Thats a well written review IMHO! Worth reading!
By the sounds of it, there will be NO in-game browser! Looks like we're stuck with GameSpy!
Here is the review for those who can't be bothered clicking on the link posted by Manny!
Medal of Honor: Allied Assault
Reviewer: Richard Greenhill
Some companies have all the luck. In early September, Electronic Arts must have been heartbroken to announce that Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, its World War II themed first-person shooter, would be delayed beyond its scheduled Nov 2001 release to early 2002, because the product needed some "polishing up." Imagine the instantaneous reversal of emotions when some lackey on the bottom rung of the EA corporate ladder excitedly related the following revelation to his co-workers: "Hey! Now we won't be competing with sales of Return to Castle Wolfenstein." Of all the good fortunes! [Insert obligatory nudge and wink here.]
Savvy marketing plans or not, comparing id Software's offering to EA's is pointless in some ways. Aside from the WWII setting, there are few other similarities either stylistically or in what the gameplay offers. Allied Assault is the first game in the Medal of Honor series to reach the PC, after having some successful titles on the PlayStation. Originally conceived by Dreamworks Interactive (the videogame development arm of Steven Spielberg's movie production company), Medal of Honor games have always focused on presenting an authentic WWII feel. Allied Assault's most obvious inspiration is from the award-winning film, Saving Private Ryan, and includes many identical settings, including a detailed replication of the traumatic Omaha Beach invasion.
Hup hup hup
Allied Assault begins, like many a shooter these days, with some basic training. You'll use the industry standard mouse/keyboard combination with no surprise commands - a (rarely used) secondary fire key and quick access to your binoculars is the extent of complexity here.
What's impressive from the get go is the realistic movement physics - running goes a step further than simple head-bobbing and presents the feeling of real body weight behind every move. Instead of "floaty" Quake-style jumping, the height of a leap and your landing will also strike as genuine. Instead of sliding up and down ladders, you'll lower your weapon and jerk a step at a time on the rungs. The only criticism with the physics is the arguably slow running speed, which some may suggest feels like you're always trudging through mud, regardless of the surface you're on.
Weapons also handle and perform with a Counter-Strike level of authenticity. Helped by their detailed modeling and spot on sound effects, all the weapons recoil as you'd expect, resulting with shaky accuracy that requires short bursts and as little movement as possible. All the weapons are, of course, based on the real equipment used in the war, including the .30 caliber M1 Garand rifle, Springfield '03 Sniper Rifle, Thompson submachine gun and Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR). Axis soldiers drop their weaponry when killed, which you're also able to use. Disappointingly, the sniper rifle is rock still when in scope mode and has no scalable zoom.
The mission
You play Lieutenant Mike Powell in Allied Assault, a supposedly experienced infantryman, although he has even less personality than Wolfenstein's Blazcowitz, both of whom remain mute the entire game. Character development is non-existent - there are no cutscenes and no background information on who Powell was before the war. You're just a talented, multi-purpose soldier that can snipe, drive a tank, speak multiple European languages and are as effective infiltrating deep into enemy territory solo as you are on the front lines of the D-Day beach invasion. Geez, you'd think the odd promotion would be in order.
The game consists of six main campaigns spread over about 20 missions, taking place in various locations, including North Africa, Norway, France and Germany. Many mission objectives are based on actual operations in the war, such as seeking out the newly created King Tiger tank. An objectives list can always be called up on command to let you know what you should be doing, and to make things even easier, you have a handy compass that always points you toward the next item on the agenda.
Missions are actually one of the many elements in this game that are a decidedly mixed bag. The whole game is very linear, requiring objectives to be completed in order, and sometimes the repetition will get to you. The environments may change -- you'll go from a U-boat submarine to a mustard gas production facility -- but inevitably your task is to reach objective #1, click "use" to pick up important documents/plant a bomb, then go to task #2 etc. However, when a mission breaks routine, it's an incredible experience. Missions that make you feel part of a larger battle, like the infamous Omaha Beach level, for instance, are the memorable ones, and it's a shame there's so many that send you in solo. Other less monotonous levels require some strategic planning on how best to approach defended installations. Sometimes you'll be taking out a Panzer tank, leading a squad through a crumbled village full of snipers or calling in air strikes on 88's. Always being required to escape infiltrated areas after grabbing essential items also adds to the excitement.
Dummkopf!
