TGS '10: Medal of Honor Hands-On

Fintan Monaghan

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TGS '10: Medal of Honor Hands-On



According to senior creative director Richard Farrelly, "authenticity" is the driving force behind the new Medal of Honor reboot.

I asked Richard Farrelly what set MOH apart from the likes of Bad Company 2 and that colossus Modern Warfare 2. "There's only so many ways you can do a military FPS, but the things that set us apart are presentation, treatment of the subject matter, respect for the soldiers and a commitment to authenticity."

Despite the game's setting in the early 2000s, Farrelly and his team approached the project as a piece of history rather than a political statement in order to fulfill their vision. "Politics is not a factor, this is historical fiction, it just happens to be set in a current conflict."

The game looks good. Farrelly assured us that there will be no appreciable difference in graphics between PS3, Xbox 360, or PC versions of the game. The demo we played took us through the first few missions of the single-player game. Your squad lands in the Afghan mountains, impressively barren and sun-scorched. Resistance is greater than expected and many of your comrades are picked off by Taliban forces. All seems lost until Apache helicopters arrive to save the day.

Its at this point your perspective shifts and you become a gunner on the helicopter. Attention has been paid to these transitions. The story works in these baton passing moments in a smooth and natural way, breaking the flow of the narrative as little as possible.

Over the course of the game you'll play a range of characters, including main protagonist Sgt. Patterson, an Apache gunner and two different Tier-1 operatives. The bearded dude on all the promotional material goes by the name "Dusty" and will be your wingman in some of the Tier-1 missions.

Farrelly explained the involvement of real-life Afghan veterans in the game's development, including Tier-1 operatives. The soldiers had a lot of input, advising on the script, the authenticity of weapons and dialogue, even the sound of the guns. Farrelly even alluded to a scene in the game that the soldiers found upsetting. Apparently it was a little close to home, and the scene was removed. No questions asked. "It was important to us that we do right by them," explained Farrelly. As for what that scene was, he declined to say.

Medal of Honor hits stores on October 12.

TGS 2010 reporting is done jointly by Fintan Monaghan and Lisa Gay.

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Generic_Dave

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Jul 15, 2009
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Fintan Monaghan said:
Farrelly even alluded to a scene in the game that the soldiers found upsetting. Apparently it was a little close to home, and the scene was removed. No questions asked. "It was important to us that we do right by them," explained Farrelly. As for what that scene was, he declined to say.
Makes you wish that the media would speak to these Vets and Games Designers before talking about the "lack of respect and sensitivity".
 

Electrogecko

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Oh boy........everyone's excited to play super realistic games!! I can see the 12 year olds arguing now.
"Noooooo COD is more realistic!"
"Nah-ah. Medal of Honor is like the real thing!!"
 

Jim Grim

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Electrogecko said:
Oh boy... Everyone's really excited to be playing super realistic games! I can see the 12 year olds arguing now.
"Noooooo CoD is more realistic!"
"Nuh-uh. Medal of Honor is just like the real thing!"
These people will always find something to argue about. Just leave 'em to it.

OT:I wish I had some sort of special power which would help me determine whether I'd enjoy Black Ops or Medal of Honor more.
 

Woodsey

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"Farrelly assured us that there will be no appreciable difference in graphics between PS3, Xbox 360, or PC versions of the game"

That's only comforting to two of the platforms - possibly only one of them.
 

lumenadducere

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Ah. See, in the interest of seeing the medium expand and maybe mature a bit I kind of wish they'd kept the scene that hit too close to home. But I completely understand wanting to respect the troops and those involved and I think that it's commendable that they're willing to go such a length to do so.
 

SelectivelyEvil13

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"There's only so many ways you can do a military FPS, but the things that set us apart are presentation, treatment of the subject matter, respect for the soldiers and a commitment to authenticity."
So I take it no snowmobile chases, then? [sub][sub]What about Humvee chases?!?[/sub][/sub]

I am curious as to how the transitions will feel during actual gameplay. Switching in the middle of a mission to an entirely new person will be hard to balance so as not to take the player completely out of their element suddenly.

The Apache Gunner character makes me a bit wonder, though. How much of the game is going to have interspersed rail-shooting segments mixed in if he's part of the spotlight?

I like to hear that they are not trying to inadequately portray real-life subject matters in disrespect. :)