Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault Review

Review Platform: PC

Pacific Assault

This chapter marks the sixth installment in the Medal of Honor franchise and another difficult challenge for the creators at EA games in holding their own against the recent success of Activision's Call of Duty. Bent on a comeback, this time with an impressive new graphics and physics engine, the story takes place during the events of Pearl Harbor and unfolds with the player fighting through pivotal battles against the forces of Japan.

Gameplay

Even with so many World War II titles coming out of the woodwork nowadays, Pacific Assault continues to impress - especially in the tension department. As soon as you start the single player campaign, you are instantly catapulted into a combat zone clearly reminiscent of the opening scene from Saving Private Ryan. Through the eyes of your character, Tommy Conlin, you forcibly attempt to make your way up from the ocean, manning a gunship in the process as you take down enemies from all directions. It's a spectacular battle that doesn't last long before you are inevitably hit by a mortar. After a short cutscene, you'll find yourself back in training camp alongside your squad. Understandably, this serves as both a necessary instructional guide and a chance for plotline development in which you bond with your buddies, but it's just too long.

Firearms and Health

Considering that I passed the opening sequence five times with my superior marksmanship, I was pretty sure I knew how to handle a firearm. My commanding officer thought differently and so began the grueling task of learning how to fire every gun-type in the game. There are, however, some points that should be noted if any player is planning to survive the game as it becomes increasingly difficult later on. This includes the proper use of a Medic, who will always be on standby to recover your health as you sustain what will be several injuries in battle. It's important to also remember that you'll only be able to use him three times during a mission, so depending on how good you are, you should either play it safe if or call on him sparingly as there will be no canteens or health packs littered generously along your path like there were in the previous games.

Pearl Harbor Scene

From this point following the completion of your training and another cutscene, you will ship out and begin your assignment as a station unit on Pearl Harbor. It's a scene straight out of the movie by the same name. You'll ride around peacefully enjoying the sights on your first day when you suddenly see two American fighter jets at low altitude using evasive maneuvers. As they stream past you, you suddenly realize they are being chased by Japanese airplanes. Pearl Harbor is under attack and war is upon you. In what is perhaps the most adrenaline pumping, sweat inducing battle I've ever played on any game, it's worth noting that much of it is experienced without firing off a single shot. This is where the game spans remarkably beyond merely running and gunning. Instead, you go through the ensuing chaos trying to prevent the spread of destruction. You'll prevent a catastrophic explosion on a battleship and rescue your injured soldiers from a burning naval vessel that's about to fall apart. At one point, you'll reach the deck escaping the danger below only to be met with a dark crimson sky plagued with countless enemies surrounding you as you run to the nearest gunstation to defend your ship from oncoming fire. It's truely a magnificent sight to behold, but sadly, this is about as good as it gets, and where everything starts to teeter in the wrong direction.

Artificial Intelligence

For all the expectations I'd built up from everything up to that point, I was severely disappointed with the next few hours. During this time, I've noticed the lackluster quality of team AI (Artificial Intelligence). Logically, this would be common sense as the game largely depends on your skill, but I can't help but feel something's not right when I try to plant a bomb and find myself stabbed in the back while my teammates stand by and calmy observe. It's only when I actually plant the bomb and finish my objective when they spring into action and come to my aid, which only adds to the feeling that I am for the most part, fighting this war alone. The enemy, however, is much more menacing and bold; running away around corners only to charge back teeth bared with a raised bayonet when I let my guard down; hiding effectively and flanking at the perfect time. I found myself restarting on many occasions. What's more disappointing, is that you'll be doing this for the majority of the game until the last few missions when the action starts to pick up again. Another complaint would be the lack of a better custom mouse sensitivity option, which would have been useful as I found Medal of Honor extremely hard in some cases, even with a laser mouse, to flinch and react as quickly as I would in other games.

Graphics

The graphics in Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault are some of the best I've seen yet, but without a sufficient system, it can be a frustrating gaming experience. Even though I met the minimum settings for playability, I found there was still quite a bit of lag, especially in large scale battles like that of Pearl Harbor. For the most part, you will spend your time fighting in a dense forest, however. But if you want to ensure a lag-free experience in low settings, be sure to have at least a 2.0 Ghz CPU, 512 MB of RAM (minimum bandwith of PC3200), and a 128MB graphics card that supports the latest version of DirectX. Anything under that will give you some glitchy movements and a harder time taking down enemies.

Summary

If this is your first venture into the Medal of Honor series, you'll probably think it's the best thing since sliced bread, because it really is a great game. However, it offers nothing new and exciting. It has all been done before, and it loses points for the contrived and unworthy missions that are placed within a jungle setting for too long. Where it attempts to build a foundation for comradery, Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 does better. Where the action scenes are good, Medal of Honor: Allied Assault and Call of Duty are much more intense. It is a standup title on its own, but unfortunately, doesn't offer much standout gameplay. Better luck next time.