Summary:
Medal of Honor: Frontline is a first-person shooter in the Medal of Honor franchise. It was published by Electronic Arts and was released May 29th, 2002. The different platforms that the game is available on are PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, GameCube and Xbox (original). This game came out right around the time when first person shooters were getting huge so there wasn’t as much detail to them.
This installment, like most World War II FPS’s, starts off during the Allied invasion of France on D-Day. The player controls Lt. Jimmy Patterson where he fights his way with his squad up to and clear out a bunker. After this level, the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), recruits him to complete several missions behind enemy lines, from rescuing certain individuals to blowing up factories. The overall goal for Lt. Patterson is to track down the Axis’ newly developed weapon and eliminate the one in charge. Throughout his encounters with the Germans, Patterson is taken across Europe on different fronts. He partakes in Operation Overlord like previously stated, and also plays a pivotal role in Operation Market Garden.
Gameplay:
Like stated above, Medal Of Honor: Frontline was one of the first mainstream first person shooters that took place during World War II. Obviously the graphics aren’t the greatest but the player hud is Patterson’s arms, hands, weapon and compass.
On the bottom left corner of the hud there is a compass that also acts as the health bar. The health is indicated with a ring around the compass. It is green when the player has decent enough health, yellow when the player is getting low and red when the player is low health. When the player is critically low, it starts blinking red. Also on the compass, there are indicators that show up red to let the player know which direction they are getting shot or attacked from.
On the bottom right of the hud is where the current ammo capacity is for the current weapon the player is holding/using. It is a very simple hud with not much going on except the basics.
There are quite a few weapons in this game. Ranging from sidearms all the way up to bazookas. The following are the weapons that can be used by the player; M1 Garand, Thompson, M1911, Springfield, Walther P38, BAR, Gewehr 43, Karabiner 98 Kurz, MP40, M9A1 Bazooka, Panzerschreck, STG-44 and various grenades and other explosives. The player switches between all weapons or items using toggle and then usually the same action to fire/use.
There are also medical supplies that are found throughout the levels. There are three different types, the medical canteen, medical kit and the field surgeon pack. Each one has a varying degree of effect. The canteens do minimal healing. The medical kits do about a quarter of the health healing and the field surgeon pack does more than half healing.
There are no “aim down sights” in this game unless it is a scoped weapon. The most aiming down does is zooms in. However, this is very different from other FPS because when the player zooms, they can only move side to side a little bit and not move while aiming. The player can also control mounted machine guns. These have unlimited ammo and mounting one will cause the game to make a bunch of enemies spawn. The movement is also not like usual present games. There is only a couch and stand position. There is also no sprinting.
At the end of each level, there is a summary of the statistics that the player received throughout the mission. This includes the game giving the player a rating, bronze, silver, and gold. The number of shot fired, actual hits the player got and how many kills. The accuracy of the player. The preferred weapon during that level and number of hits the player received from the enemies. The game also tracks the shots locations so it tells the player how many shots hit the enemies in the head, torso, groin, left and right leg and arm.
Review:
Medal of Honor: Frontline was one of the first games I ever played on the original Xbox. I remember asking my dad when I could play this game and he would always say ”just a little bit older.” Then when the time finally came, I was hooked. I am a huge fan of World War II games and this is one of my favorites.
I am a big fan of every level because it’s such a great story. My personal favorite campaign is “Needle in a Haystack” where Jimmy drops into the outskirts of Kleveburg where he has to make his way to the city. However, all the levels were great in their own way.
This is definitely one of my more nostalgic games that I try to play through a couple times a year and it never gets old. I own four Medal of Honor games, inlcuding Medal of Honor: Frontline, Rising Sun, European Assault and Airborne. I like to play through them all, all at once and go through World War 2 with different locations and games. Obviously since this game came out more than 20 years ago, the graphics aren’t great and the gameplay doesn’t quite hold up to modern games but it is still playable.
The only thing I am not a huge fan of in this game is the fact that there aren’t any quick saves or checkpoints. So if the player dies during the level, they have to restart the entire level from the beginning. Luckily, the most levels weren’t terribly long and there was enough medical supplies in the level. Like stated before, the graphics and gameplay may not hold up, but it was the memories and the great campaign story that makes me want to replay this game every so often.
I would highly recommend this game for all those World War II lovers and nostalgic first person shooters.
4/5
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