Medal of Honor Underground First Impressions

DreamWorks and EA's shooter Medal of Honor shipped to the PlayStation last November, and it was billed as "the closest thing you're going to get to GoldenEye 007 on the PlayStation," by videogames.com reviewer Joe Fielder. Now the game's sequel, Medal of Honor Underground, is making its way to the PlayStation this fall.

In the new version, you'll play as the character Manon (Jimmy Patterson's "control" from the original game), who is working with the French Resistance movement to free her fellow citizens from the Germans. Medal of Honor Underground's storyline actually makes the game a prequel to the first Medal of Honor game, and it takes place at the time when the Nazis occupied France and retained Italy as an Axis power. EA has employed the counsel of several WWII veterans, including the former president of the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, and two female authors - one of whom is a French Resistance movement survivor to help developers focus on the role of women in WWII.

The new Medal of Honor game will feature new artillery (including a German sniper rifle and pistol crossbow), new enemy tanks, motorcycles and such, and enhanced AI for enemies and allies. Your allies, for example, will be able to offer assistance The game will feature seven missions - spanning 22 fully 3D levels in France, Germany, Greece, Italy, and North Africa - and involve getting in, pulling off your objective, and getting out successfully. One feature that will help you with this task is a disguise mode that lets you sneak around as someone else - namely, low-profile passersby such as ambulance drivers and such.

Medal of Honor Underground will feature a two-player split-screen mode as well as actual WWII footage, as in the first game. We'll have more on the PlayStation title soon.