Medal of Honor: Warfighter
Reviewed By Tristan Tancredi
Medal of Honor Warfighter is "the" war game intended to deliver a perspective on war from the eyes of real soldiers. Inspired by actual events, Warfighter aims to show us the true meaning of sacrifice.
Developed by Danger Close Games and using the highly capable Frostbite 2 Engine, EA has released this game hoping to reclaim a slice of the dominant War genre. So has the Medal of Honor franchise recaptured the form that it once held so proudly?
Unfortunately, the short answer is No. The Medal of Honor franchise has become just another "War Game". Another unoriginal, uninspiring First Person shoot em' up. What happened to the good old Medal of Honor days when a gamer would destroy a convoy of U-Boats by your lonesome.
Some of my finest memories of Medal Of Honor is infiltrating the enemy base as an undercover German Operative. Taking out a whole battalion with a silenced pistol. Now that is what I regard as Medal of Honor!
Warfighter, like Medal of Honor in 2010, is another mainstream war game that does very little to seperate itself from the Battlefields and the Call of Duties of the world.
There are brief glimmers of sunlight breaking through the darkness throughout this game. In particular, one mission aboard an enemy freighter is reminiscent of early Medal of Honor games. And this, although short-lived is the best 15 minutes of the game by a country mile!
Let me begin by trying to describe the storyline. Warfighter is a direct Sequel to Medal of Honor (2010) and follows Tier 1 operatives on a mission to track down and locate the source of PETN (Massive Bombs) whilst taking out a range of terrorists.
The interweaving storyline focuses on the family life and problems associated with soldiers at war. One soldier Preacher (from the 2010 game) is in a separated relationship, with the travels of duty putting space between himself, his wife and his daughter.
Whilst successfully portraying the sacrifices soldiers and families must make; the storyline is messy, convoluted and difficult to follow.
There are times throughout various missions, I was thinking, What the hell am I doing here? Or, Who is this guy? However it was best not ask too many questions and just get on with the game.
This is mainly due to the gamer not having any need to care or attach themselves to the story. There is little to no character development and often we found ourselves not caring for the outcome of the operatives fate.
90% First Person Shooting, 5% Car Chase, 5% MUSA Robot, Warfighter doesn't have many strings to its bow. The FPS is like any other war game you may have played before. There is nothing at all original about it. The Car Chase Scenes have elements of originality yet seem too scripted. As if you could pass the level by not doing very much at all. They are a nice mix-up though and offer something different to the genre.
Overall, the game play, utilising the Frostbite 2 Engine, is glitchy and unoriginal. The best way to describe it is simply by saying "Nothing really stands out".
Set mainly across four locations; Bosnia, Pakistan, Phillipines and Somalia the game looks pretty. The surroundings are well designed, crisp and clean. The characters are also well designed and clean, albeit glitchy at times.
The cut-scenes are a little bit concerning, (well mainly due to the strange appearance of both Preachers wife and daughter). I might be on my own here, but there was something not quite right with those two. Weird looking.
Moving into the Multiplayer/Online world and once again, Warfighter offers nothing new to the idea albeit selecting which country to defend. The maps are mundane and repetitive and the game modes are the same that they have been for this genre for years. It's fun, but it's nothing revolutionary.
Warfighter has blended the franchise into simply "another war game". Medal of Honor was once an original, damn fun First Person Shooter. Let's hope for the next release they look back to where it all began!
Game: Medal of Honor: Warfighter
System: PS3
Developer/Co-Developer: Danger Close Games
Publisher: EA Games
