Retro Review: Medal of Honour
A Review of the First Game in the Popular Shooter Series
Born out of the success of Saving Private Ryan, Medal of Honour (MOH) was a joint project between popular production company Electronic Arts, Dreamworks Interactive and director Steven Speilberg, and was first released on November 11, 1999, to instant acclaim.
Medal of Honour for Playstation- Jimmy Patterson and the OSS
Set throughout the Second World War (WW2), the game centres around the missions and adventures of fictional American soldier and OSS (Office of Strategic Services) agent Jimmy Patterson, a farm boy from Missouri.
Dropped in at the deep end, Patterson has to fight his way from one side of Europe to the other, battling Nazi tanks, half-tracks and a constant stream of troopers intent on erasing Patterson from history.
The course of his missions takes him from occupied France through to the heart of the Third Reich, and sees Patterson don enemy uniforms and go undercover to destroy some of the Nazi's 'superweapons', including the 'doodlebug' V1, the V2 rocket, a U-Boat and even a gargantuan 'railgun', Greta.
Medal of Honour for Playstation- Run-and-gun
Centring around a run-and-gun style of gameplay, Medal of Honour allowed the player to use a variety of WW2 weapons, ranging from the trusty M1 Garand to the Browning Automatic Rifle, MP40, Colt 45 pistol and even a bazooka, all of which are deadly in the hands of the player, who will need to use each one to their full effect to defeat the enemies, most of which are as deadly as the player.
This gameplay style was also applied to the competitive multiplayer, where players would face off on large levels filled with an assortment of weapons, fighting under a skin chosen by the player. One of the skins shipped with the games was the slightly-disturbing Panzerknacker, a nutcracker-like doll dressed in a Nazi uniform who eventually gained his own minigame in EA's subsequent Medal of Honour release, Underground.
Medal of Honour for Playstation- Stealth and Paperwork
Conversely, some of the levels relied instead on a stealth approach, with Jimmy donning any number of different enemy uniforms and carrying forged Nazi paperwork to pass into the heart of Nazi factories and facilities, with nothing more than a silenced pistol for protection.
One stand-out mission charted Jimmy's efforts to scuttle an advanced Nazi U-Boat, U-4901, starting with the infiltration of a Kreigsmarine trawler before moving silently through the U-Boat base and boarding the sub as it leaves dry dock, then scuttling it while at sea and making off with Nazi codebooks- a nod to the capture of an Enigma machine in 1941.
Each stealth mission is a constant struggle to evade the black-coated SS officers, who see through Jimmy's clever disguise and comically shout 'You're Jimmy Patterson', before being shot between the eyes and vanishing without a bloodstain- a lack of blood being a Medal of Honour staple.
Medal of Honour for Playstation- A One Man Army
Unlike the later Call of Duty series, Medal of Honour has always been about one man (or woman) taking on the Nazi menace alone, and with more then 20 levels available, the game lasts a fair while and inspires a sense of scale in the madness of WW2.
While it could be said that Medal of Honour suffered for its slightly unrealistic style of gameplay and storyline, it more than made up for that with an epic stream of battles, set-pieces and an amazing musical score.
Score: 9/10
The game's UK cover
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