Since the original release of Medal of Honor for the Playstation 1 in 1999, the war-themed shooter genre has erupted into an onslaught of competition and rivalries. Franchises have begun and died off; some have improved while the less capable become forgettable impulse-buy fodder. Most recently the industry has focused its eye on the Modern Warfare series for propelling the genre into contemporary time. Modern Warfare 2 has gone on to be the best selling video game of all time and its juggernaut of PR and reception makes it difficult to look past its supposed competition.

So when I say “a Medal of Honor reboot is coming out this year” most people reply with “What is Call of Duty doing?” Although an unfortunate fact of the consumer base, it’s difficult to persuade people on a product they’ve never seen before. This is why back in May, Electronic Arts flew myself, along with a few dozen other journalists to see single player, and play multiplayer. Based off of my personal experience of seeing the campaign, and playing the multiplayer extensively, I can say there is not a doubt in my mind that Medal of Honor will dethrone Call of Duty this fall.

Now that’s an obviously very bold statement to make about one of the biggest franchises in video game history, so I should explain where I’m coming from. First of all, the game’s single player is being handled by EALA, and takes place during the early phases of the Iraq War (2003/2002) before it was even called the Iraq War. Medal of Honor doesn’t hide from its recent history, so you’ll be hearing about reasons why the war started, and you’ll know you’re fighting the Taliban and Osama Bin Landen. On the flipside of that, the developers assured us that the game is not trying to make a political statement, they just want to make a good game.

Medal of Honor takes place in Afghanistan 2003

The meat and potatoes of the game are split up over multiple characters. EALA only confirmed that you’ll be playing as both the Army Rangers and Tier 1 Operatives, but hinted at the fact that there would be multiple characters past these two. Greg Goodrich of EALA compared the Tier 1 operatives as the “Scapel,” a group of highly trained and deadly warriors who covertly infiltrate enemy lines and tip the balance in our favor. The Army Rangers act as the “Sledgehammer,” an unadulterated force that can bring down the thunder when required.

Despite the promise that there will be multiple characters, the real focus is on these Tier 1 Operatives. The rank “Tier 1” actually exists in the real American Army, but goes by a codename that most civilians do not know about. EALA did extensive research on this rank, the people in it, and even got a chance to speak directly to a few people who served under this elite title. The influence of speaking to these soldiers has apparently affected how the game was designed. The team is steadfast in creating a war game that is both respectful to the individuals portrayed in it as well as making it enjoyable to play through.

Speaking of which, how does the campaign work? For the most part it plays out as a linear first person shooter. In each mission you have set objectives that have to be completed in the order they’re given to you. What’s different about Medal of Honor compared to other competitors is that it isn’t as focused on set pieces. The minute-to-minute gameplay is more tactical and can play out differently depending how you approach situations. You’ll be clearing houses with your team, and sometimes you’ll decide to take a stealthy approach with knife kills and melees, or other times it’s just best to go in guns blazing.

The only time you’ll see a door, is when you’re about to kick it down

It’s entirely possible to play through the same mission two different wants depending on how much you want to rely on your teammates. That said, there are no direct squad commands in Medal of Honor, your friendly AI will carry out their own procedures and flank/charge accordingly. The teammate AI has also been tuned to actually be helpful in firefights. Unlike previous entries in the MOH franchise, your squad members can actually pick off enemies that are giving you a hard time and overall are very reliable.

Although there is an obvious focus on the tactical gameplay and clearing houses or traversing through valleys and mountains, there are still going to be a few memorable set pieces within the game. One particular demo we got to see was the Army Rangers taking down a machine gun emplacement. The Rangers pushed forward as the gargantuan gun obliterated walls of cover and rained terror on unfortunate allies. The team eventually got close enough to call in an air strike, after popping smoke and a short wait the gun’s location was replaced with an enormous explosion. The dust that was generated as a result ended up covering the entire battlefield and reduced visibility for a short amount of time. Needless to say, it was very cool, and really pushed the graphical fidelity to its fullest.

In fact Medal of Honor as a whole looks like a very good game on the graphics front. The art designers put in a lot of work of surveying areas similar to Afghanistan and making the level design believable and close to how it is over in the Middle East. There’s an obvious rigidness to the terrain and the landscape is filled with mountains, hills, canyons, valleys, and all sorts of height differential environments. The level design also doesn’t follow a strict corridor pathway. There are some obvious restraints on how far you can go in any one direction, but it still very much feels like a big open desert, even if you can’t walk across the entire thing.

