The chopper mission also falls foul of clear slow-down. It’s not common but it happens too often for a game of this AAA billing. One glitch had me taking on a never-ending supply of Taliban who constantly came rushing down the same path despite the growing mound of their defunct friends, a mound so big that the system stuttered as it tried to cope with the corpse count.
Not Merry Poppings
Frame rates and texture popping aside, graphically
MOH is impressive. Character models are on par with
MW but it’s the environment that sets it apart. The sun and the sand make for a pretty inhospitable battle ground and it feels perfect. A special mention should also be made to the graphic melee attack, no
MW slicing here, it’s a full on plunge,
Audibly
MOH is near perfect, but I’ve become so accustomed to the sound of gunfire I can’t remember the last time I heard poor sound in a shooter. Valuable jargon-laden direction comes from your comrades. However, at times this is hard to hear that I’d advise turning subtitles on; I didn’t know you could until halfway in.
The soundtrack works perfectly well; a highlight being a midway mission that sees your squad pinned down against a hillside of Taliban. As genuine panic sets in with ammo running low and scenery disintegrating the score builds and really adds to the tension.
Unfortunately most of the other missions fail to match that level of tension. A peculiar recurring mechanic sees you tagging distant targets for air support. It’s like sniping without bullets. While it’s fun for a bit to see a tonnes of firepower fall on the hapless enemy, the thrill quickly subsides.
For a game in which you’re rarely alone, the absence of co-op is bemusing. Was it a time or a budget issue? I’m not sure, but it’s an element that’s becoming par for the course these days.
Multiplayer
I had high expectations for
MOH’s multiplayer, thanks to it being handled by
Battlefield veterans DICE. As it stands, the (admittedly Beta) multiplayer sits somewhere between
MW and
Battlefield. Although total destruction isn’t possible you are able to chip away at buildings and damage scenery. I’d have preferred total destruction but DICE must have thought otherwise.
Despite being fun, at this point the multiplayer seems less like a beta and more like a thoroughly half finished product. Ranking up is done in three classes (Rifleman, Special Ops and Sniper) - so, if you constantly play as a Rifleman you will be stuck with your remaining classes at the most basic level. This is a neat idea but one that could have done with more variety of class. However, it could be this class limit that results in a more balanced and tactical game as opposed to a
MW-style free for all.
In battle there’s the choice of a measly eight maps and four multiplayer modes – hardly expansive (but ripe for Premium DLC). The combat missions are nice additions, seeing the game progress over different areas of the map once the attacking force reaches a designated checkpoint is cool. Unfortunately this mechanic can lead to battles where teams just charge head-on at each other.