Medal of Honor Underground Preview

World War II has been the setting for various acts of entertainment and edification, from the mainstream channels of books, magazine articles, and film, to the more reflective studies found in episodic documentaries, journal studies, archival radio broadcasts, and published firsthand accounts. But the World War II game is a different beast entirely, at least in the console world, thanks to DreamWorks Interactive. While weapons, ammunition, and various factions form the basic foundation for any war setting, DreamWorks' Medal of Honor for the PlayStation works to bring documentary and a sense of purpose to "taking one for your country." The original Medal of Honor was released last October, and it not only offered the languid environment of console shooters an honorable contender, but it also entertained and enlightened on the way. An educational shooter? Hardly. As in the 3D version of the WWII adventure-game series Castle Wolfenstein for the Apple II, you only learn from a wargame because you need to stay alive and accomplish your missions. If you come out more knowledgeable about WWII, consider it a bonus.

GameSpot recently got a chance to see the sequel, Medal of Honor Underground, in action at DreamWorks studios in Los Angeles. Producer Scott Langteau walked us through nearly every nook and cranny in the game and answered all of our questions, the big one being, "What is the overall objective of Medal of Honor Underground and will the first game's playable character, Jimmy Patterson, return to Europe, circa the '40s?"

"You're no longer playing Transport Corps Pilot Jimmy Patterson," answered Langteau. "You're playing his OSS (Office of Strategic Services) control from the first game, Manon Batiste. We thought this was the perfect opportunity to tell her story, from her beginning in the French Resistance at the start of the war through her work in the OSS where she meets Jimmy. We often described the scenario as 'Your country has been taken over. Help won't arrive for four long years. So, what's a girl to do? Surrender, collaborate ... or resist!' Based on some very exciting and inspirational research for the title, we decided that those individuals who had the courage to stand up and resist that which even their leaders had decided to cower from merited some serious attention. I'm so glad we chose to tell her story. It has been a privilege to meet and talk with women like her around the country. So, in essence you begin the game as a willing participant in some Resistance activities, and due to your creative success in these areas, you are soon recruited by the Allies to join the OSS and embark on missions throughout Europe. By the end of your journey, you return to France (during the days before its liberation) to help fellow Resistance fighters keep Paris from burning."

The Missions

The game will include seven missions this time around, each with more than 24 levels that you must play through to accomplish your goal for that mission. We asked Langteau to describe the logistics of the missions and levels that tie them together, comparing them to the first game. "By and large, a good portion of those levels are twice the size of the levels in the original," answered Langteu. "We span a wide scope of the European theater including North Africa, Greece, Italy, Germany, and of course, France. The interesting part is that we bookend the game with Manon's work for and commitment to the Resistance, but for the body of the game, she's working as a field operative throughout Europe, so that opened everything right up for us - meaning we offer a wide range of missions that cover interesting portions of the war and don't necessarily have to lead from one to the other in a linear fashion. For instance, we cover Rommel's digging in in North Africa, the fated Abbey of Monte Cassino in Italy, as well as Himmler's occult castle at Wewelsburg - all seemingly different in scope, and they are, but I think we manage to get them to stand together in an interesting and coherent manner."