The environmental design is jaw-dropping

The more important part of the technical side of development is the Artificial Intelligence. An entire section of the community day was dedicated to looking at the AI of Medal of Honor. On a very basic level, the animations and mannerisms of both the friendly and enemy units have been overhauled from Medal of Honor’s last release, Airborne. Every AI now has a variety of movement abilities, they can still walk and run, but they’ve also added full-on sprints as well as limps and crawls after being shot. Even whilst running, the AI will react to nearby fire by attempting to duck away from the bullets or make a sharp turn to avoid incoming fire.

In the event the AI does get caught by a bullet, there is realistic implementation of hit-detection. Every unit has a different animation depending on where it was shot and how lethal of a hit it was. Units that manage to hold on to dear life will attempt to limp away, or if shot in the stomach they will curl up in the fetal position and hope for survival. It’s sort of odd to talk about all the ways your enemy can die, but it adds a realism layer to the game that most other releases tend to forget or not bother with.

However everything so far is peanuts compared to what the audience is really looking forward to: Multiplayer and the big hook of Medal of Honor. Unlike every game ever made, Medal of Honor is actually being created by two different developers simultaneously. The single player is handled by Electronic Arts Los Angeles, while the multiplayer is being created by DICE (Digital Illusions Creative Entertainment), the famous creators of the Battlefield franchise. DICE wanted to make a multiplayer game that was not related to Battlefield since the fanbase of that series demand a certain type of gameplay and additions. This means big ideas such as increasing how fast the pacing in the game is and how important the vehicles are wouldn’t fly in Battlefield, but are free-game in Medal of Honor.

Multiplayer is very fast paced and tense

We got to play multiplayer extensively over two maps. One was entitled “Helmand Valley” and the other was “Kabul City Ruins.” Multiplayer supports 24 players online, and both games modes we got to play were team based which meant 12v12. We first played Helmand Valley, a large-scale objective map that had one team attacking five objectives while the other defended. The valley was enormous and had several stages depending on which objective the defenders were on. The game ends when either the defenders complete the last objective or the defenders lose the total amount of lives they were given at the start.

This game mode was a lot more similar to a Battlefield-style type of game, but the pacing of the game is very fast in comparison. The controls go for an obvious arcade-like feel and grip as opposed to the Battlefield slow and heavy inertia. There was also one tank on the map that only the defenders could use to help take down the numerous walls and outposts they had to breach to get to the final objective. I personally felt that the balance between infantry and vehicle was perfect. The tank didn’t seem all that important, but when it was used at the correct time it was vital to the success of the defenders. That being said, the tank is also relatively easy to take down as long as you gear up correctly.

Speaking of which, the other big thing for Medal of Honor is the loadout options. The obvious comparison is made to Modern Warfare, but instead of picking perks and extra grenades, you modify what type of gun you’re bringing and how you want it speced out. You can choose between a grenade launcher for extra efficient, or maybe a silencer and go covert? There were also numerous options for scopes, magazines, and other variations that can be matched up with any play style.

This man is pointing a gun at your face

There is also a leveling system that unlocks more guns and accessories, but we didn’t get a good look at how that was planned out or what the higher levels got in comparison to the lower levels. However DICE did say that any person who reaches the highest rank will acquire the ability to grow a beard on their character model to show the rest of the world how they’ve conquered the leveling chain.

The second map available was Kabul City Ruins. This map was played in Team Deathmatch mode, and it was vicious throughout the entire experience. Kabul City Ruins is a map that is designed to have no safety ever. Every corner can be flanked, every building has at least four entrances, and there is no safe haven for anyone. This forced players on both teams to be constantly moving and raiding other sides of the map and rely on their quick reflexes instead of methodically paced tactics. In comparison to the Valley, this map was much smaller but made sense considering the design was made to evoke that tension of being snuck up on at any second. The Kabul City Ruins map was not only fun to play, but probably one of the better designed multiplayer maps I have played over any game, let alone shooters.

