October 26, 2012

Medal of Honor: Frontline

North American cover art


In 2002, the fourth game in the Medal of Honor series "Frontline", was released.  It's one of my most favorite shooters for 6th gen consoles.

GAMEPLAY
Frontline keeps most FPS elements from the time, this means no iron sights can be used.  Obviously you shoot Nazi's throughout, and sometimes, different classes take longer to kill.  Some inanimate objects, such as bottles, windows and crates can be destroyed, which is a nice feature for the games age.   A cool factoid is that the levels "D-Day", and "Seaside Stowaway" are modeled on the set of Saving Private Ryan.  When it comes to guns, your loadout is pre-determined, but throughout the course of the game, you get to use a lot of vintage guns.  Since there are 19 levels spread accross 6 missions, this game should keep you busy for a while. 

STORY

The game takes place from during the events of D-Day and Opeation Market Garden in 1944.  You play as fictional american OSS agent and Medal of Honor recipient Jimmy Patterson.  Over the campaign you storm Omaha Beach, aid in Operation Market Garden, rescue a captured agent from a mansion, infiltrate a secret Nazi base.
The story isn't amazing, but the historical tie-in materials make interesting.


GRAPHICS
The graphics in Frontline were good for the time it came out, but not the best seen by FPS game's in the 6thgen console era.  The Xbox version has the best graphics all together, while the PS2 version has the same texturing, but pale colors compared to other games from the time.

CONTENT
Being a FPS, this game is naturally violent.  You kill hundreds of nazi soilders during the first time playing through the game, and you do see them fall somewhat realisticly.  Due to the age of this game, there's no blood or gore, so it's cleaner than the modern Call of Duty and Medal of Games. There's also minor profanity occasionally throughout.
Frontline is rated T for Violence.

CONCLUSION
Medal of Honor: Frontline is a fun shooter to play, and learn about history from.  I became very interested Operation Market-Garden, and this sparked me to watch movies such as "A Bridge to Far", and seek out books at the library regarding the battles featured.  I'm not saying "let kids play violent games", but that in the case of older tweens/teens, playing games like Frontline can teach them a small amount of history.  Although the story portrayed is highly implausible, there's footage of real battles shown during cutscenes, and mission dossiers that have even more historical info to add
The old graphics aren't that bad, and the 4 player splitscreen deathmatch in the Xbox and Gamecube versions is also a fun addition.  
I give this one...

8 out of 10.






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