Medal of Honor Beta Impressions
Posted by
nutcrackr
on
There is no question that the multiplayer for the new incarnation of Medal of Honor borrows some ideas from Modern Warfare 2 and Bad Company 2. The success of this combination is limited because MoH drops almost all destruction from BC2 but still retains the somewhat clunky movement. MW2 was partially successful because it was an extremely smooth and refined experience, it packed in loads of unlocks and game modes providing solid play even after repetition. Medal of Honor is set during the War in Afghanistan making it your basic modern day shooter with weapons most first person shooter fans will be instantly familiar with. The MoH beta includes two maps and two modes: Team Assault on Kabul City Ruins (deathmatch) and Combat Mission on Helmand Valley (rush / assault)
A Mortar strike cracks into the ground around an objective.
Team Assault plays out like most deathmatch modes in other games with a few basic differences. Players usually spawn into the zone in the corners of the map and an effort has been made to try to spawn players with their team mates, in this way similar to Modern Warfare 2. This does tend to break down once player counts reach 16 or more because of the frequency of spawning. You may spawn behind or in front of an enemy in more central areas of the map. The game still retains much the same feel from Bad Company 2 and this means the movement is somewhat clunky. Moving quickly away once under fire is certainly more difficult than it should be. Players can die falling only a short distance or will lose the ability to sprint away from combat. Even still it’s fairly satisfying to move through levels taking down enemies from a range and hearing them scream out in pain.
With Deathmatch you will get a taste of the killstreak rewards (called a scorechain) in the beta. Strictly speaking you don’t gain access to the rewards by killing enemies alone, you gain them from points acquired. Extra points are rewarded for headshots, savoir and revenge kills, kill assists, objective captures or even melee kills. Even still you are going to be getting most of your points just by killing enemy soldiers. Once you achieve a certain score you get access to a mortar strike or intel then later items like rocket strikes come into play. There are crowded areas that restock ammo and some chokepoints but the use of the scorechain bonuses isn’t abused in deathmatch because enemies can be anywhere around the map.
Helmand Valley (combat mission) presents a different case for these scorechains. The combat mission plays out pretty much identically to the Rush gamemode in Bad Company 2. The fighting occurs over a smaller area and consequently scorechain attacks can be targeted with incredible effectiveness. The offensive team moves forwards, plants a charge or captures an area as mortar strikes and rockets crash from the heavens above. The attackers also occasionally get access to a light tank vehicle that seems to have been taken straight out of BC2.
Combat Mission: Welcome to chokepoint hell
Even without squads the attackers can spawn on the front lines behind teammates. Although sometimes deploying in on the front actually seems to mean deploy on a sniper hiding in your base. When it does work it makes the downtime for action very small unless you prefer to spawn in your base to attack from a distance anyway. Once attackers get a few kills under their belts they can call in a strike from the air to decimate the defenders who will be crowded around the very tight objectives. Defenders will rejoice because the chokepoints around some objectives in this map are tiny.
The chokepoints are smaller and closer together than any Bad Company 2 Rush map and it does seem to impact negatively on the game in both big and small player numbers. The chokepoints are especially bad because there is little foliage to cover your approach and almost no dust (good news) without explosions. The objectives require attackers to proceed through narrow openings each with clear views from defenders. Small player numbers means fewer distractions for defenders so they can easily see attackers move forward. Once player counts get large the constant barrage of scorechain attacks around the objectives kick up dust and allow the attackers to continually spawn on each other to win by attrition.
If you thought this was another chokepoint, you’d be right!
The recoil in the game is limited, even at long range full auto of weapons will be pretty accurate. Sniper rifles are still useful due to damage, some bolt action rifles kill in one shot and it’s very obvious when you are under fire from a sniper. The speed of the game is faster because of this low recoil, talk of increasing recoil of some weapons may balance things but it could also make encounters frustrating. Splash damage from explosives is also quite limited, the noob tube (grenade launcher) is present but you have to land it fairly close to get a kill. Even grenades, which are not the smooth to throw, have to land be pretty close to kill an enemy.
Although Medal of Honor multiplayer uses the Frostbite engine (Battlefield: Bad Company 2) the destruction is extremely limited. Trees will fall down and crates can be destroyed but the majority of the large objects in the world, like buildings, are static. A few cover points with rocks or bricks can be ruined with explosions but it doesn’t change the gameplay much at all like the previous DICE game. Using the Frostbite engine without the excellent destructive capabilities seems like a strange decision but perhaps it was done to reduce the system requirements.
Players will receive upgrades on a per class basis that will assist in combat scenarios. Sniper, Rifleman and Spec-ops all behave in a similar way in combat in that they all feel like an assault class. Even the Sniper is relatively successful in short ranges due to the high damage. Each class must be played a certain amount to unlock the same items that you probably already unlocked for the other classes. Basic unlocks include extra clips, red dot sights, hollow point ammo and silencers and at this stage you cannot pick up weapons from dead soldiers.
Yes my character died, but he’s still celebrating with his hands!
Of course being a beta there a number of bugs and presentation issues that may or may not be fixed prior to release. The player models in particular look very poor and the ragdolls associated with their death are horrendous. A recent server patch seemed to reduce the frequency of them attaching unduly to the walls and twitching about. Ragdolls will sometimes pop into the air or get pushed backward unrealistically from a bullet to the head as though they’d been hit by a freight train. They may even rematerialize out of thin air from a victim killed many seconds ago as you move around the map.
There are dedicated servers but the server list is pretty unresponsive especially when joining a server. There are no pings listed once you are in a game and you can’t actually change any settings or exit the game without first spawning into the battlefield. Using the text chat is potentially very dangerous as it can completely freeze the player, death the only cure. There is no doubt some of these bugs are representative of a beta product and many little problems should be fixed in months if not weeks. Even still some perspective should be placed on this being open to the public for anybody who pre-orders the game.
Not everything in the MoH Beta is a disappointment as there are quite a few nice features that come through from BC2. The sound and explosions are still high quality, mortar strikes and rocket strikes do look very awesome from a distance. The weapon handling feels pretty good just like the latest Battlefield game. Occasional voice chatter can be overheard during gunfights with lower player counts and when performing certain actions helping you feel a bit more a part of the world. It’s nice to hear confirmation your mortar strike did some damage from an anonymous radio voice too.
Yes we won, but camping chokepoints isn’t that satisfying.
With fewer players in deathmatch the games can get quite strategic with footsteps and map knowledge playing an important role. Deathmatch modes are usually less appealing to me in games but I certainly enjoyed it more than the combat mission. In both deathmatch and even during the combat mission you’ll also be back into the action in only a few seconds after dying so you won’t be waiting for very long after a tragic death.
Medal of Honor multiplayer does lack the smooth gameplay and the quick movements of Modern Warfare 2. Occasionally I got caught on small rocks or objects that should not have impeded player movement at all. It also lacks the destruction and impressive graphics of Bad Company 2. The included deathmatch map is designed well enough to provide a fairly good continuous battle throughout matches and on several replays. Sadly the combat mission map is just littered with too many chokepoints and the gameplay deteriorates with constant mortar strikes drowning out the rest of the sound and combat.
Only 10 more points before I get a Mortar Strike!
None of the problems in the Medal of Honor Beta are unrepairable; it’s just there are quite a few problems both from a gameplay and presentation standpoint. There is some fun underneath with some good strategic fire fights and mostly satisfying gun handling. Some different game modes could bring more enjoyment to the surface and a range of different maps might offer a more balanced battlefield. I’ll be following the game closely over the next three weeks of the beta period and will be waiting to see how much has changed come October.