Finally, there is one final modification to the multiplayer formula made in Medal of Honor, and that is the offensive and defensive actions. Whenever a player cumulates enough points by doing actions such as reaching objectives, killing enemies, or assisting allies they are rewarded with a tier of abilities. Offensive actions are triggered with the left D-Pad direction, and defensive is deployed through the right D-Pad direction. Offensive gives the player more and more advanced explosive actions. It starts with mortars, then artillery, and eventually if the player is killed enough they can unlock the S.C.U.D. missile and beyond. On the defensive actions, players can choose to help their teammates out in various ways. The first level is a simple UAV (that can be shot down), but further down the line abilities such as body armor, or instant ammo are granted to your teammates for an extended period of time.

This guy could probably use a defensive ability

Although these abilities sound like a pretty insignificant change to the formula, they actually make a sizable difference when it comes to the overall battlefield. If you’re on an objective map and have to rush a machine gun, it’s probably easier with enforced body armor, at the same time other play styles could choose to launch a SCUD missile at the machine gun and hope that fixes their problem. This small variation to what has been tried and true proves to work out for the better in the grander scale of things.

I played Medal of Honor multiplayer for three or four hours straight. When given the option to eat lunch or keep playing, I kept playing. As someone who isn’t that big into multiplayer games in general, that means a lot. Maybe it was because I was destroying everyone else in the game (doing TalkXbox proud, 32 kills 2 deaths in one match! WOOT WOOT) but I believe, at its core, Medal of Honor has an edge on the competition. Two developers mean twice the amount of effort, it’s a benefit that not many developers have and it seems to be doing a lot of good to the final product.

Medal of Honor is scheduled for release this October 12th 2010.  There is also a multiplayer beta that is supposed to be released relatively soon.  Look for a news post on that later in the coming weeks. When I landed in Los Angeles, I had the assumption that this community day would just be an effort made by EA to seem relevant in a majorly dominated Call of Duty market. But after leaving three days later (and seeing Black Ops recently, I mean… come on) this Fall looks like it is going to be very competitive.

Despite a recent ‘alliance’ between Bungie and Activision, Bungie insist that they have no plans to work on any IP they don’t own. Halo lovers needn’t worry, as Bungie have kept the rights to the franchise, along with complete creative control.

According to ‘codvietnamnews,’ a magnitude of info on the new CoD game has been posted on the official game forums. David Vonderhaar (the multiplayer design director for Treyarch,) has given away several bits of info on the upcoming fps.

Celebrate the release of Modern Warfare 2’s stimulus package map pack with double the amount of experience. From now till April 5th everything will be DOUBLED. Which means next time you frag some kills, be sure to display your broaden sense of sportsman ship and say their death was two times better than usual. This double XP week is for all players, so you don’t need the stimulus package to get the benefits. That’s probably a good thing since those maps seem way over priced.

Due for release on November  11th, Call of Duty: World at War, thanks to its immensely popular predecessor, is one of the most anticipated releases this festive season, rivalling even the almighty colossus – Epic’s Gears of War 2.  On Monday the 13th, beta codes for the game were distributed and we at talkxbox.com are ready to bring you the lowdown on just what it is you’ve got to look forward to in Activision’s latest WW2 shooter.

After being greeted with a message of thanks from developers Treyarch and a brief explanation that the beta test is merely a sneak peak at what’s to come, I was thrown straight into the multiplayer lobby screen.  At the offset many of the options were unavailable; some were due to beta restrictions (such as level cap at 11) and others a result of the class level restraints seen previously in Call of Duty 4.

The first port of call was selection of game mode.  Many more possibilities are reportedly going to be made accessible in the final retail build of the game.  During beta the choices were limited to five:

•    War – Team based command point capture.
•    Capture The Flag – Standard CTF style match
•    Team Deathmatch – Players 6-12.
•    Pick Up TDM – Team Deathmatch rules albeit with no parties allowed.
•    Free For All – Everyone for himself.

As expected, the soldier class system from Call of Duty 4 also returns in World at War: Rifleman, Light Gunner and Heavy Gunner. The Close Assault and highly favoured Sniper classes are easily acquired by level three after which point the game judges you well enough acquainted with the basics. Finally, the offer to create custom classes is granted at level four, enabling you to mix and match various weapon kits and perks.

Weaponry is what you’d expect from a WW2 era game. Riflemen are initially assigned SVT-40’s, Light Gunners have Thompson SMG’s and the Heavy Gunners come equipped with a Japanese Type 99 with the regulatory sidearm, Colt 91911, (which you can later swap out for a Nambu or German Walther P38).  Additional guns are available after reaching certain skill ranks.  Attachments such as silencers and telescopic sights are unlocked upon completing challenge milestones.

