Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

20 to 40 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"All it's cracked up to be"

This is an update of my previous review of MOHAA (dated 9 November 2008, now deleted) at which time I rated it 9.0. I have just completed (Xmas 2010 holidays) my third play through of this grand old dame of WWII FPS and thought I'd share my thoughts.

I own MOHAA as part of the MOH Warchest compendium (including Spearhead and Breakthrough) and it was one of the first WWII FPS games I played. Since then I have played many others both pure FPS and tactical shooters set in WWII and other eras. As in those earlier days the COD series and the MOH series continue to go head to head in bringing us FPS fans greater gaming experiences albeit now they are set in the modern world of the terrorist era rather than WWII.

Replaying MOHAA brings back memories of the joys and frustrations experienced when originally played. The same feelings were experienced anew but with a far better GPU than I had back then the game looked a lot better than I remembered, although it still pales in that department to its contemporaneous COD and CODUO offerings. Nevertheless MOHAA's graphics (on maximum settings) hold up well and the missions are as enjoyable as ever.

One aspect of MOHAA , and indeed its add-ons, that urks me is that the main character, in this case Lt Powell an OSS agent, is sent on difficult covert missions behind enemy lines to blow up installations or retrieve documents, yet he is thrust back into frontline duties. This stretches credibility somewhat in that an asset like Lt Powell would perhaps not be considered for front line action where his talents would be wasted. Then again without such incongruous mission transitions we would not be able to experience the full impact of a Spielbergian Omaha Beach and I guess the result is we, the players, get to enjoy both types of combat. Quite a few of the missions have guard dogs ... they may be man's best friend, but they are NOT your best friend.

MOHAA has only six missions, but what long and involved missions, with multiple objectives, they are:

o Lighting the Torch ... a short behind the lines mission in Algeria in support of the Allied landings.
o Scuttling the U-529 ... behind the lines again, this time in Trondheim, Norway infiltrating a submarine base (a few dogs).
o Operation Overlord ... a lengthy frontline mission from Omaha Beach in all its virtual terror and into the Normandy bocage.
o Behind Enemy Lines ... assisting the French Resistance in diversionary raids, train wrecking, albeit largely alone (a few dogs).
o Day of the Tiger ... the "sniper town" mission, a personal favourite, steal a King Tiger and defend a bridge (no dogs).
o Return to Fort Schmerzen ... memorable for snow, mist, lots of hungry dogs and a nerve-wracking escape from an exploding underground base.

There is certainly something in one or more of these missions for even the most jaded FPS player and the single player campaign as a whole does deserve at least one complete play through. Operation Overlord is the keystone mission however it is the Return to Fort Schmerzen that presents some of the greatest challenges (apart from getting onto the shingle at Omaha Beach). I am now replaying Spearhead to be followed by Breakthrough, both of which I had previously rated as 8.5 (but not reviewed) and am also enjoying that experience and a review will follow in due course. Given the apparent stagnation of historical single player FPS games and the
ever more invasive DRM, I will no doubt revisit the WWII based COD games as well.

My earlier review stated that I prefered the COD series to MOH as the graphcs were better and the gameplay was similar. My view is a little different now, in that the COD missions seem to be more historically accurate and, yes, the graphics are better but MOHAA is, well, just more fun, even though the mission transitions are somewhat incongruous. I did have trouble reconciling my previous rating of 9.0 against my more recent gaming experiences and have revised MOHAA down to 8.5, although there are a lot of apples and oranges in the basket that make comparisons difficult.

OVERALL: Worth a playthrough. MOHAA is the best of the three originals (including Spearhead and Breakthrough) in a series that may have reached its peak with MOH Pacific Assault (or debatably MOH Airborne) and still one of the stand out WWII FPS games available.

As a final comment, I would heartily recommend Men of Valor, still one of the best 'Nam FPS games, by the design team behind MOHAA.