Post by [-44-] Pendragon on Oct 10, 2010 13:08:46 GMT
I found this review, finaly someone not sucking up to EA:
I remember back when Medal of Honour was the absolute pinnacle of WWII themed shooters but as we all know – this has not been the case for an awfully long time. Ever since the MOH: Allied Assault staff left EA, formed Infinity Ward and released Call of Duty - Medal of Honour has been a wavering series unable to reclaim the dominance it once had. Of course then EA went and published The Battlefield series which has spanned a total of 6 titles and has been both a very lucrative and popular franchise whilst next-gen iterations of MOH continue to underwhelm gamers and critics.
When EA announced at E3 that they were bringing Medal of Honour back and setting it in the current Afghanistan theatre I figured it wouldn’t be any different from previous MOH outings in that whilst they’d be playable and fairly solid – they’d still be snuffed out by Call of Duty especially considering that EALA are behind it – the same team that was behind the lacklustre MOH: Airborne.
However, when I heard that Dice would be making the multiplayer component my ears pricked up like that of a stirred deer so naturally when the open BETA became available for PC I even downloaded it two days early so I could get on it right away – though sadly it turned out I could’ve probably waited quite a while. I’ll preface the nitty- gritty of this analysis by saying two quick things:
1) We all know EA is doing this to compete with Call Of Duty
2) With Dice developing it I was expecting to be reminded of Bad Company 2
The problem with those two statements is that EA/Dice are essentially looking to make a game that plays like Call of Duty and battlefield at the same time or at least accepting that the game feeling like battlefield is inevitable. This basically means that EA are taking two completely different and polarising experiences and throwing them together in the hope to please people who like both and I’m sorry to say that it just doesn’t work.
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Although I love Dice and I love Battlefield in some ways I really wish that they weren’t designing the multiplayer for this game. This is because they’re trying to go for a COD style run and gun game to appeal to the mass COD audience but the game still feels and looks like Battlefield. However, there are only three classes (presumably), no destruction and there are smaller maps. This just feels like a diluted version of COD and Bad Company 2 mixed together thus eliminating any identity that makes the game stand out. Even though this is the second BETA a lot of the complaints which I heard from gamers are still present. Compared to Bad Company 2 the guns have next to zero recoil making all the weapons feel generic and unbalanced. It’s perfectly possible to just take aim and hold the trigger down and just wait for that those 10 points to flash up on your screen even if the target is miles away. The weapons all felt the same as each other whether it was an M16, M4 or an AK47/74U even though guns like the M16 and the AK47 really couldn’t be more different from each other. The BETA had three classes which you have to upgrade separately like in Bad Company but since the weapons feel so similar (except the sniper) to each other there was little point picking between the Rifleman class and the Special Ops class since all their weapons felt the same and it felt like a waste of time unlocking items for both - so it was like having only two classes to choose from since only three were available in the BETA.
I am not sure whether more classes will be in the final release but I hope to God there are. The thing that made Battlefield so great was the fact that the game was more about helping your team win than it was having the best KDR on the server and if Medal of Honour is going to push the big maps in the final release then there needs to be more for players to do than to just shoot each other. The final game should feature vehicles as when I was looking at the control mappings I did see buttons assigned for throttle and braking and reversing etc. so this makes me suspect that we should see some sort of engineer class to maintain and repair said vehicles, but they could just work engineer/medic tools into the three existing classes – hopefully the former will happen.
If you are somebody who enjoys Battlefield and Call of Duty then I wholeheartedly urge you to buy both Battlefield and Call of Duty. Black Ops will easily provide you with the best run and gun multiplayer action and Bad Company 2 or even Battlefield 2 will provide you with the best military teamwork experience – it might be more expensive but I guarantee you that it’s worth it from a multiplayer point of view.
Judging by the BETA, Medal of Honour feels like a washed out attempt to grab some of the COD crowd by giving them a watered down version of Battlefield and COD. The game even features it’s own take on killstreaks but they don’t provide you with the same level of satisfaction and dominance – they just feel kind of boring. It’s like putting a really nice white shirt and a really nice red shirt in the washing machine and then when the cycles over you’re left with a nasty pink t-shirt which is nowhere near as good as what went in there in the first place – That’s Medal of Honour’s multiplayer.
