This game is derivative and tragically underwhelming, but it's an important title nontheless.
In MoHH2 you take control of Lt Someone-or-Other working for some organisation in an attempt to infiltrate, stop and generally mass slaughter Nazis as they attempt to set us up the bomb. It's best you ignore this part of the game though.
Vital Stats:
Gameplay:- 7
Visuals:- 6
Audio:- 6
Fun:- 5
Replay Value: - 7
At a Glance:
+ The core gameplay is pretty much flawless.
+ 32 online multiplayer.
+ Squad members come out with the occasional funny.
= There's an arcade mode.
= Motion controls usually work.
= The AI might be bad, but it can also be quite amusing.
- If you've played any WWII FPS you've already played this one.
- No local multiplay.
- You can easily complete it on all 3 difficulties in one day.
- The multiplay is limited and get old quickly.
- The game just isn't very fun.
- Weapons are not particularly well balanced.
- Visuals are bland and uninspired, literally just a few steps above, say, Perfect Dark (N64).
- An EA special: typically lazy production.
- Occasional but truly annoying habit of getting stuck when trying to go up steps.
The Meat:
So, what is there to say about this game? I suppose the first thing to mention would be that at its core this game is an FPS on the Wii, and it's one that works very well. Unless you go nuts with the sensitivity settings you are unlikely to to go spinning out of control every time you twitch too far in one direction, but neither do you turn too slowly. With this game and Metroid Prime 3 I think we now have fairly conclusive proof that the FPS genre will work on Nintendo's wee white box o' dreams. All we need now is for developers to to realise and approach the matter with some imagination.
Unfortunately, imagination is certainly something this game lacks. The story, the context, the levels and characters, even the multiplayer options, are so abhorrently derived that it can at times be a trial to stop yourself from breaking down and taking your despair out on the game disc. For example, you start the game to find yourself taking part in an ever iconic beach storm. However the particular stretch of beach you storm must be no wider than about 50 metres long and 4 -yes, 4 - metres deep (relatively). Here you're taught the basics which consist of: point wiimote, pull trigger, B-trigger plus wiimote flick to throw grenade, melee attack, hide when out gunned. Your standard FPS staples are all there and they all work just fine. What I did like though was that when in aiming mode (Z or A, depending on control scheme) the reticule disappears so you're actually using the gun-sight to aim (which is for the best as the reticule is very large and therefore quite ambiguous, meaning that you can never be entirely sure where you're aiming). Add to this that you can tilt the nunchuk to lean out from cover to take potshots and suddenly you've got yourself quite an entertaining little mechanic.
The real issue is that while the controls are mostly very intuitive and even border on the interesting in places, there's not much that will compel you to use them. The single player consists of a couple of hours spent gunning down waves of truly feckless Nazis (though it can be most entertaining to watch them run in circles, run into walls and shot several feet above your head) in such settings as a beach, a french town and village, the sewers, a port a monastery and a base, interspersed with such objectives as "bomb U-boats", "bomb train", "take out AA batteries" and "Bomb base". As such the campaign is barely worth mentioning as it is essentially just a way to familiarise yourself with the controls before you head to the multiplayer lobbies.
Before I move onto the main attraction I might as well cover everything in one fell, poorly flowing swoop. Although I'm sure there is music in this game, I never noticed it. Any sound worth mentioning comes from the SFX and voice work, however the only things you can really say is that the guns sound like guns and the voice acting is, for the most part, not truly horrendous; in particular the line "You don't get much deader than that", which is sometimes imparted by a team mate, is very well delivered and usually gets a smile.
The visuals are in pretty much the same boat. They don't push the system in the least and will certainly not win any awards for artistic merit, but they don't obscure the gameplay any; you always know what you're looking at.
You also have the option of playing the campaign through in an arcade mode, but unless you're a fan of the genre or very, very bored it's probably best you ignore this as it only serves to highlight how unenjoyable this game can be.
I have called this game important. Not only does it demonstrate that FPS will work on the Wii, and work well, but it's also the first Wii game to feature a notable online multiplayer, supporting up to 32 players at a time. And you know what? That works too. Once you've set up a profile it's easy enough to jump onto the server, enter the lobby and jump into a game. While it can sometimes take a minute or two to access EA's server, once you're in it's all very quick and almost completely lag free. The one instance of lag I experienced lasted no more than a few seconds.
It's just a shame then that while the technical side of this feature works fine it does seem to have gone to waste somewhat. This is quite possibly my opinion and my opinion alone but, like the single player, there is very little joy to be had from multiplayer matches. There are a total of six maps, all of which you will have played through in the campaign, and three gameplay modes which are, rather unsurprisingly: deathmatch, team deathmatch and capture the flag. And although there are the usual tweaks available (rockets only, rifles only, no ammo refills and time limits etc.) the whole thing get very stale very quickly. It doesn't help that weapons are balanced, quite noticeably I feel, in favour of team Axis (the bad guys), which isn't a problem in death match but can be a serious drag in the team based modes. And talking of the team modes, given the lack of microphone support (thank you Nintendo) it can be quite hard to actually play as a team. There is the option of using set requests, such as "need back up" or "follow me", but the fact that bringing up the request menu stops play means that before you can call for assistance there will be a very good chance that you'll die.
All in all Medal of Honour Heroes 2 is, at its very core, a solid first person shooter, the problems however are two fold. 1: this fact is totally obscured by the rest of the content and 2: just because it works, that doesn't mean it's fun. And that really highlights the biggest issue I have with this game: fun. You will sit through this game and constantly sigh with an exasperation that borders on melancholic. It's just so upsetting to see a developer take an essentially good foundation and do absolutely nothing with it.
That said, I would still recommend this game to any Wii owner because so long as you can peer past the all consuming mediocrity what shines through is so very promising. Both FPS and large online multiplay have a future on the Wii, and that is something to hold on to.