Customer Reviews

Medal of Honor Airborne

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(24)
3 star:		(16)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(20)

 

 

I was very pleasantly surprised by Medal of Honor Airborne, as the series had been going downhill as of late. This game recaptures this intense action of the original, and pairs it with a novel gameplay approach.

PROS: This game borrows a page from Grand Theft Auto, in that it attempts to give you an "open-ended" feel. It's still relatively linear and scripted, but when you parachute into a mission, you are the one who decides which objective you tackle first. This is a much welcome change in WWII shooters, the majority of which are very, very scripted and allow no deviation (looking at you, Brothers in Arms). This game also features nice graphics, and while they are not cutting edge, the atmosphere in this game is terrific and really conveys the chaos of each mission. The missions are also fun and varied, and make strategic sense. The weapon upgrade system is nice, as it rewards using--and getting better--with a particular weapon. A little hint of an RPG game goes a long way to make this a better experience. The game is also pretty realistic, and shooting is marked by recoil, or aiming with iron sights. It's hard to run and shoot, so this means to hit anything accurately, you need to stop, kneel and aim.

CONS: This game is incredibly short. There are only 6 missions, and depending on the difficulty level, you could finish this game in under 6 hours, easy. This is a shame, because the content is quite good, but the ending is abrupt and leaves you wanting more. For all the realism, the last mission is too reminiscent of Return to Wolfenstein, with its Nazi super-soldiers that walk around carrying and shooting an MG-42 from the hip! There is some enemy re-spawning, but it's usually only limited to situations where you die and have to work your way through an area again.

Bottom line, this is a very fun game, a breath of fresh air for a stale franchise, but one that is over way too quickly, especially for a full priced game.

The MEDAL OF HONOR series were probably the BEST WWII FPS games available (with CODE OF HONOR and RETURN TO CASTLE WOLFENSTEIN a close 2nd and 3rd). The atmosphere, the feeling, the rush of being in the boots of WWII soldiers were unsurpassable!

True, MoH-AIRBORN may not be at par with the first MoH games, yet it is the successor MoH-PACIFIC ASSAULT failed to become! New movement options (peak above and below), a few RPG sprinkles (weapons upgrades!), improved graphics (especially the shadows!) and realistic factor (you REALLY need to get used to shooting from cover!). Finally, it is the unpredictability of where you start your mission and in what order you get your objectives completed that add some clear points to this game.

Now, here are the bad news:
- The game is TOO SHORT. By any standard. EA let, once more, greed get the better of their decision making: I am sure, as you are reading this, the other half of the game is getting burned onto disks labeled "Expansion".
- Checkpoints. I hate checkpoint games! Not only because you usually end up dying just before reaching the next one - but mostly because it is the gimmick used by game publishers to artificially augment the game's duration (by having us replay the same segments again and again...).
- The game is hit by the STALKER curse. The STALKER curse is when an excellent game is actually engineered for the...next generation of computers. STALKER is a uniquely open-ended FPS-RPG - yet my copy is gathering dust. My computer is not that shabby (P4 3.2MHZ, 2GB RAM, nVidia 7600GT-512MB on ASUS P4P 800) yet, as with STALKER, MoH-AIRBORN stutters and freezes all the time (and I found out that this is true even to people with even much faster PC systems).
As with STALKER, when I will have the system to play MoH-AIRBORN to its full potential, the game will be obsolete.

All in all, a good game if you have the PC system to handle its true requirements (and the patience to even then endure inconveniencing moments).

A well done World War II FPS featuring the USA Airborne division.

As with any game there are positives and negatives...let me elaborate.

The Pros:

1.)Excellent graphics, audio and gameplay.

2.)Several upgrades to weapons (larger ammo clips, scopes, faster reload, etc.) that become available with progress in the game.

3.)The game requires thinking, patience and working with your comrades. No stand up and blast away here; you just won't last very long.

4.)Multiplayer available if you register your game online.(See Cons: 2.) below)

5.)Many different weapons to choose from; each with their own different characteristics.

6.)A really satisfying sniper role; one of my favorite modes.

7.)Non-linear game play; although you must complete specific goals to progress, you can complete your objectives in any order and your movement is unrestricted.


The Cons:

1.)You'll need a high end system* to run this game properly.

2.)If you want to play online (multiplayer), you must register your game with 'Electronic Arts' (and there is only one registration allowed per game). So this may restrict the resaleability of the game somewhat.

3.)Saves are done (automatically), but only at specific checkpoints (controlled by the game). So if you got killed just before reaching a checkpoint you have to start the entire segment again. (and you must engage all the same enemy you just fought, again)

4.)If you want to switch difficulty from lets say 'casual' (easy) mode to 'normal' you loss all your game saves and must start all over (which includes a tedious tutorial)

5.)There are only 6 different battles segments (in 6 different geographic locales) on the entire DVD (plus a short training tutorial); and although some of the segments featured extended firefights, the entire game was somewhat short to play.

