Saved By Lieutenant Patterson (Medal of Honor (PS))

Member Name: scream4bruce

Product:	Medal of Honor (PS)
Date:	15/07/09 (24 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Authenticity, enemies well animated, audio is fantastic

Disadvantages: AI has it's downfalls, stealth sections too safe, not the smoothest FPS

*A review of Medal of Honor for PlayStation.*

CONTROLS
There are a couple of controller configurations and aiming options but these cannot be changed during a level and there's no adjusting the horizontal/vertical axis sensitivity. I did find a setup to suit me and I did have a need for the aim button as this brings up a target cursor - it can pay off to aim for head shots given the weaknesses of the weapons.

PRESENTATION
The War Room as hub to the modes is neat, and the likes of the war footage (which you can skip) and weapons bring about an authentic feel to the game. The musical score and sound effects really add to the atmosphere of Medal of Honor. The graphics are not so solid, with the sniper feature suffering because of the draw-in distance. But the textures are detailed and the enemies are well animated, and react accordingly to where they are shot. Also, on the rare occasion a section of the level might not have been loaded and a black void can be seen.

Medal of Honor is rough round the edges - rather than glide smoothly you stutter as you get caught around and at the corners of objects. Some objects are not that well defined, so bullet holes hang in the surrounding air, and the enemy shoot through supposedly solid surfaces.

CHALLENGE
The game does warn you when the end of level is near and that objectives are not met. Whilst there is no quick restart, the game has you straight back at the start of the level should you die. There are a few stealth stages, but these are not fully-fledged - rarely resulting in failure should you be found out. And when the alarms are triggered, you can turn them off, however the enemy numbers are not great enough to suggest you should stick to sneaking about. It's as if the stages would have conflicted with the end-of-level Performance Evalution, whereby elimination of at least 95% of the enemies brings about a better rating.

If anything, shoot first and tick off objectives later - levels are linearly designed and mission objectives are simple. Whilst the Performance Evaluation does not affect the game completion percentage, gaining an Excellent Overall Rating on all levels is not hard, as I managed many of them on my first attempt at the level. Some of these stages are on the short side, but there were some which took several attempts to finish. The game completion percentage never reads 100% - not sure if this was the developer's idea of humor (or humour) though I wouldn't put it past them, taking into consideration the secret codes that can be discovered.

FIN
As multiplayer isn't much to shout about given it's only head-to-head deathmatch with another player, replay value for Medal of Honor is not great. Maybe see if you recognise the stolen art in the Treasure Caverns level.

Summary: Medal of Honor for PlayStation