Medal of Honor Heroes 2

[chhang7]

that bmx game is also a psp sort, it still looks alright on the wii.

but i really hope this turns out to be the "battlefield 2142" for the wii cus then we might just get battlefield 2142 for the wii

[Cube]

that bmx game is also a psp sort, it still looks alright on the wii.

 

If by "alright" you mean "utterly horrendous", then yes.

[immy]

that bmx game is also a psp sort, it still looks alright on the wii.

but i really hope this turns out to be the "battlefield 2142" for the wii cus then we might just get battlefield 2142 for the wii

 

with friend codes included!

[DCK]

I wouldn't care for a MoH game if it blew Crysis' graphics out of the water, but 32 players online does show promise for Wii online (and Brawl online too). FPS are relatively high-paced, graphics intensive games, so 32 players simultaneously, with dynamic joining in game, is quite impressive for a wireless connection.

[Cube]

US, August 16, 2007 - Last year, EA released Medal of Honor Vanguard for Wii, a war-time first-person shooter that looked better than competitor Call of Duty, but whose control mechanics felt looser. Now, the publisher is back with an all-new WWII-set shooter, Medal of Honor Heroes 2, that may merge the best of both worlds. We recently chatted with leader producer Matt Tomporowski about the project's ambitious features. We've posted the transcript of the chat along with the first-ever Wii gameplay images below.

IGN Wii: Which studio is creating the game, how big is the team, and how long has it been in development?

 

Matt Tomporowski: The Fusion team at EA Canada is developing Medal of Honor Heroes 2 and has been working on the game for the Wii for about a year.

IGN Wii: What's the storyline behind the game? Who do you play as and what is your objective?

 

Matt Tomporowski: In Medal of Honor Heroes 2, you play as Lt. John Berg, an operative for the Office of Strategic Services, a predecessor of the CIA and a special forces arm of the military during World War II. The OSS has sent you into an area near the Normandy Beach landings shortly after D-Day to investigate and put a stop to some very suspicious and sinister enemy activity. The campaign will take you on secret missions where you'll take the war into your hands and infiltrate the enemy across a variety of settings and battlefields.

 

IGN Wii: A common concern about games releasing for Wii and PSP is that the Wii version will inherently be limited by the specs of the PSP build. Is this true of Medal of Honor Heroes 2 on Wii?

 

Matt Tomporowski: While the 2 versions share a lot of the same design, they have each been optimized and custom built for their respective platform. One is not limited by the other. For example, innovating gameplay on the Wii with its unique controls was a major goal for the Wii version of the game. Not having those gesture moments and controls on the PSP version did not in any way limit us from having them on the Wii. We've also got the all-new casual gaming mode and Nintendo Zapper support exclusively on the Wii which should indicate the type of customized experience we've built for the platform. We're excited that both versions share a deep and immersive single player campaign and offer 32-player online multiplayer, the most for both platforms.

IGN Wii: How is the Wii version of MoH Heroes 2 different from the PSP one, aside from the obvious control changes? In other words, is the content the same?

 

Matt Tomporowski: While the similar in some design aspects, they have also been custom built for each platform. The biggest difference that you'll see on the Wii is an all-new casual gaming mode designed specifically for the Wii that simplifies gameplay for players of all skill levels for easy pick-up-and-play action. This mode plays like an old-school rail shooter — the Wii moves you around, while you do your part—taking out enemies and completing your mission objectives. The Wii version also features full support of the Wii Zapper (name not final), allowing for more immersive WWII action than ever. We're excited about the innovative new way of playing an FPS with a peripheral like the Wii Zapper, so Heroes 2 fully supports Zapper controls in all of our game modes, including multiplayer. Our standard controls in the traditional FPS single player campaign mode use the Wii remote & the nunchuk extensively, which has allowed us to create a unique and immersive way to experience the weapons and action of WWII like never before with action gestures. Finally, Medal of Honor Heroes 2 on Wii includes an extra level for both of the single player modes.

IGN Wii: Last year, Call of Duty narrowly edged out Medal of Honor Vanguard in overall Wii controls. How does MoH Heroes 2 compare to Vanguard in the control department and what kinds of control customization options will be available to players?

