Come on Adolf, stick your little head out... (Medal of Honor: Frontline (PS2))

Member Name: angry chris

Product:	Medal of Honor: Frontline (PS2)
Date:	11/02/03 (492 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Looks and sounds fantasic, Absorbing gameplay, Will take ages to get the lot.

Disadvantages: Slightly dodgy moral ground., Some people won't like this type of game., Can't shoot Hitler in it.

June 6th 1944. On a cold and windswept beach in Normandy, northern France, the
largest amphibious assault in the history of warfare was taking place. Split across
into five sections, the combined forces of the United States and the British Empire
were launching what was hope to be a decisive assault on mainland Europe,
delivering the much anticipated “second front” from which the end of World War 2
could be attained.
As history now records, four of the five segments, Gold, Juno, Sword and Utah, were
captured and successfully negotiated by the allied assault. The fifth, stormed by the
predominantly American armies at Omaha eventually succumbed, but due to heavy
and well covered defense mounted by the Germans, the loss of life was great.

One soldier braving the blood soaked battlefields at Omaha was Lt. Jimmy Patterson,
erstwhile the US Air Transport division. His mission is to help clear the stubborn and
ferocious German resistance at Omaha, before surviving long enough to play a major
part in the Allied Victory...

Welcome to Medal of Honor: Front-line, the forth in the successful series of WW2
based games from EA games, available for all formats. It follows in the illustrious
footsteps of the original “Medal of Honor” game, and it’s sequels M of H:
Underground and M of H Allied Assault. Each game has seen you take control of a
member of the allied team in Europe, from front-line soldiers to French Resistance
members, all with the target of doing as much as possible to help the allied cause.

As you may now have guessed, in Front-line you are Jimmy Patterson, a hardy
paratrooper destined to have a major say in the winning war effort of the allies. But
what is this all about, and what the hell is going on?...

You will start at the deep end, thrown into the sea off a landing craft to join your
comrades in breaching the

German defenses. As in all the M of H games, you must
collect weapons, kill nazi scum, rescue vital prisoners, collect documents and
successfully complete a variety of missions in order to reach the next mission. You
must do so before the Nazi hordes turn you into Swiss cheese, or your mission is over.

LAYOUT

Front-line begins with the famously stirring speech from General Eisenhower, geeing
up the men on those landing crafts, and filling them with hope. It is the perfect start
to the game, psyching you up before you even start. It is done in the usual Medal of
Honor style, voice over played over the top of some stunning black and white full
motion video of actual events filled during the war. This is the reward gained upon
completion of each mission, new full motion video and a stirring mission brief spoken
over the top.
The missions themselves are split into a variety of stages, which upon completion will
report to you your mission rating, based on hits taken, accuracy of shot, life left at the
end of the stage and amount of Nazi’s pushing up daisies as a result of your efforts.
You can get a bronze for completing the level in general terms, silver for completing
the level and killing 95% of the enemy within the stage, or the biggy, the gold award
for killing 95% of the bad guys and completing the level with 75% or more of your
life left. Get gold awards for each stage of the mission and you get your prize, a
“Medal of Honor”. You also get one for completing the game, regardless of how
many you have gotten during play.
If you find your total is pathetically low upon completing the missions, you can choose
to save your progress or replay the level. You can also replay any level you have
previously played, by selecting it from the main menu.

GET STUCK IN!!!!!!!

During the game, you will visit some of the most famou
s scen
es of battle in the war,
as well as some of the more unknown theatres of war. Clambering across the sands of
Normandy is followed by a sweep through the windswept farmlands of Holland and
Belgium, before a trip over the famous Nijmegen Bridge leads to the storming of a
hidden U-boat facility, a ride on a armored train and the site of the experimental
German jet fighter planes, all culminating in the maddest gunfest you’ll ever see...

Sounds daunting and is, but fear not, you will be supported at times by fellow
soldiers, resistance members and members of the public. You are also packing some
major weaponry, ranging from the simple pistol right through to the Geshwer sniper
rifle. MP40 machine guns will help cut through the nightmarish Nazi defense, and
even a pocket bazooka can be commandeered. All have special uses and purposes,
but it is to each his own, so find out which you prefer and when by playing the game.

You will need ammo, so look around after you have capped someone, they will
usually drop some ammo which you can nick and use at your bequest. Don’t forget to
reload regularly or you will end up shooting nothing but fresh air.

You can also help yourself to some pretty impressive Nazi weapons, such as machine
gun nests and rocket launchers. As the game goes on, you will need them.

Health is vital. You do not get lives as such, if you die you can always replay the
stage from the start, but this can really be annoying if you are right at the end of a
stage and some peasant turns and blasts you in the face with a grenade launcher.
Look out for the medical canteens(a little extra health), the medical packs(a fair bit of
health) and the field surgeons packs(like Popeye’s spinach...). Also of use later on are
the loaves and food on peasants tables and in their homes, they will bring a small
amount of relief at muc
h needed ti
mes.

All of this you WILL need. You are facing the full might of Hitler’s war machine
here, not some poxy Italian unit! They will come at you with men, planes, guns,
armoured cars, rocket launchers, tanks and even an armoured train, all with the
specific intention of splattering that nice tidy US uniform in buckets of claret.