Black Ops with its wager modes and it’s community and the depth of customisation within its multiplayer just completely dwarfs Medal of Honour in almost every respect and what with the Bad Company 2 Vietnam DLC coming that’s just another reason to stick with Bad Company 2 for a good while as well. More hype and controversy surround this entry in the MOH franchise than any we have seen so far. For me Medal of Honour will always be remembered for its cinematic single player experience and authenticity but with gaming being much more multiplayer-focused nowadays it feels like this entry’s multiplayer component will be the deciding factor in whether the game is a commercial success but judging by this multiplayer BETA – EA and Dice have a lot of work to do.
When EA announced at E3 that they were bringing Medal of Honour back and setting it in the current Afghanistan theatre I figured it wouldn’t be any different from previous MOH outings in that whilst they’d be playable and fairly solid – they’d still be snuffed out by Call of Duty especially considering that EALA are behind it – the same team that was behind the lacklustre MOH: Airborne.
However, when I heard that Dice would be making the multiplayer component my ears pricked up like that of a stirred deer so naturally when the open BETA became available for PC I even downloaded it two days early so I could get on it right away – though sadly it turned out I could’ve probably waited quite a while. I’ll preface the nitty- gritty of this analysis by saying two quick things:
1) We all know EA is doing this to compete with Call Of Duty
2) With Dice developing it I was expecting to be reminded of Bad Company 2
The problem with those two statements is that EA/Dice are essentially looking to make a game that plays like Call of Duty and battlefield at the same time or at least accepting that the game feeling like battlefield is inevitable. This basically means that EA are taking two completely different and polarising experiences and throwing them together in the hope to please people who like both and I’m sorry to say that it just doesn’t work.
Posted Image
Although I love Dice and I love Battlefield in some ways I really wish that they weren’t designing the multiplayer for this game. This is because they’re trying to go for a COD style run and gun game to appeal to the mass COD audience but the game still feels and looks like Battlefield. However, there are only three classes (presumably), no destruction and there are smaller maps. This just feels like a diluted version of COD and Bad Company 2 mixed together thus eliminating any identity that makes the game stand out. Even though this is the second BETA a lot of the complaints which I heard from gamers are still present. Compared to Bad Company 2 the guns have next to zero recoil making all the weapons feel generic and unbalanced. It’s perfectly possible to just take aim and hold the trigger down and just wait for that those 10 points to flash up on your screen even if the target is miles away. The weapons all felt the same as each other whether it was an M16, M4 or an AK47/74U even though guns like the M16 and the AK47 really couldn’t be more different from each other. The BETA had three classes which you have to upgrade separately like in Bad Company but since the weapons feel so similar (except the sniper) to each other there was little point picking between the Rifleman class and the Special Ops class since all their weapons felt the same and it felt like a waste of time unlocking items for both - so it was like having only two classes to choose from since only three were available in the BETA.
I am not sure whether more classes will be in the final release but I hope to God there are. The thing that made Battlefield so great was the fact that the game was more about helping your team win than it was having the best KDR on the server and if Medal of Honour is going to push the big maps in the final release then there needs to be more for players to do than to just shoot each other. The final game should feature vehicles as when I was looking at the control mappings I did see buttons assigned for throttle and braking and reversing etc. so this makes me suspect that we should see some sort of engineer class to maintain and repair said vehicles, but they could just work engineer/medic tools into the three existing classes – hopefully the former will happen.
If you are somebody who enjoys Battlefield and Call of Duty then I wholeheartedly urge you to buy both Battlefield and Call of Duty. Black Ops will easily provide you with the best run and gun multiplayer action and Bad Company 2 or even Battlefield 2 will provide you with the best military teamwork experience – it might be more expensive but I guarantee you that it’s worth it from a multiplayer point of view.
Judging by the BETA, Medal of Honour feels like a washed out attempt to grab some of the COD crowd by giving them a watered down version of Battlefield and COD. The game even features it’s own take on killstreaks but they don’t provide you with the same level of satisfaction and dominance – they just feel kind of boring. It’s like putting a really nice white shirt and a really nice red shirt in the washing machine and then when the cycles over you’re left with a nasty pink t-shirt which is nowhere near as good as what went in there in the first place – That’s Medal of Honour’s multiplayer.
Black Ops with its wager modes and it’s community and the depth of customisation within its multiplayer just completely dwarfs Medal of Honour in almost every respect and what with the Bad Company 2 Vietnam DLC coming that’s just another reason to stick with Bad Company 2 for a good while as well. More hype and controversy surround this entry in the MOH franchise than any we have seen so far. For me Medal of Honour will always be remembered for its cinematic single player experience and authenticity but with gaming being much more multiplayer-focused nowadays it feels like this entry’s multiplayer component will be the deciding factor in whether the game is a commercial success but judging by this multiplayer BETA – EA and Dice have a lot of work to do.