Medal of Honor: Modern Warfare

[Sméagol]

You can download the open beta on Steam. I didn't bother trying to get a key for the closed beta, but I do like to know what the multiplayer's like, and now I can find out for myself afterall. Open beta will end 07-10-2010.

I'll try it out tonight (and probably not tomorrow night, because of the new L4D DLC).

[Choze]

What people need to keep in mind though is that there were veterans of the Afghan War that EA brought into the studio to help make the game authentic. These were people who had lost good friends during the war, people who were actually in the War getting shot at by the Taliban. They wanted to tell their story. That's what this game is all about. And in this type of game, someone has to play the bad guy.

 

EA have pulled this stunt before with pc battlefield games where apparently you could play as Terrorists etc. Its nothing. EA never name any of the sides as they have done now

 

I am in the pc open beta. Two new maps. It got plenty of good word of mouth at the expo. I thinks ome see it as a more realistic but also less cheap version of COD. It might take some minor thunder away from Black Ops.

[dwarf]

This vid makes me contemplate getting this. I wish something would replace my shooter bumming, but alas, it'll take a lot for them to grow old.

Black ops or this?

 

[Ganepark32]

Multiplayer looks good. But then, it is DICE doing that portion of the game so it was always going to turn out well. DICE know how to put together a decent online setup (Map design is something they do need to work on however, given some of the maps that were in BF:BC2).

 

Keeping my eye on this. Now Halo: Reach is out of the way, I'm looking for my next big FPS hit (even though I'll still put some multiplayer time on on Reach) and this should do nicely. Enough of a gap between it and Black Ops to suggest I can get both so I probably will.

[Emasher]

(Map design is something they do need to work on however, given some of the maps that were in BF:BC2).

 

To be honest, I think BF:BC2 was the exception rather than the rule in terms of DICE map design. Their other games have all had incredible maps.

[Sméagol]

My quick impression after one evening of playing:

First of all, I don't know if anything has been made unavailable for the open beta, like weapons or classes, the unlock tree at least didn't indicate a lot of new weapons to unlock.

I didn't miss them for this occasion, but I can imagine it being a problem on the long term?

That said, I had fun. Controls were as tight as you'd expect from a good shooter, similar to CoD for example. Some options missing like prone and leaning, which may upset some people. Even though the feeling of controls and weapons is familiar, there are some differences. Me and a friend came across a team of obvious beta veterans, and they were slaughtering us, mainly with sniper rifles. Now, I don't usually use sniper rifles, don't like 'm / can't use 'm, but in this game, I decided to try the sniper class after that massacre, and we actually won the next game (both on that snow map). And you don't even start out with a proper sniper rifle, the first gun was more like the FAL from CoD6, another weapon I can't handle. It must be said though, that snow map seemed very suitable for snipers, more than the other available map in the beta, which is smaller.

Anyway I had fun, but it's tough to tell if it remains fun on the long term, I'd have to know what I was missing.

[Emasher]

I haven't played that many Medal of Honour games, but I was under the impression that they usually just put in standard issue weapons. Its never been a problem in the past.

[Emasher]

I bought the game yesterday. I've played a few missions of the singleplayer so far. I'll write a full review on the weekend, but I'll sum up my experience from what I've played.

 

-Missions are very linear.

-Somewhat like CoD.

-Feels more authentic (Although, probably because its based around a real war).

-Missions are quite varied (Some stealth, some vehicle based stuff, some more traditional sort of missions).

-Controls are like CoD, not Battlefield.

-The game features leaning and diving towards cover.

-Some pointless slower sections like driving between objectives and decent but unnecessary dialog.

-Lots of scripting. The AI seems to be identical to BC2.

[dwarf]

The GT review was rather damning, and the footage seemed to show it up as a pretty poor game. Imma avoid.

 

I don't think I'll get Black Ops either.

 

Something like Brink will have to sweep me off my feet either through litres of praise or through an encouraging demo.

[martinist]

got this through the door yesterday morning...worst purchase I've ever made tbh. The damn thing doesn't even run at a persistant 60fps and now I have buyer's remorse >__>

[Hero-of-Time]

I snapped it up today and im really enjoying it, just done the first 3 missions. Im finding my teams AI is great, they pick their targets and take them out well. They also use cover and tell me where the enemies are. Its a nice change of pace after having to endure the retards that were my spartan team in Halo Reach.