The mode of play is also crucial. First timers should stick to easy-the enemy is not a
great shot and your health is replenished at the end of each stage. For the more ardent
Nazi head-hunter, try Hard, where the enemy can blow your head off from a mile
away, and you are stuck with your health from each mission to the next.

CONTROLS

As each format has different controls, I cannot really give a comprehensive list here,
but the usual applies. You can run, jump, duck, side-step and crawl either towards or
away from the target. Learn to use the most appropriate at the most appropriate time.
You will also need to learn the controls for fire and reload, as well as those for
commandeering those Nazi machine guns.

EYE CANDY FOR ALL

Now, I’m a bit skeptical about people who say that they cannot tell the difference
now between people and computer graphics. Honestly, look at the polygon based
face, and name one person other than Red Dwarf’s Kryten who looks like that?

However, this looks about as real as you will get. The graphics are absolutely
stunning. People look a lot like people(not the same as, please note), and the whole
thing seems very real from minute one. The backgrounds are amazingly detailed and
capture the feel magnificently. Pop-up is kept to an absolute minimum, and there is
almost no slowdown as the speed of the play increases. Everything, to the littlest
details, is superb. Particularly good is the facial expression of the enemy soldiers. If
you shoot one
in the leg, he y
elps around in pain for a while before returning fire.

It all adds to the feel that is intended-that this is for real.

SQUEAL LIKE A PIG, BEAAATCH...

Like the graphics, the sounds are mesmeric. The sound effects, from the little things
like the alarm bells and the motor engines, right through to the gunfire and
explosions, are so realistic they should NOT be played at a high volume, for fear of
frightening the neighbours.
The background music is wonderfully put together by a US orchestra specially for the
game. It is so atmospheric it has to be heard to be fully comprehended. It gives the
game a wonderful feel, eerie in the places that it should be, yet frantic if needs must.

GO THROUGH ‘EM LIKE A DOSE OF SALTS.

Here’s a few tips I’ve gleamed from the game.

1. Before you start, read the manual and keep it handy. It will give you a ton of
advice and the basic controls until you get used to them.
2. The first stage is almost impossible to be killed on, so use it as a testing ground to
hone your skills. Roam around, fire those guns, look for helpful packages and get
used to what things look like and where they are.
3. Remember, as much fun as just running wildly at the basta*ds and blasting is, you
have to complete the missions as set out at the start of each stage. Press pause to get a
list of what has been done, and what needs to be done. Also, although the list is not
strictly chronological, it tends to be in general so try to follow it.
4. Look all the time for little gaps in walls, doors that open and ladders to climb. If
it’s there, it has a useful purpose.
5. At times ammo runs low, so pick your shots and weapons carefully. On the bridge,
for example, think about using a sniper gun rather than wading in all bullets blazing.
6. Keep your distance. This is a thinking manR
17;s game, so take yo
ur time.
7. Be careful around the machine gun nests. While they look like fun, using one will
often attract a massive posse of very angry enemies, intend of blowing you to bits.
They have a limited range and turning circle, so you can be hit from certain angles.
8. If bullets are low, learn to use the butt of your gun to whack people in the chops.
Works a charm.
9. While it is all well and good trying to save all your comrades-in-arms, remember,
it is better to complete the level and save them later as oppose to getting hammered
all the time on their account.
10. The last level is a nightmare. Enemies will attack from everywhere. Race out,
blast at the door on your right into the hanger with the bazooka and clear the room of
enemy soldiers. Then wait for those who come for a chat and get rid of them. When
you go back out to face the rest, you will have killed about 35% of their number,
giving you a much better chance. Do not stay still once outside, and ignore the
machine gun nests. Look out for enemy bazooka fire-they practically all have ‘em!!!
11. Medals mean special features, such as the brilliant making of scenes, showing
how the graphics and music were put together. Wanna know how the gunfire sounds
so real? Get those medals people!!!

As you may have guessed, I rather like this game. No, rephrase that, I love this game.
I have had it for three months, still have not completed it fully and keep going back
on a daily basis. The whole package feels so realistic and atmospheric that it honestly
is hard not to get excited when capping those bad-ass scum bags.

I particularly love the intro scenes between levels. They are entertaining and
educational, making sure the player is under no illusions that this all once happened.
Not only does it feel real, but for millions of people around the world this was real.


And this is the
only problem with an otherwise flawless game. To some people, the
idea of turning war into a game isn’t a particularly good one, lacking taste and
decency. This point is a fair one, and I can understand it fully. However, by this rule
surely all war movies are thus a bad thing. At least, unlike most Hollywood war
blockbusters nowadays, this one sticks closely to actual events. There is no glorifying
the war here, it is a potent tool in educating many young people as to the horror of the
Second World War, and indeed all conflicts.

For people who feel this is a major sticking point, you will not like this game. If
shoot-em-ups aren’t your thing, you won’t like this. The rest of us should strap those
guns on, take a brave step forward and get ready to fight for the most noble and
dangerous of causes.

Magnificent.

Thank you for reading and rating this opinion.

Summary: