ElectronicArts.jpgBy now everyone knows how I love FPS games and especially war-themed ones. Throw in the fact Jason loves them as well and we both have logged in more hours than I care to admit. When the Xbox 360 launched, I remember making a statement that this will finally give game developers a chance to really challenge gamers with new AI systems and better overall gameplay. While the graphics have been enhanced, I have to be honest and say the games are not as challenging as I wanted them to be. A lot of our readers may think we just play through a game and then review it and move on to the next one. Well, at times we do need to limit the time we spend on each title, but after hours you can find us on Xbox Live playing our favorites. Chances are it’s an FPS we are playing.

Now as die hard fans we just don’t sit and play. We also talk about “what if” (as I like to call it). For example, what if game devolpers made an AI system smart enough to know we are going to go back around and flank the other side? Another “what if” is how about letting us cook a grenade so it would explode as soon as it lands causing more damage? While the list of “what ifs” has grown with each new title to pass our desks, the number one wish would be an AI smart enough to get behind us and start shooting—knowing our pattern and reacting in real time. After all, we all want realistic gameplay and it just seems that most games no matter the overall fun factor are still lacking the true AI element. When you look at it honestly, the FPS genre has become nothing more than a system of one way ins and outs. In shooting games we call this a “rail shooter” and while they can be fun, it just seems its the same thing with a different look or war arena.

It’s funny how timing works; I recently got an invite to attend the Medal of Honor Airborne Summit at EA’s LA Studio’s. I accepted and hoped that this one would show some of the great things the first game did in the series. Of course I had plenty of questions and suggestions for the team. Read on to see my thoughts of EA’s Medal of Honor Airborne.

Medal of Honor Screenshots

Medal of Honor Airborne Screenshot

Medal of Honor Airborne Screenshot

Medal of Honor Airborne Screenshot

View all Medal Of Honor Airborne Screens and Photos

The Morning Briefing and First Impressions

Justin “BlackHat” lead us all to the main room where we would be talking with the team and playing the latest build. We were all told before attending that the focus would be on the single-player aspects of the game, so everything you read here is with the single-player mode only. Justin loaded up a few trailers on the big screen showing some of the key features of the game. Patrick Gilmore walked in and introduced himself as the Executive Producer. Patrick is the type of person I love to meet when attending community events. He is passionate about his job and within ten minutes of his overview of the game I could tell he plays games and asks the same “what if” questions that we like to ask. Right off the bat he discussed four of the main things I wanted to see in a FPS game. He also used the term Rail Shooter and the more he spoke, you could tell how excited he was to show off the game. Team members came and went as it normally is events like this, so I will mention everyone at the end of the preview. We talked about the AI system and I saw something I had been waiting for: an enemy solider started shooting from the back of the main character. MOHA has an advanced AI system that will seek out the player and try and flank, trap and even beat him down until he is dead.

We also heard about the “Start Anywhere” feature. Simply stated you can choose to start anywhere in the game by landing in one of the safe zones or land in a hornet’s nest so to speak. With the new AI and being able to land anywhere in the map, this means that no two games will ever be alike. Here is where I and others started asking questions. Let’s face it; any game out there has 3, maybe 4 things that will happen while attacking. While the order is changed, you already know after playing it for a while what to expect. Patrick explained that this is exactly what the team wanted to avoid. I sat there with my wheels spinning thinking how I could test this out when I got my hands on the build. The time came to turn on the 360’s and start playing. Of course during Patrick’s first presentation he showed us an overview and told us if we would land in a certain area, we would be in for a hard time. So I decided to try and land in that area. I quickly found out why Patrick warned us as I saw the death scene pop up rather quickly. Patrick, Justin and others were walking around watching us all play and to answer questions. I then tried another route and this time went for a more practical location to start from. I also tried out a few of the new ways of targeting an enemy. You can switch weapons and lean out to get the right angle for a shot. I wanted to try cooking a grenade and then throwing it to see how the targeting system worked with this weapon. After a little practice, it worked great!

