After sniping, headshotting and knifing other online opponents to death, I can finally surmise that Medal of Honor’s multiplayer was pretty fun.
However, does Medal of Honor’s Multiplayer stack up to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2’s? Though it’s only the beta and it’s pretty quick to say, the beta of Medal of Honor’s multiplayer stacks up quite nicely. Close, but not exactly superior to the world’s most popular online video game.
In Medal of Honor’s multiplayer, there are two modes: Mission and Team Assault. Team Assault always seemed to average in more players and I quickly understood why: it was another word for Team Deathmatch, which is always entertaining. Team Assault took placed in a desecrated city known as Kabul City Ruins. Plenty of dilapidated buildings allowed for good spots to snipe victims, and battered, dully colored boxes and crates allowed you to camp and wait until a foe slipped by, and quickly knife them while their back is turned. Of course, you could just run around the map like a madman and ravage whoever you come across, but like most people who play online FPS’, this isn’t the recommended route.
Though I enjoyed Team Assault, or Team Deathmatch, as many refer to the mode as, Mission was equally, if not a bit more enjoyable. Mission took place on Helmand Valley, a colorful map with a few fortresses besides what was mostly a valley with several large rocks in it to allow for cover. In this mode, players were to either assault or defend bases of the opposing force. Usually defending the base was a lot easier then attacking it—said opposing forces were always camped near the fortress and simply sniped you or used their artillery, which was supplied for the defending force, in a fortress as they awaited your inevitable arrival.
In order to assault a base, players had to go to the objective and set up a C4, which would explode in about thirty seconds. So long as the C4 is planted, the defending force should just move on. But like Call of Duty, most players are out simply for more kills and look out for themselves. While they should’ve used the time for the C4 to blow up and overrun the base to make a getaway to the next base they had to defend, they simply stayed at the base that was bound to be destroyed shortly and kept attacking us, making our job a little easier.
There are four or five bases the defending team must defend and the opposing team must destroy, in about twenty minutes. If you take too long than the opposing force wins; similarly, if you take too long to destroy one base, say, seven minutes or so, then the opposing team also wins. Generally I preferred attacking the bases rather than defending them.
Players could use three classes, a rifleman, special ops, and a sniper. Each class was catered to whatever playing style you preferred, though a rifleman was a bit similar to special ops. Unlike Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare’s Multiplayer, there was no killcam, a feature I enjoyed to utilize, as it helped prepare me and let me know what camping spot to look out for next time around. Also like Modern Warfare 2’s Multiplayer, there was no matchmaking option, which allows you to pair up and play with those similar in level to yours.
Players gained levels by using a specific class for an amount of time, and leveled pretty slowly, so expect to get murdered for a long time before you dominate the battlefield. This can definitely scare away newcomers. What was more a frustrating similarity to Modern Warfare was the sparse amount of ammo it took to take you down; three shots, tops, and you were dead. This, paired with the lack of killcam, made it harder to survive, as a specific player could easily ambush you in the same spot you died at first without even knowing where they are. Respawns are exceptionally quick, so if you die, you’ll be back in battle rather quickly. Some of the respawn points were irritatingly far from where you were when you died, which can be rather problematic if you were holding down a fortress and were forced to respawn at a thousand paces away.
Kill streaks, called score chains in this game, reward the player by allowing them to call an unmapped aerial vehicle to drop mortars on opposing forces. There are also medals and awards that you are given if you manage to complete a certain achievement, which always manages to keep things fresh.
Medal of Honor is looking up to be a pretty solid experience. Stay tuned for it’s release date of October 12th on the Xbobx 360, Playstation 3 and PC platforms.
