"Mr Patterson, your mission, should you choose to accept it..." (Medal Of Honor - Allied Assault (PC))

Member Name: Lawless Fever

Product:	Medal Of Honor - Allied Assault (PC)
Date:	14/07/02 (250 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Graphics, Gameplay, Controls

Disadvantages: Perhaps TOO detailed!, Scarily realistic!, Need a fast computer

The ellusive Medal of Honour series has built up a name for itself in a rather short span of time. The original was released in 1998 on the Playstation, and treated gamers to one of the first decent war-time games on any console. Two years later, EA unleashed the sequel, entitled Medal of Honour: Underground, and was, too, a hit. Now, EA have a new target, in the PC, and they don't disappoint, with Medal of Honour: Allied Assault - the new MOH title, and from the first screenshot I saw, I began salivating at the mouth. We know that MOH can perform on a console platform, but can it deliver on a totally different level? From the first screenshots of the Ohama beach level, I'd have to say yes, but what does the rest of the game hold? Read on and find out...

Allied Assault begins like any ordinary game - you are crammed into a boat with your soldier cohorts and sent to Ohama beach destroy the Germans. There is no guarantee of returning alive, and you may lose a few limbs along the way, but the thought of blasting Germans to hell is a pretty tempting sentiment. This scripted sequence (and there are a LOT of them) continues, and from the opening whistle ensues blood, sweat...and blood. In a word: it's a gorefest. The boat beside you is blasted with a rocket, and your friends are now dying for you, and your country. There's nothing to do but run - run for all you're worth. If you survive it, you are treated to twenty-odd more levels of the same, and more. In case you haven't already gathered, my two cents on this game is this: excellent. The first level is so reminiscent of Saving Private Ryan, down to the smallest, most muniscule detail, and it's such an amazing level to play. I found myself once sitting there for hours, just running around the beach, attempting (very badly) to shoot the imposing Nazis. There is also an excellent multiplayer mode, which allows you to play against up to 30 other players online in an Allies .vs. Axis for
mat.

The gameplay is some of the best I've seen in a PC shooter for a long, long time. The scripted sequences (which are unskippable) are worth watching, and don't grow old when watched multiple times (partially due to the overwhelming graphics, which I'll touch on later) and the order of the game is very playable. The weapons are fantastic and the level design is flawless. Just looking down from the boat to the shingle at the end of the beach will make you salivate like a dog on drugs. Only one gripe: the enemies can be a little TOO intelligent (I can't believe I'm saying this). After all, they're only Nazis, right? The graphics is what grabbed me here - they are so photorealistic! Some of the textures, like the protection on the Ohama beach level, can be a little flat and jagged, but in general, the textures are decent, and the rest of the game compensates for this times over anyway. The sound is also great. It's not over the top, but it's far from subtle. If seeing a missle landing on your comrade isn't exciting enough, the sound of it hitting the ground and destroying anything it hits will be. All these features will keep you playing for weeks.

Medal of Honour: Allied Assault is unmistakably a classic, and I'm not just saying that because it's aesthetically pleasing, no. This is the single most cinematic experience I am yet to have the pleasure of playing, and although it is unrealistic in places, isn't that what games are all about? The Multiplayer mode is one of the best features, and there really is no feeling like snipering an enemy threat from half-way across the world. Allied Assault creates an ultimately superlative experience, and bags of fun to boot. The guys at EA have certainly done themselves proud, and I await the slightly-altered PS2 counterpart, Medal of Honour: Frontline, with open arms.

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