6.)Limited replay value.

Finally...this is my favorite type of game (that being FPS with some weapon upgrades) and despite its overall short length, I really liked this game . The fighting was visceral and gut-wrenching; you really felt a part of the action going on around you. 4 1/2 Stars.

* Review based on the following specs: OS was 'Vista' with a Dual Core processor, 2 GBs of RAM and a 8800 series nVidia video card.

R. Nicholson

I'm really surprised to see some of the negative reviews of this game on this forum. I'm a big fan of World War II first-person shooters, and this is by far the best one I've played. The graphics are fantastic, the missions are challenging but fun, and I love the fact that the entire game is much less linear than previous Medal of Honor games. Being able to choose where to drop is a great feature. The enemies are far more intelligent than in other shooters, so you never know exactly what to expect. Overall I had a lot of fun playing it, and hope there's an expansion for it soon.

First of all, Medal of Honor Airborne only has six missions to play in and that is it. The game should have had at least twelve missions to play in it to be called a full version game. This game is suppose to be a full version game. Not a add-on or an expansion game. I feel like I have been ripped off by someone.

Of the six missions, only the first four missions honor the brave soldiers that fought in World War II. The last two missions do not honor the brave soldiers who fought during World War II. The last two missions are fantasy made missions that remind me of going to amusement park. You have super Nazi's in the last two missions that take forever to kill. Shoot them in the head or blow them up with grenades it doesn't do any good. It takes at least fifty to a hundred shots with your weapon to take down one of these super Nazi's. I felt like I needed to find a super weapon like a laser gun to bring them down.

I notice in the fifth mission (Operation Varsity) there are railroad cars that are not European made rail cars. They are North American made railroad cars. What is up with that? It is quite obvious that somebody just slapped some North American railroad cars into the mission just to finish it.

In the last mission, (Operation Der Flakturm) American paratroopers land on a German Flak tower in Germany right after Operation Varsity. This mission never took place during World War II. The Russians were the only ones to assault German Flak towers during the war. In fact, the Flak tower used in the game never even got built in Germany. There was three generations of Flak towers built by the Germans during the war and only the first two generations of towers were built in Germany. Those towers were built in the German cities of Berlin and Hamburg during the war. The game shows a third generation built Flak tower built in Germany, that was actually built in Vienna, Austria during the war. Somebody screwed up.

It almost seems like two different teams of game developers work on the Medal of Honor Airborne game. One team worked on the first four missions of the game which were realistic and actually happen during World War II while another team worked on the last two missions in the game which are more sci-fi and fantasy. I really wanted to like this game because I'm a big World War II fan. With all the actual events that happen during World War II, why would the game developer need to makeup any missions for the game?

I have to say, too, that this is the hardest PC game that I have ever had to load onto my PC. I have never seen a game with more bugs and problems. There is virtually no tech support from EA. I was very, very frustrated with trying to load and play this game.

This another example of a game that should of went somewhere that ended up going nowhere. Either the game publisher or the game developer just wanted to hurry and finish the game just to try to beat the holiday rush. Somebody was trying to hurry and make some money on this game before the other big name titles come out later on this year. I hate to say it, but Call of Duty 4 is going to be the game to beat this year.

This is easily one of MOH's best games. Yes, you do need a suitable computer to play it, but if you tone down the audio quality and a few of the video effects, it will run ok. The graphics are very good, but what I find most enjoyable is that you can run around anywhere in the arena of action and attack from different areas. Many complain the weapons are harder to use because you have to zoom onto the target (right mouse button) and fire, and because the machine gun bursts (flames) degrade the view; but I think these features make the game more realistic. Another aspect that I think is an improvement is the save routine; it's automatic after a checkpoint is reached. Now, unlike with earlier MOH games, you'd better be careful. No more rushing forward and firing away at a target following a quick save. Now you HAVE to take your shot and pull back for cover before you're hit. Again, this is more realistic. You're rarely alone on the battlefield with guys around you barking orders and conversing back and forth. It is a different game than earlier versions of MOH, but very, very good. I'm having a great time with it. It exceeded my expectations and time flies when you're playing.

Just got this game last week, after dealing with a few odd install quirks (if you don't have windows firewall enabled, it does 99.9% of the install, and then crashes). Once installed it works well on my machine, which is an older, but highend system (p4 3.06ghz, 2gigs of ram, 256 MB AGP card) running on a mix of high and medium settings.

I've only played the 1st mission so far (Operation Husky). These are all paratrooper missions, and instead of starting off at a fixed spawn point, you drop in and can steer your drop to land almost anywhere on the map... although ignoring the marked drop zones can be lethal, as you may come down right in front of pill box...

At least in the 1st mission, the map is very non linear, and there are a lot of opportunities for flanking, sniping, dropping grenades off roof tops.

Unlike a lot of FPS games that only have a lean right and left, this one allows you to lean up and down, so you can peek over cover and shoot, peek under, etc.

