Medal of Honor: European Assault

The good: still fun
The bad: extremely short
Being a fan of the Medal of Honor franchise in its various incarnations (PS1, PS2, PC), I expected a lot from this new title. And while Medal of Honor: European Assault plays well, it’s bogged down by a lot of elements not characteristic of this last generation of high-profile PS2 titles.

The first thing that you’ll notice upon arriving in the main game screen is the John Williams-esque moody music. Too bad though because the rest of the game doesn’t live up to this initial impression. The graphics here are just barely above the average with characters and scenery appearing out of nowhere. It doesn’t help that the design of the levels doesn’t bode well either. The biggest offender for me though is the erratic frame-rate which provides hysterically funny moments of Nazi soldiers seemingly floating from one point to another. Of course, the humor ends when you face a blank screen indicating your death as enemies become nigh impossible to target during these situations. Speaking of dying, expect to die a lot because your character can’t take too many hits and because of the aforementioned frame-rate problem. Fortunately, the game is fairly easy to finish even when trying to accomplish all objectives (which, if you’re a seasoned FPS vet, shouldn’t be of any problem). Level design is pretty linear even with franchise-new wide-open environs. You also get to issue basic commands to a group of up to 3 soldiers and the checkpoint system has been scratched in favor of health packs and revives. The changes though are mostly cosmetic as they don’t affect greatly the tried-and-true Medal of Honor playstyle.

For fans of the series or the genre in general, MOH: European Assault is a good buy. But if you’re expecting something new or groundbreaking, or something which will take a long time to play (you’ll finish this in less than 5 hours), then you might want to hold your breath for a while. (3/5)