A disappointing campaign and terrible multiplayer cap off this year's most bland shooter.
Warfighter tries to tell a good story. It uses army lingo out the ying yang, which actually might confuse some gamers who are unfamiliar and trying to follow along. Don't worry though, there isn't much to follow along with. The game is centred around bringing down a terrorist ring, leading you to blow up bomb caves, chase suspects and infiltrate enemy bases. The game is filled with what you'd expect, a brief stint in a helicopter, being a sniper and slow motion room kills.
The problem is after you're done your brief 6-8 campaign, there is nothing memorable about it. Well, you might remember the terrible car chase levels. There is one level where you drive after and away from a target, the car is okay to control but it is very tedious and boring. There is one car level where you have to "hide" from the body guards of a target you picked up. This level is so annoying as you have to go cover to cover in these special drive ways that have trees that block your view.
You might also remember that frustrating sniper level as you take shot after shot at targets on a roof top. The problem is the game never tells you bullets drop as you target them. I spent a good twenty minutes perfectly lining up head shots and have my partner go "miss" and "higher" over and over. I couldn't figure out how to hit them until I accidently took a shot that was over an enemies head. If you're going to go this route, let the player know, we know you'll press down to hold your breath because we played this before.
The campaign is filled with cliches, capping off with a bomb vest. Never is there a cut scene with the terrorist plotting or talking to each other, the game tries so hard to make you hate your faceless enemies. The only thing you need to know is them bad, you good. They even do a war cry as they try to rush you. Just like every shooter it seems like they only target you, never your friends.
As you start the game you'll be greeted with their one invention, a cover system. This is used by pressing LB or L1 at cover and you press up or over on your joystick to line up shots and down to take cover again. It's pretty sensitive and really takes a while to get used to. It felt okay near the end of the game, but I can't see it catching on.
You'll also notice the enemies are far from smart. They run from good cover to terrible cover, as you can easily flank them over and over. Never do you feel like you lost the upper hand. One good thing about the game is you die very quickly, giving some extra tension to a huge fire fight. I did die, but it never got frustrating, as you can usually out flank your opponent pretty easily.
The game is running on DICE's Frostbite engine, so you would expect it the graphics and physics to stand up.The graphics are great in parts. When you get away from the bland ruined buildings and greyness, you'll see beautiful trees and sky, the character models are nicely done too. But the cars, water and buildings don't stand out, it's hard to appreciate the few great graphical moments when it's riddled with bland ones. The buildings aren't really that destructible and there is never any set pieces that really wow the player.
There are times when you finish a fire fight and the bodies just diappear. You'll want to pick up a gun or check out the detail in the enemies, but nope, they just disappeared. This is baffling in this day when we're way past that part in games. With the Frostbite engine running it's pretty inexcusable. There is also some bugs where enemies get stuck on cover and just keep running in place or get stuck behind doors. You'll see the usual guns go through cover and walls also.
Now, the multiplayer is supposed to be the Bread and Butter of the package. You'd think EA would set them up with DiCE and show them how to build a competent package, but I guess that never happened. You'll quickly learn the UI is terrible. It's hard to find where you customize your weapon, how you access menus or how to find the right mode to play. I never seen a more confusing or jumbled interface as this. It doesn't even try to explain itself either.
You can pick your country before entering, each country has their own perks and what not. This is a cool idea, but it's pretty unfair when they make some countries over powered. The maps are okay, but there was never one I wished to revist. Again it looks like Warfighter is trying so hard to play with the big boys they never really craft their own path.
Medal of Honor: Warfighter can be summed up as competent but in a world where there's so many bigger and better games, this will quickly be forgotten. There is nothing special about Warfighter, there is nothing positively memorable, it is just average. If EA wants to have 2 huge shooters so they can annual they better get their act together fast, as I can see no reason to ever support Medal of Honor as it keeps on this path. The campaign is short and riddled with cliches, and the multiplayer suffers from a poor interface and map selection.