Medal of Honour: Allied Assault

                  Reviewed by Nick Edmunds

Lt. Mike Powell of the 1st Ranger battalion is apparently a
"promising young ranger" and as such has been chosen by America to
represent them in the European theatre of war.  Set at the cusp of
European campaign in WWII it's now up to young Powell to single
handedly save the day.  This generally involves rescuing hostages,
killing Jerries and blowing things up.  Our man's not fussy; tanks,
submarines, chemical weapon plants - he'll blow up anything.  This
fellow really is a one-man army, so much so that I don't know why
they didn't just call him John Wayne and have done with it.

Few missions involve friendly NPCs, but in those that do it's always
a good idea to keep them alive as long as possible.  Not only can
they be handy in a firefight, as extra firepower and a distraction,
but a medic will patch you up a treat, although they do tend to die
at certain scripted points.

Game missions generally relate to specific historical events in a
very real attempt at historical accuracy. Weapons, uniforms and
equipment are true to the period and EA even employ a proper
military advisor to ensure MoHAA is a realistic depiction of warfare
without over emphasising the blood and gore.  The down side of all
this realism is that Powell moves a bit clunkily.  In spite of the
Id licensed Quake III engine he's not as athletic as the central
character in your average shooter, because Powell moves around like
a normal bloke.  In some ways this detracts from the fun as its
lacking a bonkers factor that goes hand in hand with experimental
weapons, aliens and genetically modified Nazis that usually inhabit
a FPS.  Similarly the lack of boss levels left the ending feeling a
bit abrupt, but only because one is conditioned to expect these
things.

While MoHAA is another WWII FPS it doesn't stick rigidly to a
standard shooter pattern.  The variation in missions not only tries
to force different tactics, but also makes it feel like playing
several different games.  I particularly enjoyed the stealth
operations, where you get to steal different uniforms and papers to
access different levels of the complex and the silenced pistol made
me come over a bit James Bond. Another interesting mission involves
nicking a tank, which allows for some cool environmental interaction
in what EA term a "highly destructible interactive environment".  In
real terms that means you get to blow the shit out of buildings with
the tank.

However, the level everyone is talking about is the horrific Omaha
beach scene which recreates events of the Normandy landings of June
6th 1944 … la Saving Private Ryan. Often in a game you'll come
across a room full of ammo and think, "Uh - oh", but that feeling is
nothing compared to sitting in a landing craft heading toward the
shoreline watching the craft around you being blown apart.
Apparently the odds of survival on that day were about 1:5 - yours
aren't that good and many attempts are needed to make it up the
beach.  So many attempts, in fact, that it quickly becomes
infuriating and I could see the genius of the idea wearing thin.

Each campaign gets you a medal, which may explain why our man is so
sluggish and clanks so much as he moves.  It would appear that the
numptie is wearing them into combat, unfortunately they don't seem
to provide much armour. There are certainly times when you could do
with some armour as even though the Axis opposition aren't very
clever, they are quite good shots and are capable of inflicting
serious damage very quickly.  This can make MoHAA quite difficult at
times, but it's this need to be constantly on your toes that makes
it so addictive.

Rather inexplicably our American friend starts off on a training
ground in the south of England, but after a short weapons
familiarisation exercise he's soon off gallivanting.  The six
missions set over thirty levels takes you from France, through
Europe and into Africa for the US invasion of Algeria and Morocco.

The Medal of Honour series previously only graced the Playstation
and this sequel is the first of the family to graduate to PC.
Delivering the realism previously promised by other games (notably
Soldier of Fortune) without the pretensions of Tom Clancy's Rainbow
Six series, MoHAA is an excellent period shooter.
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