In many ways, the multiplayer of Medal Of Honor is very familiar. If you've played Modern Warfare 2 and Bad Company 2, you've played this game. Developed by DICE, the multiplayer combines the animations (from reloading all the way down to the weapon bob) and graphics from Bad Company 2 with the fast paced gameplay and customization of Modern Warfare 2. In a way, the lack of originality seems like a big hit to the quality of the game. But then again, the two popular first person shooters from which this game gained much inspiration are great, so what's to hate?
Regardless of how upset you may be at the "unoriginality", it would be imprudent to say that Medal Of Honor isn't a fun game to play. And that's what may be a selling point for people. It's fun to play, and that's one of the things that has got me excited to see the final product. Playing the beta, however, I couldn't help but notice all of the similarities to Modern Warfare 2 and Bad Company 2. So, I aim to point out the similarities that I noticed in this blog, so that you, my ever so faithful reader, can truly understand where this game gets its ideas.
Modern Warfare 2
At least DICE calls this the red dot sight, and not the holographic sight Probably the most hated and loved shooter on the market today, Modern Warfare 2 and its predecessor, Call Of Duty 4, popularized the idea of customizable weapons and classes with the mainstream audience. DICE recognizes that people like the ability to slap on red dots or suppressors on their guns when they feel like it, so Medal Of Honor gives players the ability to do so. The way you unlock attachments and new weapons is different, however, but I will cover that in the next section. Still, there is something oddly satisfying about unlocking a new sight for your weapon and using it against your enemies in the next match. In addition to the normal red dot sights and silencers are different bullet types and magazines you can utilize to further modify your guns. However, there aren't any loadouts that you customize. Instead, you have classes that can only use specific weapons. For example, the sniper uses sniper rifles and the special ops guy uses submachine guns and rocket launchers. So, you'll unlock new guns and attachments for the classes as you play.
Medal Of Honor has scorechains, which are essentially interesting twists on killstreaks. So the first scorechain you get is awarded after gaining 40 points and the number of points needed increases after that. I'm not exactly a big fan of killstreaks, so it's disappointing to see that DICE has incorporated scorechains into the multiplayer.
Another thing I quickly noticed was the fast paced nature of the game. It doesn't take many hits to die, and conversely it doesn't take many shots to kill an enemy. In the Team Deathmatch game mode, there aren't any respawn times, so death really isn't a huge deal. Movement is fast, killing is fast, everything is fast compared to Bad Company 2.
Bad Company 2
Fire up Bad Company 2, reload the M4A1, then fire up Medal Of Honor and reload the M4. Surprised? Some may argue that the comparisons to Bad Company 2 are less apparent, but to me they are probably more apparent than the Modern Warfare 2 comparisons. Medal Of Honor's multiplayer runs on the Frostbite engine, which powered both of the Bad Company games including Battlefield 1943. As a result, Medal Of Honor visually looks more similar to Bad Company 2 than Modern Warfare 2. This certainly isn't a terrible thing, as Bad Company 2 isn't a bad looking game, but Modern Warfare 2 is the more impressive game aesthetically. The Frostbite engine powering the game also means that the reloading animations for a lot of the weapons are the same as they were in Bad Company 2. This is easily the most strangest similarity I've noticed, since identical reloading animations suggests that the developer injected aspects of their own game into another. Thus, Medal Of Honor begins to feel less like an individual game and more like a collaboration of games in a way. It even goes down to the weapon bob, both when running like normal and sprinting.
In Conclusion
As I stated earlier, Medal Of Honor feels like a collaboration of two great games rather than an individual game that is capable of standing out on its own. It lacks many distinguishing features, but the two games that inspires its existence are terrific shooters, so surely Medal Of Honor can only turn out right..... right? I think it would be terribly rash of someone to dismiss the game based solely on the beta alone. Conversely, it wouldn't necessarily be right for someone to praise the game in its early stages. DICE still has a long way to go to make Medal Of Honor a truly great shooter. Let's just hope the studio is devoting most of its time to fixing some of the most prevalent bugs, like the 1 second lag that occurs when you die and the mysterious white red dot sights. Medal Of Honor will need to be near perfect to stand next to Modern Warfare 2 and Bad Company 2. All DICE needs is a little support from the fans.
14 Comments