Friendly and enemy AI in the game also has its share of both brilliance and stupidity. Instead of scripted behavior, most enemies actually appear to evaluate the surroundings and decide how to use them to their advantage. There isn't a monumental variation in things they'll do, but the fact that each one makes a choice means reloading save games doesn't look identical every time. Nearly all enemies will take cover, but it's particularly cool watching some fire their gun around a corner without bringing their body into view. Soldiers' reactions also add greatly to the atmosphere - throw a grenade into a crowded room and they'll frantically yell and run for cover, and sometimes even throw it back at you. When not fatally wounded, there's a range of "stunned" animations that leave them vulnerable to further hits while they try to regain composure. Some soldiers crash to the floor while their guns continue discharging.
On the flipside, the AI still chokes relatively frequently, as enemies remain motionless in plain sight because you haven't "triggered" them regardless of if fellow Nazis are dying around them. While many will hide and wait you out, others will blindly run directly into your line of fire in a doorway, one after another. Another irritation includes areas where the difficulty is artificially enhanced by infinite spawning of soldiers; especially embarrassing was on one level, we actually arrived at the spot where they were magically materializing in front of our eyes.
Several of Allied Assault's mission briefings heavily encourage stealth tactics over blazing through Rambo style. Unfortunately, in practice, stealth can be problematic because the detection routines seem unfairly tipped against you. You can crawl, walk, make no sound whatsoever, and enemies still tend to spot you as if you'd just blew a wet raspberry in their face. This is one of the most frustrating aspects, especially on levels with low visibility. We found traversing snow-covered hilltops, for example, ridiculously hard to spot the white-camouflaged enemies, yet they'd have no trouble sniping us even when submerged behind dense bushes.
If Allied Assault were a title focused on heavy-handed realism, the lack of viable stealth tactics would be more of a problem, but EA makes no secret that it's tried to find the ideal middle ground between realism and fun. To this end, playing the game as a more traditional, action-packed blaster is indeed possible, helped by your ability to take an unfeasible number of bullets.
Who's afraid of the id bad wolf?
Like Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Allied Assault uses the Quake3 engine and looks the business, although preferences towards one game's graphics will vary with the individual. Wolf seems to have the edge in terms of richer textures and some gorgeous special effects, while AA has a sharper, more colorful feel to it. Both have excellent attention to detail. Ultimately, though, if you want the legitimate WWII flavor, AA wins hands-down since Wolf is a more fantastical story with zombies, bio-mechanical creatures and whatnot. Incidentally, Allied Assault features no blood effects whatsoever, and in a war game, its absence is almost as gratuitous as overuse of gore would be. [The final decision to remove blood was to keep the ESRB rating below "Mature" - it's apparently fine for impressionable youths to see realistic characters shot to death, as long as the disturbing consequences of holes and leakage aren't displayed. -Ed]
The audio is integral to the game and won a special commendation during its E3 demonstration with good reason. The range of effects and ambient scores rival Speilberg's Oscar winning film.
Internet multiplayer couldn't be fully tested for review as the game has yet to release at the time of publication and no servers are running. It's a safe assumption that many will be online shortly and the code is obviously reliable being backed by the Q3 engine. Many gamers will find it a not-so-minor annoyance that the game lacks an in-game browser and requires a full installation of Gamespy to find a server. Every Net gamer knows that you have less than a 50% chance of joining a decent server first time, and being required to load the game and skip through four intro movies upon every join will have people banging their heads.
Multiplayer gameplay itself doesn't look likely to topple Wolfenstein's balanced class-based system, but it's a competent offering with four objective-based maps (including a vastly superior beach level design) and your choice of seven primary weapons. There are additional deathmatch maps, even if bog standard DM is so, you know, nineties.
Conclusion
Medal of Honor: Allied Assault is a rare example of a game that provides an overall experience that outweighs its compilation of flaws, although they do prevent a great title from becoming an instant classic. Taken level for level, the hardcore gamer could probably nitpick their way through the issues, but if you just dim the lights and don your headphones, you'll become instantly immersed in the Allies' struggle for freedom. Intensely atmospheric, the game manages to make you feel part of a bigger battle, even when you're doing a Schwarzenegger alone through a German bunker for half of the game. And of course it's always nice to put Nazis squarely back under the reticule, instead of as fodder to shoot between the next round of mutants and zombies.
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Close isn't good enough unless you throw a grenade!
01-11-2002, 02:41 AM
Seriously. 
Linear Mode