 

Matt Tomporowski: It goes without saying that you can't really have a good FPS experience without good controls. With that in mind we set out early in the project with the goal to deliver the absolute best FPS controls on the Wii. As part of our preparation we definitely looked at the games that came before us and came away with some key learning's We also looked at our competition, and listened to gamer response to Heroes 1 and Vanguard, because we really wanted to create the best Medal of Honor game yet for both the Wii & PSP. One of our main challenges was to design our controls with both new and advanced users in mind. By starting on controls early in development, extensively playtesting the controls, and with constant tuning, we feel that we've achieved our goals and are excited to get the game into people's hands. Regarding customization, while our default control settings are very intuitive and are easy for anyone to jump in and start playing ,we do have extensive tunable options that are comparable to the type of tuning options you might find on a PC-based FPS.

IGN Wii: Are you using any gestures to execute moves in the game? If so, can you give us some examples?

 

Matt Tomporowski: Yes, action gestures are a huge part of our game. We didn't want to go overboard with gestures though, because we realized they were making some games too complicated and tedious. Instead, we set a high bar for what we would allow in the game with gestures, so we required each of our action gestures to be intuitive, relevant, fun and high impact. I don't want to give too much away so I'll just share a few of my favorite gestures here. The shotgun is a very high impact weapon and after you blast off a round, you actually get to pump the shotgun with an extremely satisfying pump gesture of the Nunchuk. It's totally intuitive and the detailed animations that you see on screen sync up to what you are doing in real life with the motion of your hands. It's a very immersive experience where you feel like you are actually "hands-on" with what you are seeing in-game. We also have the bazooka which is of course a shoulder mounted weapon, so in-game you actually lift the Wii remote up to your shoulder to engage the weapon. When you fire it, you hear the rocket launching out of the chamber through the Wii remote speaker right next to your ear. It's a pretty awesome experience and again makes you feel like you are truly interacting with what's in-game.

IGN Wii: What kinds of missions will gamers play through in MoH Heroes 2 on Wii?

 

Matt Tomporowski: We have a great variety of missions all based on OSS operative "secret mission" themes. For example, in one of the missions you must raid a port and sabotage enemy submarines. In a later mission, another OSS agent has crashed his plane and you must race through the bombed out ruins of a city to get to him and recover the top secret documents he's carrying.

IGN Wii: What kinds of weapons can you use and how do they work? How many weapons total are available?

 

Matt Tomporowski: The game has a wide variety of weapons and includes all the classic World War II weapons gamers have come to love. However, with the unique gesture based gameplay of the Wii, you'll get to use and interact with these weapons like never before. There are 14 unique weapons that the player will get to carry and use along with many more powerful weapons and special OSS equipment that the player will also get hands-on with using unique Wii gestures. Players will have the opportunity to get hands on with some devices never before accessible in previous MOH games.

IGN Wii: Can you drive vehicles in this game?

 

Matt Tomporowski: We don't have driveable vehicles in the game, however, we do have many moments in the game where players will interact with special "high impact" weapons and equipment that are critical to your missions - heavy machine gun, artillery gun, mortars, and many more. Each of these weapons feature unique and satisfying action gestures new and unique to Medal of Honor. We think these are going to make for some very memorable moments in the game.

IGN Wii: At E3 2007, Nintendo revealed that MoH Heroes 2 would feature 32-player online matches on Wii. That makes it the most ambitious online undertaking for Wii yet. How do you plan to pull this off?

 

Matt Tomporowski: By establishing 32 player online multiplayer on the PSP with Heroes 1, the Heroes 2 team was well prepared for tackling 32 player online for the Wii. We leveraged our technology and design as the framework for this, but we wanted to improve on the online experience and make it the best online multiplayer game on the Wii, with the most players at 32. This meant great multiplayer level designs, well balanced weapons and the most popular game modes all running at a consistently smooth framerate. We also built upon our continuous-joining, server model so players can quickly and easily jump in and out of the online action anytime. Our servers support a many user customization options and we have deep stat tracking and leaderboards. We're super excited about how well the online multiplayer plays on the Wii and our playtest sessions often run well over their scheduled times with people trying to get one more frag in. We think gamers are going to have a lot of fun with 32 players online, especially because nobody has done it yet on Wii.