Some of the guns available to you in multiplayer are as follows:

Perks are also back with three customizable slots ready for your needs and an all new ‘vehicle perk’ (currently only contains abilities for the tank turret – Water Cooler and Greased Bearings). Similar to weaponry, the perks are also themed towards the early 1940’s era with RPG’s replaced by M9A1 Bazooka rockets and Tabun gas replacing the tear gas. The often loathed martyrdom perk also makes its re-appearance at level 20. Rather annoyingly, due to the beta level cap being so low, I was unable to observe the blast radius for the much-reviled suicidal grenade drop.  Finally, the widely previewed M2 flamethrower is offered at the lofty level of 65, again making it unavailable to test during preview.

Challenges remain remarkably similar to what was offered in Infinity Wards game, a selection being:

•    Recon Plane Inbound – Kill 3 enemies and call in radar.
•    Sayonara – Fall 30 feet to your death.
•    Bartender – Kill an enemy with a Molotov cocktail
•    Knife Veteran – Kill 3 enemies with the knife attack.

Further challenges seem to be made available after level 15, for now these remain locked away until final release.

Finally, all the party options from CoD: 4 are present for this iteration in the series, enabling you to easily transfer an assembled party from one match to another. Annoying children (of which there are many) are also easily muted in lobby with a swift strike of the ‘X’ button.

There are a total of three maps available for you to play in the beta game:

1.    Roundhouse

Roundhouse is an urban flavoured, medium sized map. Set in an abandoned train depot, it contains plenty of destroyed rail carts and derelict, artillery shelled buildings to use as cover. This level also importantly allows the player to climb into either a Sherman or Panzer tank giving a taste for what the vehicle combat will be like.

2.    Makin

The Makin map is of a Pacific theatre theme. Set at the dead of night with a thick jungle surrounding the outskirts, wooden huts are elevated above a waist height water level separated by gangways.  Players are given the option of either fortifying themselves in one of the ramshackle hovels up above or silently sneaking in the murky shadows of the water below.

3.    Castle

This final map (as the name would suggest) is set around a Japanese castle courtyard. Containing stone walled buildings overgrown with a variety of shrubbery, a shrewd sniper can find a good prone position and easily pick off unsuspecting foes. With plenty of elevated areas, a carefully directed artillery strike can also wreak considerable havoc on the unsuspecting enemy ants.

The gameplay and movement controls will immediately feel right at home with CoD veteran players. The weaponry available to you doesn’t have the same rate of automatic fire found in Modern Warfare for obvious technological reasons.  Despite this, most guns from our modern age have some form of equivalent within World at War. The gunshots sound meaty and realistic with only the exception of artillery strikes which instead sound like a mix between a beached whale and a dog in mating season.

Graphically, apart from the obvious character model textures now representing WW2 soldiers, not a whole lot has changed. Even after nearly a year since CoD: 4 the engine still looks stunning and runs at a consistent frame rate despite whatever chaos is ensuing.

The new attack abilities certainly have a game changing effect on proceedings, notably the seven kill streak ‘Dog Attack’ which quite literally had the whole lobby of players running around oblivious of one another attempting to escape from the marauding mutts. The game’s pace is arguably a little slower than CoD: 4 but by no means has it slowed down to a B.I.A or G.R.A.W speed and is unlikely to make much of an impact on the casual player.

The tanks available in the ‘Roundhouse’ map are relatively easy to enter and maneuver and, despite their overwhelming firepower, are easily combated with on-foot soldiers’ satchel charges, bazooka fire and anti-tank grenades keeping the game balance intact.

Call of Duty: World at War seems to be shaping up to be more of the same FPS action seen last year, nothing more and nothing less. If you enjoyed CoD: 4 along with the millions of others in the same boat, then the chances are the similarities between the two titles will draw you back for several more months of challenge completion and prestige hunting. Predictably, those difficult, hard to please few, holding out for the same kind of breath taking advancement seen between CoD: 3 and 4 might just have to wait to see what creators Infinity Ward have up their sleeve for us next year.

Ending on a positive note, considering how long in the tooth the WW2 formula has now become, this could end up being the last definitive must play WW2 FPS of all time. Against the odds of overwhelming criticism, Treyarch have seemingly “done good.”