There are games out there that simply will not evolve. "Medal of Honor: Frontline" is sadly one of those franchises that has not improved since the original; in fact, with this installment, some aspects of the game have grown worse. You start out in the middle of the D-Day invasion, bullets singing over your head as you scramble toward the beach in an effort to give aid to your suppressed allies. At this point in the game it all seems very real; you actually feel like you're invading the beaches of Normandy, except you have a controller in your hand instead of an Army-issue rifle and you're probably sitting on your couch at home, Cheeto fragments glittering on your protruding midriff. Then, you are commanded to navigate a mine field, and that is where the realism ends. Navigating the minefield simply involves running across it, ignoring the explosions you inevitably trigger as they cause you only minor discomfort. Next you will engage the enemy in a series of gunfights that prove how much more allergic to bullets the Nazis are than your character. You can sustain many more hits than the average German soldier, and, as you would expect, there are health pickups lying around to keep those gunshot wounds from causing that most unwelcome of conditions: death. Being killed actually has a price in this game; you cannot save in mid-mission. The lack of a save point or checkpoint during your mission would be no gripe at all if the levels were worth replaying. Unfortunately, this is not the case. "Frontline" can be a very frustrating game, as parts of it feel sloppy and incomplete. There are unintentional glitches and some very intentional cheap tricks present in the game that thwart the player's efforts. In one instance I was preparing to snipe an enemy who was hiding at the front end of a truck, and though I had a clear bead on his head the game insisted that the empty space above the truck's hood was actually a part of the vehicle, and so I was unable to hit him. This can happen with other types of obstacles, and oftentimes you can see the bullet holes floating a short space from the face of an object that supposedly blocked your shots. Also, enemies have the ability to materialize from thin air in some stages; in the "Arkham Knights" mission, one of your objectives is to eliminate the "Panzerfaust" squad, a small group of bazooka-wielding foes. I cleared out this threat, and when I manned a mounted gun where the Panzerfaust squad used to be, two more enemies popped into existence right in front of my face. These scripted instances of enemy teleportation are a blatant attempt to mask the ineptitude of the AI and their inablity to flank or outmaneuver even a single commando. No wonder the Nazis lost; after all, you have to be quite stupid to follow a man whose only fashion statment was a mustache that looked like somebody scotch-taped a rat turd to his upper lip while he was asleep. Sometimes a glitch pops up that works to the player's benefit, but it is equally detrimental to the gameplay as those that favor the computer opponents. This manifests itself when an enemy's arm or leg pops out through a wall or other barrier he is hiding behind. Naturally, one shot to the hand or foot is not enough to dispatch a foe, but the enemy is too foolish to realize he is being struck, so he will assume he is still safe as you blast all of his toes and fingers off until the hapless soldier falls to the ground. This ceases to be amusing the second time it occurs. Anyone who has played the first "Medal of Honor" on the PS1 has fond memories of how fun the "disguise" missions were, in which you donned the uniform of a German officer and ran around with a silenced pistol, ventilating a foe's skull unbeknownst to his buddies. Well, here those carefree days are just that: a memory. You still get to wear disguises in this game, but each time your cover is blown by a scripted event and the Nazis all start going apenuts as you wonder exactly what the hell you did wrong. Then these missions de-evolve into the same mindless gunplay you'll find in every level of the game. One new addition to the gameplay is that sometimes, you can ride in a vehicle. Remember Halo? Well, forget Halo. These vehicle rides are all nothing more than computer-controlled roller-coaster sequences during which Nazis shoot at you. There's one with a mine cart that you inexplicably cannot crouch in to seek cover from enemy bullets. That part will probably make you think for a moment that that is exactly what "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and "The Temple of Doom" would have looked like had they been the same movie. Then you'll throw your controller in frustration at the nearest living thing. By now, you can buy this game new for around $20, and used for about 5 pesos. Don't buy it, don't rent it, and if you see that somebody has thrown his copy into the trash in perfect condition, don't pick it up for the love of all that is sacred and good.
Other Helpful Reviews for Medal of Honor Frontline
Medal of Honor Frontline is one of my all-time favourites. Why? It has the original MOH feel and it's just done right. Now I respect Call of Duty's hold on the WW2 market, but there's just something about MoH you can't t... Read Full Review
(Note: I wrote this review a few years ago for my old gaming website that is now offline. A few of my points may be outdated but my opinion remains mostly the same.) Medal of Honor: Frontline is probably the closest... Read Full Review