IGN Wii: What types of options will be available to gamers in 32-player matches?

 

Matt Tomporowski: As with our single player game, we wanted to find a balance in multiplayer so that we appeal to new FPS gamers and more casual Wii gamers, as well as long time FPS fans. We've made it possible for new and casual players to jump into online action using our default settings. However, we know that many of the players online will be experienced FPS players who are used to having more options. For these more hardcore gamers, we're giving them a lot of options to customize their games with their preferences. For example, on any of our maps, the game creator can set how many players are allowed into the match from 2 - 32. Users can also set exactly which weapons will be allowed or not allowed for use in a game, can choose which maps and game modes are played, and many, many other options. We feel that while the default settings get you into the action quickly and easily, we are offering users a robust set of options that are on par with some PC FPS games for our more experienced gamers.

IGN Wii: Does the game use Wii friend codes or Miis or do you connect with buddies by way of EA Nation?

 

Matt Tomporowski: Medal of Honor Heroes 2 connects by way of EA Nation.

 

IGN Wii: Are there any plans to include voice support by way of a USB-enabled headset or a headset from Nintendo?

 

Matt Tomporowski: Since there currently is no announced headset peripheral for the Wii, we don't offer voice support. However, we do have an easy to use in-game "quick chat" system so you can quickly send important, audible, tactical messages to other members of your team in team based games.

IGN Wii: The Medal of Honor games are known for their scripted, dynamically changing environments. Will Heroes 2 up the ante and how so?

 

Matt Tomporowski: When you play through the game, you'll see that many events will be triggered by using the unique Wii action gestures. To make the Wii action gestures fun and relevant, we felt it was important that we tie them in as much as possible to big pieces of action in our game.

IGN Wii: Does the game run in 16:9 widescreen and 480 progressive-scan modes on Wii?

 

Matt Tomporowski: Yes, absolutely!

IGN Wii: Is there an offline split-screen multiplayer mode? If so, what're the specifics?

 

Matt Tomporowski: We felt that it was essential to keep our multiplayer focus on delivering an awesome and innovative 32-player online experience, so there is no split-screen multiplayer mode.

IGN Wii: Finally, tell us why you think readers should be excited about Medal of Honor Heroes 2 for Wii?

 

Matt Tomporowski: The three big things I can think of to be excited about:

 

The new casual gaming mode is a fast-paced, fun, pick up and play experience that is even more immersive when using the Nintendo Zapper peripheral. It's totally accessible to gamers of all skill levels, whether they have played a FPS or not in the past. I think players are going to find this mode to be a totally unique way to experience and enjoy the action of Medal of Honor and World War II like never before.

 

The unique action gestures and great controls are going to give players a totally new level of interaction and immersion with the weapons of World War II, which we think is going to be a truly fun and memorable experience for all

 

32-player online multiplayer on Wii!

 

 

 

Sounds mehish. And lack of split screen is stupid.

[pedrocasilva]

Sounds mehish. And lack of split screen is stupid.

I blame PSP.

[dazzybee]

I think it sounds great - 32 player online? 2 games for the price of one - the normal game and the light gun esque version of it. Reckon the control scheme is amazing. Sounds awesome to me!

[Cube]

32 player online?

 

So what? That doesn't make up for lack of split-screen.

[steggy]

I think it looks good, the lack of split screen is a bit of a bummer. 2 v 2 or even 4 v 4 would of been nice, but if the multiplayer games are as customisable as they say it looks like it's shaping up to be pretty good.

 

One thing I'll say about FPS's and lag, FPS's are fast paced but they are also the genre that kicked off the online play revolution. I remember playing Quake on Dialup quite happilly even with pings in the 200-400ms range anything close to 100ms was considered fast back then. I think FPS's can be very lienent when it comes to lag, especially when considered next to Smash Bros and Mario Strikers.

[Haden]

Ok that preview was highs and lows for me.

 

High= motion support sounds sweet

Low= On rail wtf casual gamer bullshit guess it may be fun for my dad though

High= Online 32 players sierously this sounds awesome

Low= No headset talking

Low = graphics

 

Even though the lows outweigh the highs for me the custimisation aspect of online makes this an essential purchase for me. And EA nation connection sounds good.

