Medal of Honor:Pacific Assault review - Page 1

Computer Specs:
AMD 64 3200+ @ 2.5 GHz
1 GB Mushkin PC3200 DDR RAM
BFG Geforce 6800 GT
160 GB Seagate SATA HD

Ahh, it's that time of year again. A time for joy, celebration and Pacific Coastal rampage. Yes, it's that time for another installment of the successful series of Medal of Honor. The previous game in the series, Medal of Honor:Allied Assault took place during WWII, starting with the horrific battle sequence of D-Day. You're task in the previous game was to infiltrate the German forces and help bring an end to their efforts. Medal of Honor:Pacific Assault is also during WWII, however it concentrates on the opposite side of the globe, namely Japan on the outerlying islands. There has been many years of separation between the first Medal of Honor and this one, so there was plenty of time for improvements, graphical and otherwise.

You start off in the game as Tommy Coughlin, a Marine that you have the fortunate chance to play on your computer in your safe place of living. Tommy and his three friends from boot camp are making their way towards Tarawa Atoll. What ensues is a horrific gunfight that you will no doubt end up killing you. When I died this early in the game, I was thinking for a moment that this may be indeed the hardest game ever made. Who dies in the first few minutes of game play? After a few moments of confusion however, it appeared that I was supposed to die, as a flashback ensued which took me back to boot camp. Here you got introduced to your squad members' names and personalities. You have a somewhat long talk with them, and this is important as it allows you to somewhat get into the characters that you will be fighting with and for later in the game. After the talk you proceed with training, which was too long in my opinion. There should always be an option to skip training and this is a game where that would have been nice. There are really no new concepts or game play developments that needed explanation.

After training you are a proud Marine! And lucky you, as your assignment just happens to be on a warm island near sunny Hawaii. What better way to spend your time in WWII than lying in the sun and getting a nice tan? Well unfortunately for you, that island happens to be Pearl Harbor. What ensues in this stage of the game is the kind of "chaotic game opener" that MOH:AA treated us to with the D-Day scenario. What this means in plain english is explosions, death and more explosions. Once past this, our brave Tommy Coughlin will embark on an epic quest through several of the major battles in the Pacific Theater.