.co.uk Review Medal of Honor has been a huge hit on the console systems. Now PC owners get to see what the fuss has been all about. From the look of things, the fuss is warranted. Allied Assault takes users into a realistic re-creation of World War II and allows them the chance to pummel the Nazis. One of the levels is based on June 6, 1944--D-day. You start aboard a boat, facing Omaha Beach and almost certain death, while the soldiers around you alternately pray or just sit there looking green... not unlike recent war-film footage such as the opening scenes of Saving Private Ryan. But this is no surprise: Spielberg's Dreamworks studio has had a hand in the development. One of the innovations the game is touting is the range of realistic facial expressions given to the characters. Nazi soldiers look angry, or fearful as you surprise them. Your own compatriots on the landing craft look positively frightened or grim. Other missions will have you playing sniper in a ruined French town, disabling a Tiger Tank platoon and other missions based on WWII fact and speculation. WWII isn't often given realistic treatment in first-person shooters (such as Return of Castle Wolfenstein) but that's what makes this one special and so hotly anticipated. --Andrew S Bub Manufacturer's Description In Medal of Honor Allied Assault from Electronic Arts, players will assume the role of Lt. Mike Powell, member of the famed 1st Ranger Battalion who gets recruited by the OSS and battles through over 20 levels that are based on historical military campaigns of World War II. Set during the most trying years of the war, 1942-1945, Medal of Honor Allied Assault gives players a sense of the courage it took to survive the landings at Normandy, the assault at Arzew, a rendezvous with the Resistance outside the village of St. Lo, and the push through the heavily defended border of Germany itself to take the bridge at Remagen. Staying true to all the gameplay features that made Medal of Honor one of the most acclaimed and best-selling games launched in 1999, Medal of Honor Allied Assault will build on the success of that game and add new player weapons, new interactive Allied vehicles such as Sherman tanks and M3 Half Tracks, smarter enemy AI, and the ability to call for artillery strikes. Medal of Honor Allied Assault is headquartered in Cabinet War Rooms at Whitehall, dispatching players on numerous campaigns, each with specific objectives to meet in terms of infiltration, execution and exfiltration. Missions will be based in the deserts of North Africa, on the bloody shores of France, across the tundra of Norway, and, ultimately, over the Rhine into Nazi Germany. These missions range from silencing the gun batteries at Port Arzew, to sabotaging U-boats at the sub pens of Trondheim, surviving the landing at Omaha Beach, and finally, holding the Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen- the only battle where the Germans used their dreaded V2 rockets in a tactical capacity.
R**E
Most enjoyable FPS
This was only released on Friday 15th February so I don't know where the previous reviewers got their copies from. Anyway, brilliant game. I've been playing for most of the week-end so have got through quite a few levels, hopefully there are a lot more to come. I hadn't thought about the linearity of the levels until I read the reviews below. To be honest, it's not necessarily a bad thing. Wandering around large levels trying to work out what to do next can be tedious - but it does not happen in this game. For me it is a lot more entertaining than Return to Castle Wolfenstein even though that was a good game. In this, the final version, it does not start with the Omaha Beach level. This is sensible as Omaha beach would be a fairly tough start. There is a fairly short training level and a couple of missions before you get to D-Day. Omaha beach really is just like in Saving Private Ryan. Quite often the music reminds you of it and sometimes when you see bombed out houses. The sound in the game is worth a special mention as the effects and the music are top class and really add to the atmosphere. Perhaps if you analyse the game it may seem heavily scripted. But admire it for what it is. Having allied planes flying over blowing the front off a building as you walk up a street is not going to happen unless it has been designed in. You get to drive a tank and blow up every building in sight in a couple of levels. As for AI, as a game designer said recently, if the AI was that realistic you wouldn't last more than a few seconds. I have to make frequent quick-saves because I die fairly frequently, so it is difficult enough.On the downside, quite a few crashes, and on my machine every time I load a saved game from scratch (i.e. for the first time having started the program) it tries to dial up (which I cancel) and then the display flickers in wierd colours. Once loaded I have to hit the "my computer" button on my MS Internet keyboard then go back (otherwise the mouse does not work!) to change the video settings. Having changed the video settings everything is OK and I can go back to the setting I had before. Once you get through this the game runs smoothly but sometimes you encounter a crash where the only way out is the reboot button. (System: Windows 98, Epox 8HKA+, 256mb DDR, AMD XP 1600+, Radeon 7500).The problems are not enough to lose the 5-star rating and, to be fair, most games give me problems at some point.Overall it is the best first person shooter so far .... probably.
M**H
Jaw Dropping!!
I'm not normally a great fan of first person shooters, I found that they were pretty much all the same and had storylines that made the tweenies look realistic. I wasn't sure weather to hit the buy now button or not, after reading a few reviews I decided to give it a try. WOW!!!! As soon as the first mission loaded I was hooked. Stunning visuals and an awesome soundtrack makes this game an essential to your collection. Graphics making you fell as if YOU are fighting the battles yourself is waht games should always be like. The soundtrack is brilliant, a sort of John Williams soundtrack that even puts the great Metal Gear Solid 2 to shame. The plot is vert realistic from imvading a German village (great) to running out of the sea onto the shore to raid the German trenches and gun towers. The character AI is very impressive, Soldiers will talk to each other and act depending on what you do, for instance, if you hessitate to shoot, the sodier will say things like "what the hell's the matter with you? shoot!" Overall this game is a must buy. 10/10 War Never Looked So Good
J**R
WARNING!
I have been delivered two items WARCHEST with two expansions Spearhead and Breakthrough rubbish edition, instead ordered pure MOHAA. Not possible to run, once installed I did all to run the game, without success, after twenty times uninstalling and repeated installation, I've been force to purchase removing manager for additional £29 to clean registry and whole stuff left during that process. Meantime I spotted there both expansionsare Spearhead and there is no Breakthrough expansion in place. Silly mistake done when copied or prepared by the vendor. Shame in this situation is one of these items was handed to one of my clients as a gift. I am not an IT but I know there is some way to change game parameters to properly install and play on Windows 7.
J**E
Excellent FPS fun
This game does what it set out to do very well. It's an excellent first person shooter. The music and graphics are very atmospheric and the missions are well scripted. The Omaha beach level, in particular, is the stuff of legend.Having said that, PC gamers should bear in mind that MOHAA is not a military sim (like Operation Flashpoint or Ghost Recon) and it is not FPS with role-playing and adventure elements (like Deus Ex). So, the single player game is quite linear and the focus is purely on action. That's not a downside, it's the nature of the game.The game is not without fault, though. It's rather short and you may have a few technical problems getting it to work.
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