[welsh_gamer]

Defintley getting this. Any news on a release date? Hope it makes it here for Christmas! Glad you can set online matches, for simple 2 - 4 player games too. Looking forward to taking you guys on!

[mariosmentor]

No split screen mode seems to implicate they did just built the PSP version and said "Hey, we could make a Wii game out of this!" and proceeded to add fucking on the rails bullshit rather than Co-op or split screen multiplayer?!

 

I think that video games fans should have an offical head body to go up to these guys and give them a neanderthal bitch slap then tell them what they are doing wrong.

 

Shall we put it to a vote who this head shall be?

[dazzybee]

How can the onrail bit be a LOW? Its an extra mode, use it dont use it, but its not taking anything away from the game!!

 

Yeah the split screen is a bummer, I prefer splitscreen than online, I suppose Im just happy that Wii is getting a big online game for the people who di like it. I also think the inrail mode sounds great as I love those games and think the zapper could be awesome

[mcj metroid]

The lack of split screen is the very reason i have no intension of buying this game. It's also the reason I preferred the gamecube over the xbox and the reason I dislike on-line aming at times.

 

When the hell did it get more important. If I wanted a focused on-line title i would get a god damn pc not a console with 4 ports so that people are supposed to play together.

 

Damn i miss the n64.

[pedrocasilva]

Damn i miss the n64.

I miss Goldeneye and Perfect Dark.

[Haden]

How can the onrail bit be a LOW? Its an extra mode, use it dont use it, but its not taking anything away from the game!!

 

Yeah the split screen is a bummer, I prefer splitscreen than online, I suppose Im just happy that Wii is getting a big online game for the people who di like it. I also think the inrail mode sounds great as I love those games and think the zapper could be awesome

 

Sorry your right it is a plus as a bonus.

[mariosmentor]

It's a shame though because the On the Rails extra is kinda backing up the idea that developers think they need to cater their games to the casual market.

 

I mean with Capcom thinking that way aswell I'm fearing the day when the Wii doesn't have any free-roaming shooters.

 

I mean this game isn't by all means a bad thing, it's just their view on the Wii gamers that I don't like, the whole inclusion of an 'Easier, simplistic mode for Wii gamers' feels like an insult more than anything.

 

And to add that rather than split screen seems rather retarded to be honest.

[IMJ]

So far it sounds pretty good. I like the 32P online mode and how it's customizable. Shame there's no support for 4P offline mode. Where's the logic in that? They could, however, add 2P or 4P mode for the on-rails part. Ghost Squad (2-4P) and RE:UC (2P) are doing it.

 

I wonder how much of a difference these modes are. I mean, are you playing the same level, the same enemy placement, just automatic movement in there?

 

It's quite sad that EA has to resolve using their own online network for their games (NBA 08, FIFA 08 being the others) instead of Nintendo WFC. Certainly proves how great the service is. It's so far so good for me personally (DS and Wii), but it's not good enough me thinks.

[Melainon]

I actually like the graphics, everything has a sort of soft look to it. And do I spot proper stencil shadows and a hint of bloom lighting? I'm looking forward to this game, simply because I'm crazy about first-person-shooters.

[mcj metroid]

instead of 'adding modes' They could bloody make a proper game with 4p support. Onrails suggested they had nothing better to do with their time so why the hell not...

 

No excuse.

[DCK]

Graphics look OK-ish, online multiplayer should be good, but come on, it's Medal of Honor... They had a lucky hit with Allied Assault a few years ago, but it's uninspired stuff ever since (and before that, too).

[Goron_3]

I would. BioShock clearly has Metroid beat on atmosphere and immersion, but Prime 3 wipes the floor with BioShock's control system. Indeed, where control is concerned, it kicks the crap out of every console-based FPS, period. Period. Period. (And so does Medal of Honor Heroes 2. More on that tomorrow.)

 

Matt

 

Seems this game will using metroids control scheme (that's a very good thing ). IGN's update on it tomorrow should be interesting.

[Retro_Link]

New Images

 

http://www.jeux-france.com/news21587_moh-heroes-2-se-devoile.html

 

[Noku]

I still think those graphics look good

[Cube]

I still think those graphics look good

 

There's no difference between the Wii and PSP screenshots, bar resolution.