[MATtheHAT]

got this through the door yesterday morning...worst purchase I've ever made tbh. The damn thing doesn't even run at a persistant 60fps and now I have buyer's remorse >__>

 

It was never designed to run at 60fps, it runs at 30 like most shooters that aren't CoD.

 

I have it sat here since yesterday but not had chance to play it, is it really bad?

[Happenstance]

I got it yesterday but im saving it until tomorrow for Extra Life, im still looking forward to giving it a try though

[Choze]

To be honest, I think BF:BC2 was the exception rather than the rule in terms of DICE map design. Their other games have all had incredible maps.

 

All DICE games also feature weak maps. Comes with the territory. BC2 just happens to have more than the usual. I'd say BC1 was better in that regard. But both BC games are kinda rubbish compared to the real deal though.

 

I think MOH was rushed out too soon. The old MOH games are essentially the same as COD games. Though this time MOH uses a more advanced engine(s) they failed to utilise their advantages well. The next release should be much stronger.

Edited October 15, 2010 by Choze

[Ganepark32]

got this through the door yesterday morning...worst purchase I've ever made tbh. The damn thing doesn't even run at a persistant 60fps and now I have buyer's remorse >__>

 

Human eyes can't even pick up 60fps so it's hardly a damning point for the game. Even more so when you consider just how many games that come out these days rarely ever run at anything over 30fps, which is perfectly fine as it is as it's still very smooth.

 

Anyway, I picked it up earlier. Haven't tried it yet as I really wanted to play Sonic 4 (when was the last time anyone ever wanted to really play a new Sonic game :P) but will have a go later. Hoping the online setup is decent enough as I'm not really getting in to the Halo: Reach spirit much now when it comes to online (my attention has shifted really and I'm just getting a bit bored of it and the maps which keep getting chosen when I play (bloody Hemorrage!)) so hopefully this'll entertain me.

[Emasher]

The frame rate isn't really an issue. I have seen the occasional drop when there's a massive amount of stuff going on on screen, but always playable, and it never drops for long.

 

One thing I've noticed is that the Single Player and multiplayer area really two different games rather than two different modes in one game. The controls are a bit different, and while they share a lot of assets, they actually run on different engines (Unreal for the singleplayer, Frostbite for the multiplayer).

[Ganepark32]

Should ask: is there destructible scenery in the multiplayer, like in BF:BC? Just curious as it was DICE who completed the multiplayer element and it did add a further element of strategy to how the game played out.

[Emasher]

Not to the same extent. Some objects are destroyable, but you can't bring down buildings or anything like that. The style of the maps wouldn't really work that well for that sort of thing to be honest.

[Happenstance]

Its a shame this had such a short campaign because I was enjoying it. 6 hours is way too short for a game these days.

[Ganepark32]

Finished the single player campaign earlier. Yes, it is short but it's rather enjoyable. There are some clear comparisons to other shooters throughout but even though it doesn't go for anything original, it certainly has some very good moments.

 

One particularly well done moment for me was at the end of one mission where you're pinned down in the ruins of a house, a car explodes through the front wall exposing you even more to the masses of enemies coming in from all directions and your running out of ammo (that includes your AI counterparts, as they certainly weren't able to give me any). It's just handled so well and the feeling of desolation from that situation really is quite remarkable.

 

There's clearly room for more interesting scenarios to come and hopefully, EA sees fit to give it the right amount of time in development and not shove it out as a yearly release. After all, they have the mainline Battlefield games as well as the Bad Company ones so they've got more than enough FPSs to give this new Medal of Honor a good development time and not ruin it with oversaturation of titles in such a small time frame. EA has certainly improved over how they've been so hopefully this will prove to be the case and next time around, we can expect a longer campaign that still gives some really great moments.

 

Now if only they'd patch the spawning issues with the multiplayer then I'd have fewer complaints about that aspect of the game. Really, spawning and being instantly killed or not moving spawn points at the right time so you don't get stuck in a choke point straight away would make for a much more enjoyable experience.

 

edit: Oh and the original soundtrack for the game is superb at points. Really well done. The Linkin Park song at the end is a dampener though.

[Happenstance]

Yeah I loved the soundtrack while playing the game, the music really added to some of the moments.