Patrick walked up and suggested I try moving to higher ground and test out the jumping and other moving controls. Overall this has to be one of the coolest things in the game. It takes a little practice, but the fact you can quickly change the fight from the ground to a higher point is impressive. One other new feature is earning weapon upgrades. The more you use a single weapon, you earn points by headshots or bouncing a grenade off a wall into a bunch of enemies you are rewarded. Icons appear on the screen showing your rewards. Upgrades will show up, 3 for each weapon. This will also give players the new challenge to upgrade each weapon in the game. We all have seen it or done it in any WWII-themed FPS game. We take a sniper rifle and blast off 4-5 shots at a rapid clip. In real life you would not land a single shot anywhere near the person or target you were aiming at. Somehow in the gaming world this is too forgiving and rapid headshots happen all the time. Not with MOHA, the trigger is set-up as a pressure sensitive control. Gently squeezing the shot off at the right time scores you more points as well as a better or perfect shot. I also noticed that when jumping from the plane I found a few different landing icons appear. A botched landing means you blew it and you will slowly get up but in the wrong area. Being in the wrong area makes you a sitting target. A flanged landing means you get out of your gear in a quick pace and made the right adjustments. A greased landing means you really cut away the chute and gear right before hitting the ground and is the fastest way of landing. Almost 2 hours had gone by and we had to stop for a quick lunch and some more details on the game.

Medal of Honor Airborne Videos

Here are a few videos of the game and the developers making the game:

MOHA — Q&A Session

Lunch was also a chance for a quick Q&A session for both us and the team. I can’t possibly tell you each new feature in the game but it was only part way through the day and I loved what I saw so far. We did get a better understanding of how the weapons upgrades worked and the overall game. It was explained that the game is different since you can start anywhere while you find objectives. It works like other games, but it’s far from anything I have seen in a FPS on Next-Gen consoles. I soon learned by the others who attended that they were also impressed. Each question asked lead into a better understanding of the game. My two concerns were about the lighting in a few areas and the controls, which seemed a little tight at times. I had to remember that this was not the final build and we did not get to see everything. However, we were assured that they were not done with the graphics or controls yet. It seems EA is going to have a great WWII game on their hands when it is finished.

Hands — On Part II and Round Table Q&A

Having a better understanding of the controls and how to get in certain areas, I wanted to play a bit more. I soon was able to land in windows just like in the trailer I saw. I also found the AI to be smarter than any WWII FPS game I have played. While trying to test things out, it was neat to find some of the secrets in the game. I have to admit learning the timing of the melee attacks was a little tricky and throw in the fact they can block and land their own attacks was a real challenge. You may have seen other write-ups talking about details of the missions. I decided not to touch on this for several reasons. I was able to play the game with weapons already unlocked. After seeing the game and hearing all the time and effort that went into this one, I would not want to ruin anything for the FPS fan waiting for this. I can tell you this in the form of a direct quote from everyone on the team. As far as mission goes “we promise when gamers see what we have waiting for them — they will say Holy ****”

As I played more and listened to what inspired the team to use the 82nd Airborne angle, I can honestly say this is not a run and gun type of game and players who attempt this method will die in record time. It has been carefully laid out to recreate the realistic feeling of jumping or being thrown from the plan to any number of drop zones. How you get to the each objective is up to you as the player. The allies learning your location and helping you out helped to create a very realistic game.

Time goes by quickly at these events and it was time for our Round Table Q&A. Here is where the whole team sits down and listens to what we thought. It’s also a chance to try and pick their brain and find out about “DLC” and other things in the works. Each question, suggestion and comment was addressed and there were several times I saw Patrick and others writing things down. I have had the opportunity to attend several of the events and I have to be honest, no other team listened and answered with as many details like the MOHA team did. They also assured us that in the way of “DLC” there will be in game content added on the marketplace and not in the way of cheats.

They commented that they want this game to be different and that includes any free or premium “DLC”. I liked hearing this from them and believe they will make good on this. I walked away from the event with several positive impressions, but the one thing that was loud and clear is that EA is trying to do things differently including making a strong effort to evaluate feedback. We were heard and they appreciated the feedback and comments. This to me is a very important indicator that they want to make better games and try and think outside the box.

I also have plans for an interview or another article before the game launches. Even though the game was not completed, I can say Medal of Honor Airborne is going to be a game that brings back the franchise to the spot it was when it first launched. As soon as we have any information on the multi-player feature, it will be posted. Make sure to take a look at the screenshots and if you get the chance, download the trailer off the marketplace.

Special Thanks to

Executive Producer – Patrick Gilmore
Producer – Matt Marsala
Writer/Design Director – Jon “JPaq” Paquette
AI Engineer – Tim Ford
Community Manager – BlackHat

Written by XBS Head Writer Rich Reed

Filed under: Previews • Xbox 360

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