me personally, a better all-round game than Valve's genre-defining debut We said in our preview round-up last issue that this year there would be a game to knock Half-Life from its lofty mount - I just didn't think it would be surpassed so early on.
If you like, for your money you get the best bits of Half-Life, Opposing Force and Counter-Strike in one easy-to-use package, in a game that is far superior graphically and one that almost everyone will be able to relate to. But just as movies can't be judged by their special effects, so too it is the good rather than the great games that are valued for their graphics, story or Al.
In this respect, while you can forever debate the worth of Medal Of Hanoi's various features, what you'll leave the game with are treasured memories of classic moments. In Half-Life it might have been seeing a scientist fall down a lift shaft, or the time you took down your first helicopter.
In Medal Of Honor 'd will be being chased unarmed by a pack of dogs through the snow, running from a falling building just bombed by your own planes, or trying to throw a grenade out of a window, only to see it hit the frame and bounce back in front of tbe wardrobe, blow tbe door open and have a dead German soldier slump onto the floor.
Moments like these occur in each and every level, and it is the mark of a truly exceptional game when you can recount them months afterwards. And you will, believe me. We've been banging on about this for ages, but for the hard of thinking, here's a recap.
The original Medal of Honor cropped up a couple of years ago on the PlayStation, giving Lite drooling console generation a rare opportunity to experience a quality first-person shooter. The work of Steven Spiellerg's Dreamworks Interactive, it offered a further outlet for his World War II obsession that memorably manifested itself on the silver screen in the shape of Saving Private Ryan. While MOH didn't quite scale such heights of apocalyptic bloodletting, it was an extremely playable game that is still worthy of a dabble today.
Skulking, sniping, tossing grenades, taking out U-boats, penetrating forts, it was essentially every Sunday afternoon war epic bundled into a commendably authentic experience. The game garnered both critical and commercial success, and the inevitable sequel duly appeared.
As any fool knows, the PC is the natural home of the FPS, and it didn't take long for the powers that be to envisage a similar game that had the advantage of not looking like the crude daubing of a lower level primate, and in which the key exponent didn't have to be controlled by a device clearly not designed for the task.
With dollar signs in their eyes, all it needed was a swift port to the PC, and the old rope would magically turn into money. Admirably, EA decided not to insult PC gamers' intelligence by going down that route, and instead commissioned to create an entirely new game from scratch, using the Quake 3 engine, no less. That game is of course MOH: Allied Assault, and it's currently shaping up to offer the ultimate World War 1I experience, without the inconvenience of death, maiming and lifelong trauma, of course.
While remaining true to the intricately structured MOH universe, an entirely new story has been scripted, featuring a lead character that the developers consider to be more suited to the PC fraternity's expectations. As such, he is more than capable of handling a wide variety of military hardware, and during the course of the game will be given the opportunity to wield more than 16 historically accurate World War II era weapons.
Throw in 20 enemy vehicles, including the drivable King Tiger Tank, Stuka Dive Bombers, V2 Rockets and various trucks and Jeeps through a number of missions, and it's safe to say he's going to have his hands full. Providing they're not blown off first. Other treats include weather and time of day effects, and in common with the original game, a disguise mode in which you outfit yourself in enemy uniforms to evade capture.
Don't forget to salute though, or you're likely to be rumbled, and subsequently slain. Something else that has been carried over from the first game is the extremely effective orchestral score, the work of composer Michael Giacchino, which will again be complemented by the award winning MOH sound design team. But these are just words that could have simply been lifted from a press release to fill up space. What really matters is how the game plays.
With this in mind we flew to FA's San Francisco headquarters to have a quick go. That's the kind of sacrifice we at PC ZONE are prepared to make to bring you, the reader, the latest in gaming thrills.
Of course, when I say we flew, it wasn't all of us; that would be absurd. It was actually just me, along with a cross section of the good, the bad and the ugly of the gaming press. In fact, a more ill-suited bunch of would-be soldiers it's hard to imagine. Here we are then at the EA campus, and I'm duly given an expert run-through of a mission by an elaborately-named American before being handed the controls and tossed into the midst of a war-ravaged town.
It soon becomes apparent that people are trying to kill me, so I duck for cover and return fire, sending the stricken Nazis into a spastic dance before they slump lifelessly to the ground. Much has been made of the game's sound, and while the Spinal Tap-style speakers certainly help, there's no denying the richness of the audio, with explosions and screams of pain licking convincingly round the room.
Ducking into buildings, I edge my way towards the objective, a bridge that must be protected to enable a captured tank to roll into town. Pockets of allied resistance occasionally appear, offering the chance to get stuck into the Hun en masse. But orders are orders, and the bridge must be protected.
Under prompting, I take position on the top floor of a deserted building with the aforementioned crossing in sight. It's essentially Bridge On I'hc River Kwaiin reverse, with a detonator on the riverbank, and a seemingly endless supply of Germans prepared to activate it.
In sniping mode, I skilfully pick off their runs as the tank lumbers into view. But a transatlantic flight, fitful sleep, and some serious drinking has taken its toll on my co-ordination. Shaking like a dog shitting glass, my aim becomes increasingly erratic until one brave Nazi evades my fire and sets off the explosive charge, bringing the mission to a close and probably costing the lives of thousands.
