Tier 1: Here Be Hirsuitism

While I’m thoroughly sick of first-person shooters constantly returning to World War 2 for inspiration, I have to admit to feeling slightly hesitant when EA first announced they would be rebooting their Medal of Honor series and setting the first new installment in the modern day War On Terror.  After all, you only have to look at the still-definitely-being-released-oh-my-yes Six Days in Fallujah by Atomic Games to gauge the public sentiment about creating games set in current military campaigns.  What I can appreciate, however, is the gargantuan pair of cojones it must have taken both the developer and publisher to say “fuck it” and run with the idea anyway.

The new Medal of Hono(u)r represents EA’s first attempt to wrestle back it’s share of the modern shooter genre, a genre that Activision is still managing to dominate with Call of Duty.  Obviously not wanting to leave anything to chance, they split the game’s development in two, giving the single player to in-house studio Danger Close and entrusting the all-important multiplayer to it’s DICE studio, creators of the addictive Battlefield series.

The fact that EA split the game in two just to allow a “proven” studio to handle the online component should already tell you where the real focus of the game is going to be.  But being a traditional type of lad, I’ll begin with the single player.

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I hear the Standard Edition is even rarer than the pictured "Limited Edition"

Albert Einstein once famously said: “I do not know with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones”.  It’s a pity the brilliant mind didn’t live into the 21st century, because video games lately have been trying their hardest to answer the first part of his statement.

I’m reviewing Battlefield: Bad Company 2 this week, the latest mutliplayer shooter from DICE designed to spirit away our time online.  I specify multiplayer shooter because, like many of it’s current-gen peers, Bad Company 2 is an enthralling online experience with a single-player campaign thrown in.

In many ways, the great action game has come to reflect the great action movie.  Over-the-top, espionage based plots, set against exotic locales with sufficient big explosions to satisfy your average Michael Bay fan.  Bad Company 2 certainly delivers in all these regards, although it appears to have adopted a slightly more serious tone than the original game.  Sure, you’re still treated to some amusing banter here and there, but essentially much of B Company’s previous personality has gone AWOL.  In fact, anyone who hasn’t played the original could easily be forgiven for assuming the squad of military insubordinates were just regular soldiers with a sassy sense of humour.

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