I can't tell you how many times I went around telling people to forget about the incumbent FPS franchise Call of Duty and pushed Medal of Honor on all of them. And now that the game is out, I see why Call of Duty is the incumbent.
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Let's start off with the campaign and let me ask you this; have you played either CoD Modern Warfare or Modern Warfare 2? Then you have played the first two missions of MoH's campaign. The opening scene of the game is a crashing helicopter (Modern Warfare), the second half of the opening credits is a prolonged cutscene where you are riding in a car through a hostile area (MW 1 and 2), the latter part of the second mission takes place in an airplane graveyard (MW 2) and the list just goes on. Hell the developer of the game, Danger Close, sounds like the catch phrase that MW2 beat to death in their campaign. I guess it's not a bad thing that these have been done before but it's the fact that they feel almost, ripped off, that puts the first two missions completely aside and starts the player off with a bad taste.
The controls are also another problem. Something about the way MoH moves just feels like a PS2 game that the series had tried to break away from. Aiming and running doesn't feel as polished and snappy as other games out there, and thats not just comparing it to MW2, it doesn't even come close to BF: BC2. The AI is not the brightest bunch in the world, there were multiple times where I would run completely past an enemy and they would continue shooting at my computer teammates. The HUD of the game reflects the overall theme of the game but it feels cheap. Not saying that not having a lot of HUD is cheap but it's very simple, for lack of a better term.
Luckily for this game, the multiplayer portion of the game throws itself a life preserver to help from drowning. The multiplayer is nothing if not fast-paced and quick but from my opinion EA went at it the wrong way. All of the maps that are out right now are very small, divided into your team on this side and the enemies on that side with the line down the middle. While I appreciate the close quarters fighting that this brings it is extremely easy for one team to control their half of the map. If you're not playing Team Slayer where the objective is kills, you run into lots and lots of spawning near the enemy and dying instantly. Quite frustrating until you get the hang of the game.
The customization system that they have is level based and takes cues from MW2 and BC2. The more you use a class the better guns you unlock for that class; classes being rifleman, special ops and sniper. The amount of add-ons they have for the guns is good enough, no where near the customization of MW2 but I like the play that they had at each category. The killstreaks are fun but can also be easily abused. Calling in a mortar strike on the enemy spawn can quickly get you a rocket strike that can be called in on their spawn which can lead to an artillery strike... if you catch my drift. Overall the multiplayer, while flawed, saves this game from being a wash completely.
If you NEED a new FPS that isn't Halo: Reach before Call of Duty Black Ops then I would suggest this game. If Halo can keep your attention until then, as much as it pains me to say this, I would say pass on this game. The single player is nowhere near good enough to draw you in by itself and the multiplayer, while fun in spurts, is frustrating overall. Unfortunately for EA I have to give this game a 6.5 out of 10.