Medal of Honor

EA Los Angeles have visited a lot different Second World War places in their Medal of Honor-games so far. We have been to Pearl Harbor and fought the Japanese, in Germany to fight against the Nazis, and landed behind enemy lines with a parachute in Italy. This time however, EA Los Angeles have made a step in a new direction, and are collaborating with Swedish Dice for the multiplayer feature at the same time. We are presented with a direct and cold encounter with modern Afghanistan, as part of the special forces' Tier 1 unit.

The shift in theme is not permanent - at least not if we are to believe Richard Farrelly, creative director at EA Los Angeles, as I have traveled to Germany to meet. Even before I have time to ask my first question he assures me that EA will not depend on a set time or area when they decide on which direction to take Medal of Honor.

- The Medal of Honor series have always been about conveying an authentic story. If we were to follow these rules with the Afghanistan-angle we would have to to do it with as much weight and respect as possible for the soldiers and their stories. These guys are most active in Afghanistan, and it came natural choice to shift environment, says Farrelly.

The first thing to greet me as the trailer starts rolling is the U.S. Tier 1-soldiers in action against Afghans troops. The trailer jumps between direct action and silent infiltration, and the bullets stand as a wall between the two. It is something that happens all the time, and just like in previous Medal of Honor games, it is very important to be in constant contact with your teammates. You have to relate to and cooperate with them, for the mission in Afghanistan is hardly a sweet and easy dance on roses.

In general the game seems much more direct than before. You often find yourself in situations where it is you against five to six enemies, and the amount of available firepower does not necessarily play into your favor. At the same time it's hardly any Rambo-machines we get to play as, but talented, intelligent men with a wide emotional range. They think before they act, and they always adapt to the situation. In the opening sequence we're showered with blood, as your team saves you from certain death. You look after your teammates, and they look after you. The gritty realism is always there, and it's easy to see that there has been a lot of work put into the shift from WWII to modern day Afghanistan.

When it comes to the multiplayer, Farrelly doesn't say much. No talk about co-op, a possible beta or ranking systems, but it seems like he trusts the team at Dice to do a proper job with it.

- It is good to work with another studio on the multiplayer part. We can release a high quality game, where both the singleplayer and the multiplayer portion are just as strong. By bringing in another studio, we could be confident in that the quality would be high, and then we could focus entirely on making a good singleplayer-game.

According to Farrelly, they are primarily working on the PlayStation 3 as the main console for Medal of Honor, but the team is working hard to get a similar results on all platforms.

It's a strong, if somewhat short, demo we are presented with. The game does look promising, it is time for Medal of Honor to go head to head with Call of Duty again, and f Farrelly successfully convey the strong and engaging story he is talking about, this could potentially be gold.