An Un-Winnable Battle: Medal of Honor (360)

Full disclosure, this game is short. Like Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 short. Like LOTR Extended Editions short.

At 4-5 hours its hella short. That aside, I liked it a lot more than Modern Warfare 2. Unlike the Bruckheimer-esque bombastic nonsense narrative of MW 2, MOH has a deliberate and specific pace. While it outright steals mechanics and set-pieces from MW 2, the singular vision of the game is to reveal at least some of the reality of modern combat. Weapons and tactics are reasonably realistic and the game has a couple of truly climatic set-pieces that grip the player in a brief unfettered bout of pure tension.

Switching between Tier 1 operators infiltrating Al Qaeda camps in and around the mountains of Afganistan, Army Rangers sent to secure areas "cleared" by the Tier 1's, and in select few sections, in vehicle missions, the most notable of which is as an Apache gunner, MOH never tries to be anything but a MW 2 clone. The creative direction given the team is clear, in the most Kotick way, that this is intended to exploit the COD audience by giving them more of what they already have.

While there are moments of sheer joy and glimmers of originality in the game, such as a sniping sequence that gives the .50 caliber sniper rifle its due, it never delves too deep. You are given a spotter and told about wind speed and distance, but the only real possible impediment to your aim is how long the player forces the character to hold his breath.

Medal of Honor is a franchise that desperately needed a reboot, and moving the setting and gameplay to an ongoing conflict was a brave choice, but the game suffers as that was the only brave choice. Hopefully MOH earns a chance at a sequel, and an opportunity to develop gameplay that matches the bravura of its setting.