MOHA is a short, intense, innovative and challenging FPS.
Now, here's the review.
My first play through of MOHA, comprising 6 challenging missions, was completed in about 12 hours of game time. My performance at Normal difficulty measured in terms of stars and medals was rather lacklustre to say the least. So I decided to play it through again as soon as I finished. My second play through was, overall, more successful as measured by the
stars received. The missions themselves are not more complicated but the enemy is harder to beat with each successive mission ... basically their weapons improve in successive missions and it takes more hits to eliminate them per mission. Of course for the historical purists, of which I am one, the MG42 wielding "super Nazis" that appear in the final missions are way over the top.
Gameplay is quite innovative in that you actually steer your parachute to the landing zone. The shooting from behind and around cover is also quite good and something that is, in various guises, to be found in most newer FPS games. Otherwise gameplay is reminiscent of MOHPA and COD2 and that is just fine by me! I didn't worry about the "skill drops" being more focussed on making good (flared) landings in the marked safe landing zones and acquiring any health, ammunition and explosives to complete the missions.
Graphics are of cinematic quality and it runs without a hitch (so far) with all graphical settings on High (maximum) on my PC. The multilevel environments are readily explorable. This game is definately NOT an "on the rails" FPS. I had a few glitches during my two play throughs, all involved my character getting stuck and unable to move.
After initital misgivings I got used to MOHA's automatic gamesave system. Avoid entering firefights with enemy which are not enroute to an objective. Your weapons are upgraded based on your proficiency with their use but enhancements (eg. larger magazines, scopes, etc) are lost if you die before completing an objective. So try to complete objectives as a priority as these lock in your enhancements. Completing objectives in an area tends to reduce the number of enemy that respawn there.
Generally when your character, Boyd Travers, dies you restart jumping out of the C-47 and parachuting to your preferred landing site. The gamesave is forgiving in the sense that objectives you have completed do remained completed, but the enemy troops you killed on the way to the objective return to challenge you afresh. I'm learning to accept that games just do things differently ... even if it makes little sense!
On the plus side, unlocked missions stay unlocked ready to be replayed with the weapon enhancements you received in the campaign. Unlocked missions can be replayed and the highest star rating achieved and weapons upgrades are retained in the stats. Mission performance, measured in stars and medals, also unlocks game design and development videos. There is only one save game file ... I would have preferred unique save files for multiple profiles. If you select "new campaign" you lose all the stars, medals and weapon upgrades ... so choose wisely.
The main negative for me, which seems to be one entrenched in the European theatre MOH games, is the way the missions degenerate into the realms of fantasy ... in MOHA we have "Rambo-like" Nazis in shiny black helmets and uniforms armed with MG42s and panzerfausts. Also, let's face it, there were very few (intentional) parajumps into cities ... usually the preferred landing location was tree-less fields, allowing for unit assembly, nearby the objectives. But landing IN cities certainly makes for a more intense gaming experience! For my money, COD, CODUO & COD2 are by far surperior games on the historicity front ... but you cannot parachute into battle. Strangely MOHPA, apart from your Marine character flying a dive bomber, stays within the realms of the historical.
The six MOHA missions cover air landings in Sicily, Italy, D-Day, Market Garden, Operation Varsity and Der Flakturm. I found Op Varsity the toughest mission. The location you land in is divided into sectors and each sector has multiple objectives.
Once you complete all objectives in that sector it remains reasonably free of enemy units. Obviously it is in your interest to complete objectives and not die.
Sadly Boyd's character is not really developed and there is little in the way of backstory or real narrative structure ... it's simply a case of proceeding to and completing the various mission goals. The soundtrack is not reallly memorable but the weapon and general battle noise sound effects are excellent.
Despite these few quibbles, the gameplay in MOHA is probably the best in the series ... the parachute insertions make the game truly non-linear. However all aspects considered Pacific Assault is still my favourite MOH game.
OVERALL: If you like intense WWII based FPS games, then I recommend you buy this game, especially if you can get for under A$20. MOHA also has a multiplayer feature, but alas no LAN with AI bots for us online wary gamers.