Medal of Honor: Allied Assault War Chest

There are maybe 1 or 2 WW2 games released per year in the AAA game market. Even then, such games are still criticized for being part of the "glut of WW2 games." For those who were too young, or out of the gaming loop a few years back, WW2 games of every genre saturated the market, and the biggest instigator of the movement was Medal of Honor: Allied Assault. It does speak to what the game did well that it spawned so many imitators and profit-seeking opportunists ready to mine the mother lode. So what made this such an important game? Well, for one, up to this time FPSes typically consisted of a pack of separately-designed maps with start and stop points, with illusions of non-linearity. You hunted for keycards, murdered monsters, and worked your way to a final boss. There were exceptions of course. Much like punk rock, modern linear shooters had Half Life playing Iggy Pop proto-punk, but the modern cinematic shooter was really born with the Ramones-comparable Medal of Honor: Allied Assault. There is of course the game's most notable moment, the Omaha Beach Landing level. This was the level that everyone remembers and cites, and with good reason. The sound design was incredible, and I clearly remember playing it near its release with my teeth grit and heart pounding. Unfortunately, time has not been kind to the level. When your game is about bombast and distracting the player with lots of explosions, you'd better hope you have gameplay to back it up. There's a reason why nobody talks about AA's other levels. They're either bad or unremarkable compared to the Omaha opening. Most of the time, you're peeking around corners with a sniper rifle equipped, looking for German soldiers firing their hit-scan laser rifles directly into whatever finger or toe of yours just popped out of cover. This received some fixes in the expansion packs, but you'll be surprisingly adept at spotting German helmets poking slightly over cover by the end of the main AA campaign. The expansions are a mixed bag. They have effective intros as well, but run out of excitement as you solo-force your way through the German lines. There is clear evidence of a game here with big dreams, but not the tools to realize them. It wanted to be the great war game full of nerve-wracking battles, but when you're not clumsily sniping your way through French towns/fields or Saharan outposts, you're watching your allies getting creamed two seconds into what seem to be intended as massive battles. So, should you play it? Who can I recommend it to? If you've played it in the past, acknowledge what's aged poorly, and just want to fire it up with no emulator-fussing, grab the chest. If you're a gamer spoiled on modern games that have more atmosphere, more up-to-date cinematics, and refined mechanics, you will not be impressed by this game. If you want a little piece of history, and are not critical of what features have aged poorly, then you'll get an entertaining history lesson.

We played MoHAA all the time in college. It's a great game for LAN parties because it runs smoothly on everything, still looks decent (even after 10 years), and is simple for new players to pick up. I highly recommend it for multi-player.

The start of the "cinematic" trend in shooters began here, more or less. Scripted AI, linear objectives, a focus on impressing the player with scenarios rather than gameplay. It is, in many ways, the beginning of the end. Still, it's an impressive title with a lot of charm and heart. It's also much more involved than the linear shooting galleries the genre would further devolve into. Recommended.

Blast from the past! There's alot to be said about AA, but indeed the best that sums it all up is that its a trip down memory lane. If not directly (as in, you might not have played this game in particular), then surely Allied Assault will indirectly recall those fond memories (as in, the type of game it represents). Allied Assault feels very much a late 90s shooter, a la Goldeneye. Enemies are predictably stupid, spawn in predictable locations, and you could still carry a veritable arsenal and had to rely on health kits to manage health. And yet, these design points, though antiquated now, are very much a breath of fresh air from chest high wall shooting galleries and regenerating health. Scripted sequences in MoH are plenty, but they still afford a semblance of player agency and freedom. It was a burgeoning time for the highly scripted and tightly controlled rollercoaster Call of Duty would perfect. There is a point to say about MoH in relation to its flashier, more technically accomplished sibling. Call of Duty may be the better game, but it is not the superior experience. Call of Duty is jarring and nerve wracking. This isn't to knock a peg off CoD: its simply stating the difference in tone and pacing these two games take. There is always someone yelling at you to do things; there's always grenades flying around, and enemies permanently respawn until you reach a magic marker. In MoH however, the sense of being a commando behind enemy lines is a welcome respite from the noise and chaos of CoD. The game usually lets you go about shooting things at a measured step, rather than dragging you at breakneck speeds. There is time to pause and reflect, maybe even explore a level a bit to find hidden caches of ammo and health. To me, this makes a huge difference. The one time when MoH does violate this however, is during the infamous Sniper Town mission. Enemies are cheaply positioned and death is everywhere. It becomes very CoDish, as in the experience feels very controlled and winnable only from a certain path. Though for my money, the level was so aggravating I had to cheat to get past it, and by that point, there wasn't any point at all in playing. Not even CoD had me sink to such levels (though I'm looking at you, Stalingrad mission and your random-but-not-really mortar-shell-caused-deaths). All in all, great game with (for its time), hugely impressive production values. That soundtrack alone, dear Lord. The comparisons to CoD are inevitable seeing as how 2015 (not EA!) went on to form Infinity Ward. Experience the thrill of seeing helmets fly off when shot at (hugely novel at the time and still the most vivid recollection I have of MoH games--seems a staple to be able to shoot helmets off people).