Medal of Honor

If the name of this game sounds familiar, that’s because the Medal of Honor (MoH) series has now been running for over a decade.

But where previous MoH titles have tended to use World War II as their backdrop, the new game brings the action right up-to-date, with a storyline that’s set during the height of the recent conflict in Afghanistan.

Again, if that rings a bell, then it’s probably because the Call of Duty series of games recently pulled off a very similar trick, swapping the Second World War for the War on Terror with its highly popular Modern Warfare titles.

Also like Call of Duty, the new Medal of Honor game has enjoyed a certain amount of notoriety, with government ministers condemning the game for being “thoroughly un-British” before it was even released. As it turns out, British soldiers don’t actually feature in the game at all. The single-player campaign concentrates entirely on the US Forces’ involvement in the invasion of Afghanistan, with players taking on a variety of roles over the course of the game.

But, where the Modern Warfare games present frequently outlandish hypothetical situations and focus on action-heavy set pieces, MoH strives for a higher level of realism. The game was developed with the input of serving military personnel and is based on real events and locations, such as Bagram Airfield.

Despite this context, however, Medal of Honor ends up feeling very similar to many other games of this type. Most of the levels involve clearing area after area of bad guys, with a few familiar variations on the theme, such as sniping and helicopter gun sequences.

Though slick and enjoyable, the campaign is relatively brief and the multiplayer mode is where the majority of the game’s excitement is likely to be found. Up to 24 players can join in online with the setting the same as the rest of the game, though the Taliban have been renamed ‘Opposing Force’ in an attempt to sidestep some controversy.

All in all this is a better buy for multiplayer fans than those who want to play alone.

PEGI age rating: 18+