Though it has its issues Medal of Honor is a solid modern shooter game with a deep and addictive multiplayer component.
Story: The story is one of Medal of Honor's high points as it follows Tier 1 Operators, U.S. Army Rangers, and U.S. Army Pilots through a battle in Afghanistan. The story plays out through three different point of views, though it plays predominately from the Tier 1 operators perspective. I don't want to spoil the story for you, but the game features a nice variety of locales and has one of the best sniping missions in recent memory. My favorite missions were that of the Tier 1 operators, due to the level of realism within the levels. The way they move through areas, check their corners, and adjust the burst and single fire on their guns is very realistic and adds a nice touch to the game. Most reviews for this game that say you can breeze through the Campaign mode in 3-4 hours. This is a false statement, my playthrough lasted 5 1/2 hours on medium difficulty. There is always Hard difficulty and Tier 1 mode for those who want to experience it again, which I recommend doing. All in all the Story mode is a short, yet satisfying trip through current day Afghanistan, with a good amount of variety and great pacing.
Graphics: As far as the graphics are concerned Medal of Honor is a mixed bag. Some environments can look fantastic and you can tell a lot of work went into facial animation and the gun designs, but some textures look bland and water effects are just downright ugly. The most impressive part of the graphics for me was the lighting. The glare in daytime environments made me feel like I was actually in a desert, the moonlight in nighttime environments was also nicely detailed and the shadows from your character (although a small detail) were nicely done. One thing I honestly couldn't stand about its presentation was constant framerate drops. Especially towards the end of the game, where there was more action, making it harder to aim and line shots up. This lead to a few cheap deaths for me, but it was never enough for me to stop enjoying the game.
On the multiplayer side of things Dice's frostbite engine stands up incredibly well. Destructive environments aren't the highlight of this game, but they are there and nice too look at. At first glance I almost thought that the multiplayer looked better than the single player game. After about 4 hours playing though I realized that the engine had been toned down quite a bit from Battlefield Bad Company 2's version of the engine.
I would say both portions of the game look very good. Texture, pop-in, and framerate issues are all problems in the single player game, but they aren't enough to hinder the fun to be had with it and the multiplayer game looks slightly less attractive upon further inspection, but overall this is a very nice looking game, with a good amount of variety in its levels and weapons.
Gameplay: Now this is one part of the game that Danger Close definately needed to polish more. The controls work perfectly and are one of the highlights of the game (even if they are ripped directly from Call of Duty), but the thing I like the most was the lean and cover slide mechanics. Cover slide works by sprinting towards cover and hitting the B button. You will quickly slide into cover and be safe from incoming fire. This is almost a necessity since about 4 shots will drop you, and it works perfectly. The lean mechanic is also very useful and almost a must use on the Hard Difficulty setting. Using the Left Bumper you can lean around corners and cover to quickly take care of the enemy. Both of these additional features work well and always seem to help you as you play. Now that is about all the good I can say about Medal of Honor's gameplay. It just comes off to buggy. The enemy and friendly A.I. come off as utterly stupid or God like in some cases. There is just to much inconsistency with the A.I. There are also far to many glitches for a game thats been in development for nearly 4 years and a severe lack of polish with hit detection. (especially in multiplayer) I think that Danger Close and Dice should have delayed the game until Q1 2011 to allows for time to fix these issues, as they are not hard to miss. Example: While playing a Sector Control match online I was shooting my gun at a player across the map, I continued to shoot him, but the hit marker wasn't reflecting that. I later died and missed out on a chance to get 3 kills because the hit detection system is unreliable. (at best)
The controls are near perfect and the slide to cover and lean systems are welcome, but bugs and A.I. problems really keep the gameplay from being something special.
Multiplayer: Now this is where Medal of Honor hits its high note! Dice the creators or the Battlefield series return to do the multiplayer for this game. It feels similar to Bad Company 2 except much faster paced and with more fluid movement. The leveling system is completely different and something I really love about the game. The way it works is that you do not level up to a certain level, but you will rank up each of 3 cla*ses. (Rifleman, Spec OPS, and Sniper) Each cla*s can rank up to Level 15 and offer an upgrade or new weapon every level. This keeps things addictive and interesting. You also have three custom slots per weapon. Lets say you are using an M-16 Assualt Rifle, you have three slots to customize it with. You can attach a sight, a barrel mod (silencer and such), and your ammo. (like extra mags or different types of ammunition) There are also a few ribbons and medal to earn and plenty of achievements and trophies to go for as you continue to play. Last, but not least is the matchmaking system. It works perfectly, all the matches are close and never seem to heavily favored by one side. Skill levels are all balanced equally between the two teams and this leads to close hectic matches. This is something I had gripes with while playing Bad Company 2, but Dice has fixed it with relative ease. The maps are also nicely done. Most of them are small and meant to keep things fast paced and competitive. There is still some camping, but camper don't live very long usually. Another thing I loved about it is that there are no more killcams. Thank God! Now I can snipe and not be found trying to escape the spot I was seen in before I killed the person.
All in all Dice has really honed its craft with Medal of Honor's multiplayer component and has made something fairly unique and interesting in the process. It may not last as long as Black OPS in the online multiplayer race this year, but its something all FPS fans can enjoy for a long time.
Value: The Single player game is over in a flash, but the multiplayer will have you coming back for hours and hours. I can honestly say that Medal of Honor is more than worth its asking price despite a lack of polish and fine tuning in some areas. I have no problems recommending it to any FPS fan, especially for one looking for a game to hold them over till the release of Black OPS in November. If you don't have the money to spend on it you should still rent it at the very least.
Final Verdict: Medal of Honor comes into a crowded market of High profile FPS titles this year and shows that it still has what it takes to make it with the best of them. It may not be perfect, but no game is and most certainly aren't this enjoyable to play. It most certainly needed more polish and could have been better for it, but its succeeds due to its approach towards realism and its deep addictive multiplayer.
Scoring by category:
Story: 8.1/10.0.
Graphics: 8.4/10.0.
Gameplay: 7.8/10.0.
Sound: 9.2/10.0.
Multiplayer: 9.3/10.0.
Value: 7.7/10.0.
Overall: 8.6/10.0.