Thank Christ there's nnt a war on. You are Lt. Mike Powell a member of the famed 1st Ranger Battalion traveling from the battlegrounds of North Africa to Omaha Beach as you strive to crush the Third Reich in this historic first person shooter. In many ways it just doesn't stand up to the incredibly intense and ultra-realistic gameplay of the venerable first-person-shooter giant, but in just as many ways it trumps the id game in their own genre.
At its heart most gamers will find that Medal of Honor is very reminiscent of Return to Castle Wolfenstein , which isn't very surprising since it relies on the Quake III: Team Arena engine for gameplay. But that's where the similarities end. When it comes to gameplay and interface, Medal of Honor leans much more toward the feel of Half-Life with cut scenes that flow effortlessly into gameplay.
The first time I played it I took a couple of body shots before I realized I was able to do something about what I was seeing unfold before me. This constant ability to control, and in part, shape what you are seeing helps to immerse you into the game's already incredibly realistic world.
Medal of Honor relies on a lot of well crafted and unique approaches to FPS which help keep the game fresh and fun to play; things like disguising yourself as the enemy, avoiding spotlights and gunnery towers, and gunning from a. All said the game features more than 20 different types of enemies, four types of stationary weapons and best yet those interactive vehicles. You also get to play around with 21 historically accurate weapons, like the M1 Garand, the bazooka, and my personal favorite, the Springfield sniper rifle.
The game also relies heavily on squad action, placing you in with a group of other men. Computer controlled people who actually stand shoulder-to-shoulder with you shooting at the bad guys.
But don't get too excited about this—unfortunately these helpers have very little artificial intelligence and their deaths seem almost pre-determined. Actually this is one of the main complaints I have about the whole single player game.
There isn't a whole lot of good AI. Far off enemies will continue to pace back and forth along a sidewalk or balcony seemingly heedless to whatever it is your doing, including shooting at them, until you get to a specific spot in the game, then they come to life. It's a far cry from the vocal and comparably gymnastic Nazis of Return to Castle Wolfenstein.
It's not really as bad as I make it sound, however. I sensed there were some realism and AI problems the first time through the game at a low-level setting so I replayed the first few maps at a higher rating and did purposefully stupid things. Amazingly it didn't get me killed. But play the game through once and it probably won't bother you that much. All said it should take you between 10 and 15 hours to fight your way through the game's 30 something levels.
This is where Medal of Honor truly excels. Where Return seemed to focus too heavily on the objective based match, Medal of Honor offers up that plus deathmatch, team deathmatch, and a round-based match. For those of you unfamiliar with objective based matches, you basically are given a set of objectives you have to accomplish to win the match, like destroying a radio room and rocket. One side tries to accomplish them while the other side tries to prevent them from doing so before the time runs out.
Personally I'm not a big fan of the objective matches as they typically degenerate into an encumbered deathmatch with players splitting half their time trying to kill each other and the other half trying to take or defend objectives. I'm more of a team deathmatch man myself and the way the maps are constructed in Medal of Honor they lend themselves to forcing teams to behave like teams instead of a bunch of people trying to kill the other guys.
A big, big, big warning to all: If you buy this game, the first thing, the absolute first thing you need to do before playing multiplayer is download the game's patch. For some reason the game ships with no in-game browser for finding and joining multiplayer games. Instead the game relies on Gamespy. Call in artillery and air strikes against the opposing forces and keep your squad away from the jaws of defeat and despair. Drive various assault vehicles, always charging onwards to victory.
Uncle Sam wants YOU! You can check out in your preferred language, but please note all correspondence we send you will be in the Origin store's default language for your region. Sales tax may apply for your region. Click here for details. You are providing your personal data to Electronic Arts Inc.
Your data will be processed in territories which may not provide the same level of protection for data as your country of residence. Electronic Arts Inc. Origin is in offline mode. To get access to all Origin features, please go online. Call of Duty: World at War.
Scuttling the U February 12, : Powell is in Norway to scuttle the U, and destroy a prototype Naxos radar detector, a device that would shift the balance of power in the Atlantic back to the Nazis. After the untimely death of Major Grillo, the mission must be fought by Powell alone. This is one of two missions where Powell must go incognito, disguised as a German Officer, to enter the German submarine. Operation Overlord June 6—7, : After his outstanding handling of the previous mission under difficult circumstances, Lt.
Powell is reassigned to the front lines to lead a platoon of solders in Operation Overlord. In Allied Assault, the player takes on the role of Lt.
Single-player missions include assaulting Nazi bases in Algiers and Norway, storming Omaha Beach on D-Day, and rescuing comrades behind enemy lines in occupied France. Omaha Beach was re-created in Medal of Honor: Frontline for consoles. He must first survive the assault on Omaha Beach. World War Z. This level has become legendary in the course of WWII shooters and is heralded as the most intense mission of the entire game.
This mission is also noted to be very long compared to the other missions and a test of endurance for the player. Mike Powell, the protagonist, is a skilled U. Army Ranger and later an agent of the Office of Strategic Services. The squad fight their way into the city, but an ambush kills all the team except Powell. Powell continues into a North African Axis base, where he rescues S. The major and Lieutenant Powell split up, with Grillo securing transport, while Powell does sabotage in a motor pool.
He links back up with Grillo, who has commandeered a jeep with a mounted machinegun.
0コメント