Medal of Honor: Frontline (PS2)

If you survive D-Day you enter the real meat of the game--Operation Market Garden (Arnhem). From scuttling a U-Boat to clearing checkpoints in the town itself, the missions are brilliantly designed. The true playability of the Medal of Honor series is how immersive it is: narrative, graphics and sound all combine to give you one of the most gripping first-person shooters on any format. Backgrounds are beautifully detailed, and the sound really sets the game apart. The control system is also intuitive, with the option to customise your controller or choose one of the two default options: MOH Sharpshooter (two analogue stick-control) or the original controls used in the PSone's Medal of Honor.

There are only two criticisms that can be levelled at the game. Firstly, the artificial intelligence errs on the stupid side, with enemies standing around watching comrades get shot, and although this changes with the difficulty level it never responds in a particularly "human" way. Secondly, you can only save at the end of a mission (always a feature of console conversions), so it's quite frustrating to be unceremoniously dumped right back at the beginning after battling your way through a level. But hey, this is war, after all, and these are small niggles about what is a genuinely phenomenal game. Sign up now: the Allies need you. --Kristen Bowditch

The game does have a few saving graces, hence my 3/5 rating. Generally the graphics are good, and better on some levels. The sound is mostly excellent, from the surrounding gun fire to the music score, and adds considerably to the atmosphere of the game. Ultimately though, GAME PLAY is the most important element of ANY videogame, and this is the one area the developers failed to address. Somehow though, and as with FIFA games, MOHF has still managed to fly off shop shelves since it's release. You see, EA know a thing or two about hype...sorry, marketing.


Reaches Parts that other FPS don't reach.   June 21, 2002
Mr. SCM Bell (UK)
29 out of 33 found this review helpful

I'm not really a huge fan of the FPS genre. In the last 10 years i've only played through Quake 1 and 2 on the PC and Timesplitters on the PS2. However, i'd heard great rumblings about this game, i'd heard it was an interactive take on Saving Private Ryan. I needed no more convincing...
The opening scene kicks off totally in the vein of said Speilberg epic. The sound effects are so sharp and pulsating that it was as though they were lifted straight from the film and the graphics are smooth with loving attention to detail. Real killjoys may notice genre characteristic gaps and clumsy movement when in close interaction with your surroundings but this really shouldn't put you off. The chaotic first mission is not really as intense as the film, that would be impossible, but let me tell you, it comes a close second. I guarantee you will be dodging invisible bullets and you may even shed a tear at the entrance to the German bunker complex when one of your mates is shot to pieces by a machine gun nest.
A notable reviewer mentioned that you may feel a certain degree of disspointment when you find out that this intensity isn't carried on immediately past the first level. Disregard this comment. Take a look at any great film or game, you just don't get 200% visceral fury from beginning to end and like Saving Private Ryan, MOH-F goes a little more stealthy and downbeat past the opening bloodbath. Say what you like, but I love it. The submarine infiltration and the following shipyard mission are outstanding. Brillantly paced, scripted and the soundtrack puts many Hollywood blockbusters totally to shame.
Another honourable mention goes out to MOH-F for depicting the British during WW2 in a favourable light. Many American entertainment mediums seem convinced we are ridiculous-accented morons who did nothing but ride through WW2 on their coat-tails. Not so here. Although you play an American a latter, particularly harrowing mission, through the streets of Arnheim (emulating brilliantly the final battle in Saving Private Ryan), sees you fighting alongside British paras. You fight inch by inch, side by side through the ruined streets while a haunting choir dramatically provide the musical cues. The voices of the British soldiers around you gave me a genuine moment of national pride!
There is really little to complain about in this game. There is some dodgy animation when you man a machine gun post, ladders are ridiculously fiddly to climb and the hit detection when shooting at very long range is occasionally a little inaccurate but believe me these things are so insignificant overall. The level of detail is unbelievable, just listen to the germans chatting to each other, the grind and clank of Panzers moving down onto your position, the valour, the computer generated human sacrifice! You almost feel guilty having such a good time re-living such a dreadful period of history.


The best PS2 game yet.   June 12, 2002
Anthony Pugh (UK)
25 out of 28 found this review helpful

WHAT CAN i SAY ABOUT THIS GAME? Its the only PS2 game i have never regretted parting with money for and the includes MGS2!! The graphics are incredable the music is the best I have ever heard on any system. But suprisingly all this plays second to the gameplay itself. You will actually find yourself ducking outta the way of bullets and even feeling sorry for some of the german soldiers. Dont believe me - the second level - you are storming a bunker , you come through a doorway between some boxes, on the floor there are 2 geman soldiers enjoying a cigarette and talking about what sounds like home.I tried every way to sneak past them buthonestly i had to do a lot of thinking before grabbing the gun and doing the inevitable. This is basically 'Saving private ryan' the game. It emotional its action packed and has a lot of dark humour. The best pS2 game yet. P.S. Try not feeling any terror on the D .Day landing level.


World War 2 re-lived   June 24, 2002
alan story (england)
16 out of 18 found this review helpful

At last, a PS2 game that lives up to the hype, and in my opinion is only bettered by GTA3 in the top games to own. Most reviews will obviously mention the D-Day landing, and for one good reason - it's mind blowing. It's the first half an hour of Private Ryan but interactive (albeit squeezed into 10 minutes). It begins slowly, watching the landing vehicles approach the shore the camera pans up to watch some bombers fly over head, then back down at which point YOU are in thick of it. Bullets are flying, medics are bent over dying soldiers, gun fire rains down from heavily reinforced bunkers and several poor saps lie broken and dead on the beaches of Normandy. The remainder of the game doesn't let up from Submarines, to armoured trains, to a bit similar to the town in Ryan. It's typical MOH, same as the PS1 but with the next gen graphics required to portray war. For anyone who recalls learning of the events of 1944, or who have watched Band of Brothers or who have been to Normandy the history is there to be soaked up.

The sound and music deserve a special mention with haunting melodies, rousing orchestral sections, it truly is a cinematic experience. It's only when you really listen do you realise how well suited the tunes are. The sound effects are equally effective, with mortar shells falling around you, bullets flying everywhere, German guards conversing just around a corner, muted background noises - this in my opinion is the best use of the PS2s sound processing to date.

Three levels of difficulty should ensure a challenge for most players, with a grading system at the end of each mission offering rewards of real footage from the war, making of videos (this time, actually interesting to watch) and cheats. It remains to be seen whether these are all unlocked through playing it on easy only, or whether further rewards are offered for attempting the higher difficulties (I hope so, otherwise the replay value dips significantly). Some of the missions are over too quickly (the D-Day landing being one of them), the enemy AI can be a little slow and the maps can be quite linear with obvious barriers to moving off of the preset route through the level (fencing that you ought to be able to jump but can't). But all in all, these don't detract from the experience of (and apologies that it's not considered PC) eradicating the nazi scum from occupied France.

This is one of those games that you simply have to own. Beg, steal or borrow from a friend, neighbour, your gran - to experience the game, once you have then better work out where you can find the money to own it yourself.