Retro|Spective 144: Medal of Honor

[Neon Ignition]

History in Games:
1999 - Medal of Honor
2000 - Medal of Honor: Underground
2002 - Medal of Honor: Allied Assault
2002 - Medal of Honor: Frontline
2002 - Medal of Honor: Allied Assault Spearhead
2003 - Medal of Honor: Allied Assault Breakthrough
2003 - Medal of Honor: Rising Sun
2003 - Medal of Honor: Infiltrator
2004 - Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault
2005 - Medal of Honor: European Assault
2006 - Medal of Honor: Heroes
2007 - Medal of Honor: Vanguard
2007 - Medal of Honor: Airborne
2007 - Medal of Honor: Heroes 2
2010 - Medal of Honor
2012 - Medal of Honor: Warfighter
2020 - Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond

Overview:
The series began life in the footsteps of Saving Private Ryans cinematic delivery of its infamous war scenes, drafting Spielberg himself to come up with the games story and Dreamworks working on delivering a solid World War based FPS experience on the PS1. Despite meeting this lofty aim the series is perhaps most notable for resulting in the vastly more successful Call of Duty franchise which arrived not too long into MOH's peak using some of the series own staffers. The series drew a lot of praise for its PC entries and that praise soon followed with Frontline's recreation of the beach scene but subsequent entries saw the shine quickly wear off before some contorting set in as it attempted to react to Call of Duty's appeal as well as EA's own new found success with the Battlefield games. Now it's mostly rested with Respawn currently working on a VR entry.









Is it right that Medal of Honor is a casualty of the gaming FPS war or should EA have had more commitment to this veteran?

[Leon Retro]

The only MoH game I've played a lot is Allied Assault, which I thought was excellent in all areas back in 2002-2003. After that -- I became a fan of the Call of Duty games and never played another MoH.

[DeathAdder]

Loved the first one, which had a fantastic atmosphere, no doubt helped by the fact that WW2 FPS games hadn't been done to death when it came out. But after that I never bothered with the series again.

[Hirst]

The first one was great, it was like Allo Allo but with more shooting.

[Team Andromeda]

The 1st game was amazing and never gets the credit it deserves. Loved the whole game, but the sound gets special mention it was so atmospheric and drew you into the game setting. Also really enjoyed Allied Assault Spearhead/Breakthrough on the PC and enjoying going through them again

Really wish EA would go back to the series and make a new one

[Neon Ignition]

I never bothered with the first two games so the first real one I played was Frontline which I enjoyed a lot, I was keen to get Rising Sun as a result but couldn't believe the drop in quality between the two. After that I've played all the subsequent console entries but it was staggering how quickly the series lost its way when really simply delivering more COD style gameplay shoudl have been enough, EA pretty much handed the audience over on a silver platter.

[Leon Retro]

The 1st game was amazing and never gets the credit it deserves. Loved the whole game, but the sound gets special mention it was so atmospheric and drew you into the game setting.

I really regret not grabbing a copy of the original on the PS1, as I remember it got positive reviews and people told me it was really good.

I wonder if it's worth playing these days? I might give it a go.

[Cepp]

The PS1 game was pretty mind blowing at the time. Really impressed me, but I'm not sure how it holds up today. I assume it doesn't use dual analogue controls?

Never got too far into Allied Assault despite having the Battle Chest but it seemed excellent.

[Hirst]

One part I really liked in the first is where you were undercover as a spy and the guards would keep shouting at you for your papers and then say "It vont happen again" when you showed them.

[Team Andromeda]

I really regret not grabbing a copy of the original on the PS1, as I remember it got positive reviews and people told me it was really good.

I wonder if it's worth playing these days? I might give it a go.

It's aged badly. At the time it really was incredible and I loved the Sniper gun and it really is one of the most impressive sounding PS games. My next-door neighbour picked the game up at launch and we played the game constantly until we finished it

[Leon Retro]

Never got too far into Allied Assault despite having the Battle Chest but it seemed excellent.

Looking back on Allied Assault, I remember it being quite stunning game visually. It ran really well on the GeForce Ti4400 I bought that year. I was really addicted to it between 2002-2004 -- such a fun game.

[QualityChimp]

Here is Patrick McNee and Honor Blackman receiving their Silver Heart medals from the Variety Club.



Medal of Honor...

[Leon Retro]

Here is Patrick McNee and Honor Blackman receiving their Silver Heart medals from the Variety Club.

I used to enjoy watching repeats of The Avengers.

[QualityChimp]

Yeah, but she doesn't have a medal in your picture!

[Leon Retro]

doesn't have a medal in your picture!

Here's another retro medal. I really liked Daley Thompson's Supertest.