Medal of Honor: Airborne (PC)

Medal of Honor: Airborne is the 11th game in the series, and this time you take the role of Private Boyd Travers, a member of the 82nd Airborne division in World War 2 (WW2).

On top of the 11 MOH games, there have been numerous other games along these lines. In such a packed, and possibly tired marketplace, what is there to set Airborne above the rest?

Aside from an improvement in the graphics and sound, which you would ...
...mission gains you an additional medal at the end. However, there is also a medal for completing a mission without being killed, and the two are pretty much exclusive.

Once you are on the ground, it is pretty standard FPS fare, with mission objectives ranging from holding a position until reinforcements arrive to blowing up artillery and anti-aircraft positions.

One of the better aspects of the game is how cover is ... more

Medal of Honor: Airborne is the 11th game in the series, and this time you take the role of Private Boyd Travers, a member of the 82nd Airborne division in World War 2 (WW2).

On top of the 11 MOH games, there have been numerous other games along these lines. In such a packed, and possibly tired marketplace, what is there to set Airborne above the rest?

Aside from an improvement in the graphics and sound, which you would expect, the biggest change is the addition of the ability to parachute, which is brilliant!

Every mission starts with you in a transport plane, with the rest of your squad, waiting to get over your drop zone. This little interlude really helps to build tension, as flak burst around the plane and banter flying back and forth between the other soldiers. On some mission, the plane gets hit, and this really does give a burst of adrenaline to the proceedings.

Once you are over your target, you leap out of the plane, and can steer yourself down onto the map. The location you pick to land on can have a great deal of impact on how long you survive for. In the pre-mission briefing, the safe zones are highlighted, which are areas where you can land without fear of being shot, and these are marked on the map by green smoke. Land at ground level outside of these areas, and you are pretty much guaranteed another parachute jump, as you re-spawn from the aircraft.

In addition, as you explore each level, you will come across hidden skill drops. These are locations that are tricky to land upon, and hitting all 5 of these during the course of mission gains you an additional medal at the end. However, there is also a medal for completing a mission without being killed, and the two are pretty much exclusive.

Once you are on the ground, it is pretty standard FPS fare, with mission objectives ranging from holding a position until reinforcements arrive to blowing up artillery and anti-aircraft positions.

One of the better aspects of the game is how cover is handled. You can crouch behind objects such as walls, which is pretty standard. However, you can pop over and lean out from behind your handy barricades to return fire. You can also hold down shift to sprint from one hidey-hole to another, and you will drop back into a crouch once you have stopped running. Having played other FPS games since, I really do miss this feature, as it makes so much more sense than most of the other control methods out there.

Another interesting change is the way that your health I handled. It is split into four sections, with each one acting as a mini-health bar. The main difference is that, if you have anything left in one of the bars, sitting in cover for a while will allow that bar to fill back up. Once a bar is gone, the only way to replace it is with a handy medical pack. This mix means that you can take risks and get away with it, but not scott free, as is the case in some games these days.

The missions themselves are fairly big, with lots of objectives that follow on from each other, but if you are a hardcore player (and not married like I am) you could easily rattle through all of the game pretty quickly.

There are a few different multiplayer game modes that you can use, with the standard death match and capture the flag options. However, this is another instance where the parachuting element of the game is used to good effect. In the team versions of the games, you have the option to have the allies airdropping in when re-spawning. This is great, as it gives you the chance to pick up where you left off by dropping into the same area where you were killed. The down side of this is that a member of the enemy team with a steady aim can shoot you out of the air on the way down, which can be a little frustrating.

All in all, this is very much a standard FPS. There is, however, enough in there to make it different enough to be a worthwhile purchase, but only if you are not sick to death of the genre. 

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