Reviews / previews
After taking the PlayStation by storm with two excellent titles, Medal of Honor encroaches on new territorythe PC. With Medal of Honor Allied Assault, EA is making a very natural leap by bringing its rock-solid, mission-based World War II FPS to the PC with an all-new game and a whole new chapter of WWII to experience first-hand.
In this Medal of Honor incarnation, you'll take control of OSS recruit Lt. Mike Powell as he embarks on a number of missions, spread over 20 levels and based on actual WWII maneuvers from1942 through 1945. Youll begin the game in North Africa, where youll clear out a small town of its enemy turrets and other targets to make way for your squad to come through. From there, youll be sent to Norway to deal with some German U-Boat engineers in an attempt to turn the tide of the war. The game will even feature a level based on the famous D-Day storming of Normandy Beachjust imagine, if you will, playing a FPS version of the opening scene of Saving Private Ryan.
Medal of Honor Allied Assault is being built with the Quake III engine, and will feature highly detailed and realistic recreations of decimated towns, the shores of the Rhine, and other WWII locales, as well as dynamic weather effects like mist and sunlight to help boost the level of realism. And fans of the first Medal of Honor games will be pleased to know that the same sound design team has been brought back to handle Allied Assault.
In addition to a PC version, EA informed us that an Xbox version of the game is also in the works. Look for Allied Assault to reach your PC in October or November.-- 0 / GamePro
PlayStation gamers have known the wonder that is Medal of Honor for years, but the series is just now coming to PCs, and it definitely looks like an invasion worthy of the games title. Medal of Honor: Allied Assault will cast you as Lt. Mike Powell, a soldier on the front lines of the struggle against Nazi Germany. Missions will include everything from squad-based rescue to the actual Normandy invasion, complete with Higgins boats, bangalores, and soldiers dying left and right from machine-gun fire and artillery.
The preview version of Allied Assault scored points by mixing real-world missions with a certain level of realism that makes you feel like youre in the war and not rocket-jumping about in 1940s France. Youll go up against the enemy in real World War II locations like France, Germany, and Northern Africa, using real Allied and Axis weaponry. There will even be missions in which you man a mounted machine-gun while a fellow soldier drives your Jeep through enemy territory, or where you drive a tank and try to take out enemy buildings. The early versions realism seemed to rest comfortably between Unreal Tournament and Rainbow Sixreal enough to be immersive, but not so real that it interferes with the fun.
Even with the unique missions and locations, Allied Assault will be familiar to PC FPS vets. Even the preview version was simple to grasp and easy to understand. The difficulty and frame rate still need some tuning, but the game already looks and plays great. Even in this early stage, Allied Assault looks like a contender for PC gamings highest honors.-- 0 / GamePro
If youre just looking for the best shooter for the PCa game that engages your senses, thrills your nerves, and impresses your neighborsstop reading this right now and go get Medal of Honor: Allied Assault.
The idea of the Medal of Honor series is to strip away the rocket jumps, plasma rifles, and quad-damage power-ups from the shooter genre and replace them with realistic war situations and opportunities for real heroism. The series exists to give you a taste of real war without all the burdensome realism of a Tom Clancy game and to enable you to wield real-period weapons and complete reality-based objectives. Allied Assaults developer, 2015, has succeeded in presenting an engaging, exciting war backdrop without relying on genre conventions like secret doors and the like to deliver a fun experience.
Youre Lieutenant Mike Powell, and youve just been recruited into the OSS, the WWII-era organization that ran covert operations in the European theater. You wander through gorgeous levels built with immense attention to detail (kept real by advice from Hollywood military consultant Capt. Dale Dye), and you really get the feeling of being in a war. Planes fly over and drop bombs, buildings fall apart from damage, and machine gun fire tears your fellow soldiers apart in front of you. The only thing missing from this war is blood and gore, and with everything going on, you wont have time to miss it.
Allied Assault is the first MOH to feature extensive use of friendly A.I., and for once the A.I. is extremely intelligent. Your allies and enemies alike duck behind cover, sneak for better vantage spots, and even drink from a medical canteen when wounded. You can even count on a medic for a medkit from time to time if you manage to keep him alive. Its nice to have allies who are actually helpful and do a lot to advance your objectives.
The Medal of Honor series is known for its amazing sound, but Allied Assault puts even its predecessors to shame. Everything, from rifle shots to officers shrieking orders, sounds exactly like it must have sounded in WWII. Likewise impressive are the graphics, which are so sickeningly realistic that youll be squinting for muzzle flashes to find snipers or watching your friendly soldiers to see if theyre limping from damage. Take a time-out to just look at the game and see how lovely it is because the action is so intense you wont have the chance to smell the roses too often. No shooter is perfect without great controls, and Allied Assault scores here, too. As with most shooters on the PC these days, you have ultimate control over your keyboard layout, but theres no long list of obscure commands like there is in Wolfenstein. (Whats the Kick button for?)
Please, for crying out loud, if you like PC shooters, play this game. You wont miss the rocket jumps or the deflector shields, and youll find yourself playing what could be the best first-person shooter in history. Allied Assault receives, with no hesitation, the highest honor GamePro can award.-- 0 / GamePro
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