Combat is pretty brutal, you really need to use cover, and its pretty much impossible to just stand and slug it up with enemy troops. It has no Quick Save, so you can't do kill/save/kill/save exploits.

The squadmate AI is pretty good. Your mates don't tend to put the heads infront of your gun as often, and enemy bots will use cover also.

I was really excited about getting this game. I've been a fan of Medal of Honor: Allied Assault for many years, and had highly anticipated the arrival of this game when I ordered it. I'll break my review down in a pros vs cons approach.

Pros:
Price - $9.99 is a helluva deal!
Graphics - The graphics of this game are pretty crisp if you set them to max. I lowered them a bit due to some frame-rate issues, but that's totally on my system, not the game.
Skill System - I like how you get weapon upgrades the more you use a particular weapon. This is definitely a cool feature.
Health System - I like how more and more games are adding a natural recovery element to health. MoH-A balanced natural recovery and health pack necessity quite well.
Enemy AI - The enemy AI is pretty good. Frustratingly so at times. Nothing like being in a small room and having 3 or 4 grenades get lobbed in at once, and your only escape being the room full of a half-dozen nazis!
Kick Grenades - It's always a cool option to be able to boot a grenade away... if you're fast enough! Now where's my option to have an ally throw themselves on it? LOL, just kidding!
Sniper Rifle - I didn't figure this out right away, but when you're zoomed in with the sniper rifle, but if you hold the jump key (space bar) your soldier will steady his aim until you fire. A very nice addition to sniping.
Butt-Stroke - EVERY weapon, including the grenade, has a melee "butt-stroke" option. This may seem like a silly "pro", but I thought it was cool. Also, using a melee attack with a weapon counts toward your skill increases with said weapon!

Cons:
Graphics Options - I couldn't find any ADVANCED options for graphics, ones for tweaking Anti-Aliasing and such.
Briefings - At the beginning of each mission you have to sit through a briefing, and there is no way to skip it. This gets annoying if you decide you don't like your weapons load out and want to restart the mission.
Save Game - The game only saves at specific save-points, making the "option" for saving your game basically pointless. I prefer FPS games that allow me to save when *I* feel it's a good time.
Friendly AI - It felt like my allies were a lot less intelligent than my enemies. Maybe this was just my perception of it, but they were either too reckless or too cowardly, rarely a good balance.
Grenade Throwing - This system just needed improvement. I don't like having to throw my grenade at full strength all the time!
Weapon Add-ons - Like the option to fire a grenade from your rifle. I couldn't figure out how to enable this when I wanted it, or turn it off when I DIDN'T want it. Slightly frustrating.

Conclusion: This is a fantastic game, and is easily worth the price I paid ($9.99). The cons are really just minor irritations, and definitely don't break the game in any way. I haven't tried out multi-player with MoH-A yet, but I look forward to doing so. If you're a fan of the WWII genre and/or the MoH series... or if you just like a really well put together FPS, I highly recommend this title.

Oh, and one final note: I am playing this game in the beta version of Windows 7 x64 edition, so there are no compatibility issues regarding 64-bit OS play. Trust me, this has become a frustration with many games recently (like Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory).

Please check if this was helpful or not. Thank you!

This game was very good. It is a resource hog! I have a Pentium D 3ghz, Nvidia 7900GT and 1.5 Gigs of ram and the game took it all. I had to shut down all the background task just so it would run good, not great. (Much easier if you go to run and enter msconfig and then turn off all start up programs than what the manual tells you to do.) Some of the new effect were spectacular. I really like this game I just wish it ran more like Pacific Assault or COD 2. After paying both in multi- player COD 1 and 2 is better. But this is the best Medal of Honor game both single and multi-player versions. I did enjoy playing it very much. I just hope the next version does not need a mainframe super computer to play. Sometimes a little less is a lot more. I will give it four and a half stars if I had a choice. A little too short, no quick save and the choppy play are the reason.

Having been a game designer for a few years, and a gamer since I was 25. At 61, I have come to expect a certain amount of quality, and playability from the games I buy. MOH Airborne falls short of my expectations. Their "sighting system" for the weapons available to the player, leave one frustrated and displeased. Having spent time in combat in Vietnam, I KNOW how to aim and fire a weapon. In MOH Airbourne Assault, it's as if the player is spastic, you find yourself having difficulty aiming your weapon, and become frustrated. Even when you have the enemy squarely in your sights, the chances of your hitting him are beyond statistical probability.
I've NEVER had so much trouble hitting a real enemy as I had hitting NPC enemies in this game. They need to review their statistics for the hit/miss algorithm. Meanwhile, the Italian "Blackshirts" all shoot like Annie Oakley, or Daniel Boone. Fun factor? Two out of ten. Overall, two out of five for the nice graphics, but it STILL isn't Call Of Duty (any of them) or Half-Life2. Too bad too, I was hoping for more for my money.