Electronic Arts produces one of the most spectacular WW2-based FPS titles ever.
Sometime in the year 2000, there was the announcement that a new Wolfenstein game was in development, almost ten years after the original Wolfenstein 3D was released on the PC. The original Wolfenstein is considered by some the precursor to the “first-person shooter”—the game that started it all. With simple, but effective, graphics and German voices, Wolfenstein 3D was revolutionary because it put the player in the shoes of the hero. The viewpoint was through the eyes of B.J. Blazkowicz, and you were as close as being immersed in the game as possible. Ten years later, Return to Castle Wolfenstein (RTCW) was released, a better than average FPS amidst the countless imitations that have spawned a genre in itself. Some are worth mentioning, others end up in the bargain bin. It was a decent game, with a rather formidable multiplayer aspect, yet the single-player left me unsatisfied. The magic of the original seemed to be lost in the updated graphics and fancy cutscenes.
In January 2002, EA Games releases Medal of Honor: Allied Assault (MOH:AA) for the PC. The Medal of Honor series originated on the Sony Playstation; a successful franchise on the console that had a loyal following. It brought the FPS genre, fairly restricted to the PC realm, to those who preferred playing games with a control pad and on the TV. The dual analog stick of the Playstation controller resolved some of those control issues that many PC fanatics complained about who stood firmly by their keyboard and mouse. I will profess that I have never played the Playstation Medal of Honor series, so my experience with the previous games is limited. However, I am very pleased that EA Games decided to bring this series to PC gamers. Quite frankly, Medal of Honor: Allied Assault is the game I hoped Return to Castle Wolfenstein would be. It is everything RTCW isn’t, and then some. This title is not to be passed up, and has taken the genre of FPS onto another level.
But enough with the praise: let’s look more closely at what is effective about this game. The graphics are based on an updated Quake III: Team Arena engine, the same one that RTCW used. This engine has proved to be quite useful for many developers, due to its ability to display curved surfaces, shadows, and volumetric fog. Don’t ask me to explain the technicalities behind those things, all I know is that it makes the game look damn pretty. However, since it is based on an updated version of the Quake III engine, you need more than just your Daddy’s machine to run this game. This is one of the few drawbacks of this game. The system requirements say that you will need at least a 16 MB video card to play, but that is if you want to see nothing but bare polygons on the screen on the lowest detail and resolution. I have a GeForce2 GTS Ultra with 64 MB on a Pentium III 1 GHz, and there are instances during the game where there are some framerate issues. When a computer is trying to draw hundreds of soldiers storming Omaha Beach, it is understandable. I have tinkered a bit with the settings (the game has both the standard video settings on the setup menu as well as a extra “advanced” video settings tab) and have found a compromise to run the game at a comfortable 1024x768 resolution with the details turned to medium. It is all a matter of tweaking the graphics settings to fit your needs and your video card. I have seen this game run on a GeForce3 with most of the settings turned on high, and it does run at a smooth 60 frames per second. 2015, the game’s developers, did not sacrifice reality in recreating some of the graphics found in the game. They are well-done and accurate, right down to the Nazi soldier uniforms to the insides of a German U-boat.
The sound and music, in many ways, competes with the graphics to guarantee a full gaming experience. Many games skip out in providing a memorable soundtrack, but not MOH:AA. While you are playing, there is always either stirring strings in the background or a swelling orchestral measure to build the intensity during a sniping session. It is like you are in a movie—in fact—there are so many parts in the game where you actually feel like you’re in Saving Private Ryan. This game could have easily been titled Saving Private Ryan: The Game, but that would have cheapened both the film and the game. Spielberg does have his hand in some of these games, as Dreamworks is the umbrella company that oversees the Medal of Honor series. The weapon sounds are not from a stock library either; the recoil of a machine gun or the metal clink of a rifle reload are taken straight from the authentic weapons. Something as small as ammunition reload goes a long way, and those small details really stand out when compared to other FPS. There are actual German voices in the game, a far cry from “Achtung!” yells in the original Wolfenstein. I took a cursory glance at the sounds directory sitting on my hard drive, and it takes up more space than the textures themselves.
The controls of the game are standard for PC FPS; the mouse controls your player’s view and firing and the keyboard (the ASDW scheme) for movement. Of course if you have a wheel mouse, that comes in handy when using the sniper rifle. When using grenades, their distance thrown depends on how long you hold the right mouse button—the longer you hold it, the longer they are lobbed. Pretty basic issue for controlling the game, nothing an experienced FPS player couldn’t handle.
Gameplay in a word, is phenomenal. You may ask, how is it different from other FPS? The answer I come up with is that it gives the player a sense of reality, but not to a point where it gets ridiculously tedious (see: Operation Flashpoint). There is a good dose of the fantasy element thrown in, like RTCW, but it does not go too far beyond its bounds. The graphics, sound, and music all come together to form a cohesive and rewarding gameplay experience, getting as close to the original idea that Wolfenstein 3D started a decade ago, and that is: to completely immerse the player into the game. The levels are varied, with some missions requiring espionage and others that are more explosive in nature. There is one mission in which you where you don the uniform of a Nazi soldier and if other Nazis accost you, you are asked to pick the correct German response. The AI is some of the best I’ve seen. Soldiers shoot around corners with just their gun, ducking behind at the last minute. Other enemies lie on the ground helpless after being shot once, but pick up their gun and start firing when you approach. There is none of the aimless mad dash of enemies found in other FPS. This shows that war did not rely purely on brute force, but was just as much a match based on intelligence. Of course, there is the much ballyhooed Omaha Beach level. This, my friends, is quite possibly one of the most intense gaming experiences I have ever been a part of. The programmers made this level ridiculously difficult, even on the most easy of settings. The reason for this is self-explanatory. The German gun turrets on the towers shower you with bullets as soon as you step off the boat, immediately taking out your comrades in front of you. You have to quickly run for cover, all the while trying to stay afloat in the water that separates you from the beach and the boat. If you even peek your head above the steel girders, you will find yourself restarting the level again. Quick save comes in handy on this level, but take a moment to think about the casualties our country suffered at this battle alone. There were no quick saves at D-Day.
There is also a multiplayer mode in MOH:AA, almost a necessity for PC games these days. It includes a free-for-all mode (a la Quake III quick and dirty respawn multiplayer) and an objective mode (a la Counterstrike, pitting the Axis versus the Allies in attacking/defending a target). The multiplayer system they implemented into the game is not very efficient because you have to refresh the network servers each time you get disconnected or a game is full, which is quite often. Having played Counterstrike many a night, there could be some improvements in this aspect.
Fans of FPS, this game is absolutely necessary to complete your library. It may not have the multiplayer advantages of games such as Unreal Tournament or Counterstrike (yet), but those looking for a solid single-player adventure are in for a treat. You become a soldier fighting in World War II, a single hero who is overshadowed by real enemies amidst an epic backdrop. Medal of Honor: Allied Assault is as real as it gets, and the experience it offers is both fun and memorable. It is truly a first-person game, putting the player first. The developers have put together a wonderfully cohesive and intense package, without leaving behind detail or historic realism. I salute those at EA Games and 2015 for bringing this series to the PC, and here’s hoping more will follow.
