Medal of Honor: European Assault Table of Contents

7. Review

Frustrating, glitchy, yet somehow, not completely terrible.

Medal of Honor: European Assault is the third Medal of Honor game for consoles. You'd think that by now EA would have ironed out the kinks that have been present in every MOH game to date. That is not the case. These flaws, a few years ago, were minor. In today's gaming climate, they are devasting. First, the game suffers from the classic, "I shot you in the head three times, but you didn't flinch," syndrome. Next, I often encountered situations where I couldn't shoot through the branches of a small tree (as if it were solid) and I couldn't shoot enemies through a large gap in a two-railed fence. In other words, the game did a poor job of allowing the player to shoot enemies...something that is very important in a First Person Shooter!

Next, I witnessed, to my disbelief, that in some levels the North orientation of the Map didn't align with the North orientation of my Compass. This is simply unforgivable. Going further, there were mission objectives that were mis-labeled. For example, in one mission the objective is to "Destroy German Rail Gun (0 of 3)". There's only one German Rail Gun in the level! And, once you destroy it, the objective is completed. It's like the game wasn't proofread. Again, unacceptable.

Continuing with my litany of problems with the game, the graphics and gameplay were straight from previous MOH games, and that's not a good thing. You'd think that an evolution of gameplay would occur over a three to four year period, but, not with this series. It feels like you're playing a game from 2002.

EA did try to add something new to the game: the Squad System. With this system you can control your three Squad Members and tell them where to go. Not only is the AI of your Squad comparable to an Alabama highschool dropout (no offense to Alabamans), but the feature served no purpose at all, and was in fact more impeding to your progress than if you simply didn't have the Squad at all. The only time I moved my Squad was to get them out of my way as they have a nasty habit of getting directly in front of you when you are aiming. If only friendly fire were allowed. If you want to see a good, useful, and well-integrated, Squad System, go get Ubisoft's Brothers in Arms.

Another problem with the game (does it ever stop?) is that most of the levels look like something you've already played. Oh, can I please go through another bombed out church? Or, how about I go raid a bunker? OK, to be fair, this is what WWII games are, and to EA's credit, they did try to mix it up a tad by sending you to North Africa and by having you fight in the Ardennes Forest in the Battle of the Bulge. Still, the lack of creativity in level design simply adds to the general craptacularness of the game.

Was there anything good in the game? Somehow, despite all of its flaws, it is an enjoyable game. Of course, you have to like First Person Shooters, have the patience of Gandhi, and have had to have already played every other decent First Person Shooter this year. Fortunately for me, this is exactly my situation, so yes, I did enjoy it in the same sense that one enjoys the Monday crossword or eating lunch.

Yes, I wrote a great guide for the game, and it needs one, but I highly recommend that you don't take the plastic wrap off of the game, bring it back to the store, and buy Brothers in Arms. Now that is a good WWII game.

- Jeremy, 6.22.05