by
Ted Kritsonis
Faze
Video Game Editor
For
five years the Medal of Honor series has taken gamers to just
about every facet of World War II, though most of that focus
has been stuck in the Western European and North African campaigns.
MoH: Rising Sun was EA’s first attempt at focusing on
the war between the U.S. and Japan in the Pacific for the
consoles, and it faltered badly, earning the dubious distinction
of being the worst of all the MoH games.
MoH: Pacific
Assault is EA’s second crack at the war against Imperial
Japan, and it is a considerable improvement from Rising Sun.
Even though Pacific Assault is a PC title, which makes it
a marked improvement visually, the overall mood and feel of
the game is also far more authentic than Rising Sun ever was.
You
start the game as a raw U.S. Marine recruit and go through
training exercises before being shipped off to Pearl Harbor,
where the Japanese air force launches its infamous surprise
attack on December 7, 1941. Early on, new aspects to the gameplay
make their presence known. While cowering from the smoke within
a U.S. battleship, you do interesting things like pick up
wounded men and take them to the medic, along with breaking
down a door using an axe. But the most interesting change
is how you manage your health. Since you always fight with
your small squad, you can call the Corpsman (the medic) to
patch you up, or he’ll try and get to you if you’re
on “the brink of death” and restore your health.
He can only fix you up four times per mission, so you’ll
have to strategize on how to use him.
Unlike
past MoH games, Pacific Assault is heavy on character development,
as you and your squad deal with the terrifying reality of
war. The Corpsman will throw up early in the game as he patches
you up, only to be a lot more confident and battle-hardened
late in the game, while the squad leader will make more calculated
decisions as the game goes on. Other simple things like unshaven
faces and even some weight loss are actually noticeable, and
the voice acting is very well done with the wartime radio
broadcasts being a nice ambient addition.
For those
unfamiliar with the Pacific theatre of World War II, the Japanese
army was a very different fighting force than the Germans
in Europe. In MoH games taking place in Europe, you fought
your way through countryside and war-torn cities, but in Pacific
Assault, the terrain is mostly jungle. The fighting tactics
are also different. Japanese troops will attack you with “banzai
charges,” where they basically run towards you with
the intent of stabbing you with a bayonet. Snipers sitting
on trees and troops lying down as fake dead bodies are other
tactics that are very different from past MoH games.
Where
things start to drag the game down are in the suspect AI and
the insatiable appetite Japanese troops have for sustaining
bullet wounds. Weapons and ammo aren’t in abundance
like past MoH games, meaning that you’ll have to learn
to be a pretty good marksman in Pacific Assault and conserve
ammo by shooting in short bursts. The problem is that Japanese
troops can take as many as six shots to the body before dropping
for good. There’s no question that headshots are the
way to go, but in a close-quarters firefight, this defect
can make a huge difference.
I mentioned
earlier that the terrain is mostly jungle, which is precisely
why the game can get frustrating and tedious at the same time.
First, you should expect to die often because the difficulty
level, even on lower settings, is tough to say the least.
But the lingering issue is most definitely that the missions
are too similar and dominated by a trial-and-error process
that will probably really upset you. The Pearl Harbor mission
is a fantastic start to the game and worthy as one of the
best ever seen in a World War II shooter, but it’s followed
by an array of jungle missions that are basically made up
of skirmishes with groups of Japanese troops. The developers
threw in the odd tank here and there, and small villages and
airfields help break things up a little, but it’s simply
not enough.
The airplane
mission, although frustrating in many ways, is a welcome change,
but more naval battles similar to the Pearl Harbor mission
would’ve been far more ideal. After all, the Pacific
war was largely fought in the Pacific Ocean, not just in the
jungles of Guadalcanal and Makin Atoll, so seeing some battleships
go at it would’ve definitely been cool to watch.
MoH:
Pacific Assault is a great game when you look at it as a whole,
but some of its parts certainly could’ve used some refinement.
On the flip side, some of the new additions were very good
ideas, like the Corpsman’s role and the airplane mission.
Ultimately, what you have here is a World War II shooter that
isn’t perfect but does a pretty solid job nonetheless.
|
Publisher:
EA
Games
Developer:
EA Los Angeles
Platform:
PC
Rating:
10/10
|
