Alliedassault - MoH: European Assault Preview

[url:7774d]http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3138644&did=1[/url:7774d]

[quote:7774d]When Electronic Arts announced its latest console Medal of Honor late last year, the game went by the name "Dogs of War," but since that point EA has decided to change the title to "European Assault" -- appropriate, given the European Assault initials happen to be the same as the company name.
But as Executive Producer Dan Winters points out, it's not some marketing conspiracy on the part of EA. "We found that [Dogs of War] wasn't translating well in Europe; that was completely the reason," he says. "[Having EA as the initials] was a nice byproduct, and actually within EA that's what I'm telling people -- that I had that forethought, and that's what I came up with."

What the developers did have in mind from the beginning was a new non-linear structure. Called the "open battlefield," the new structure takes the Medal of Honor series away from the heavily scripted single path that it's become famous for. "Previously for Medal of Honor, the franchise was well known for great storytelling and being able to take the player on a journey," says Winters. "We wanted to encapsulate that idea, but not make it linear like it was before, and put it in an open space. As a result, we built encounters that have multiple ways to be engaged, and the player can basically choose their path of how to navigate the world."

This open battlefield concept gives players quite a few options on how they want to tackle each of the game's environments. In each map, there will be various hot points where the player will come across groups of enemies of varying difficulty levels, and if the player knows the correct path to take, they can make it through the game more easily than someone who stumbles onto the more difficult locations.

Of course, for those players who are interested in more than just finishing each area, the developers have also stocked the environments with loads of secrets that players can uncover if they are willing to explore. By looking around, you can find pieces of maps (which are actually an important part of the game this time around, given the new structure) and other goodies.

Along with the new open level designs, the developers wanted to limit some of the scripted elements players have come to expect from the Medal of Honor series. "Medal of Honor was a great experience before, but it was a very linear experience, and also the player kept getting stopped inside the battle in order to get little story pieces," says Winters. "Previous Medal of Honors were very scripted. We took away the scripting approach and created systems that actually communicate to one another based on a dynamic structure." This allows players more of a chance to feel like they are playing the game rather than having the game playing them, and while scripting isn't gone altogether, it is limited to cases where it's most necessary to make the story move forward.

Another new feature is the idea of having a "Nemesis" boss-style character in each level. Unlike traditional bosses, though, the Nemesis characters will not be terribly difficult or require players to learn special patterns to defeat them. Instead, they have been included to give players a better sense of who they are fighting against. "The Nemesis [idea] allows us to put a face to the enemy," says Winters. "Previously, you would fight an enemy, get in there and mow down a number of Nazis, and it was about conquering the enemy but really not connecting with the enemy. So we felt like in order to add some emotional resonance to the game, we put a face to the enemy, and they recognize you later on in the storyline."

For European Assault's multiplayer, the developers decided to focus on providing new maps that are different from what players will come across in the single-player game, along with nine different mode types that will allow players to play up to four-player split-screen matches. Unlike most other first-person shooter multiplayer games these days, however, the multiplayer will not be playable online. "It was about focusing our intentions on making a great experience," Winters explains. "Online could have been done, but we could have done it probably not as effectively as we really wanted to."

Head over to our media index to check out the first screens from European Assault and we'll be back with more on the game soon.[/quote:7774d]

Not even any online MP. Looks like EA wants to grab some last-minute cash before they kill the MOH series. annoy: