MEDAL OF HONOR: ALLIED ASSAULT

Reviewed By: Peter Jurmu
VOLUNTEER GUEST REVIEWER

GAME TECH INFO

Computer Platform: PC
Produced by: Electronic Arts
Price Range: $41-50
Learning curve time: 30 min.
Age level: Teen to Adult
ESRB Rating: Teen
Patches / Upgrades: none yet
System Requirements: Win XP/ME/2000/98/95 (NT unsupported); 450 MHz Intel PII or 500 MHz AMD Athlon proc.; 128 MB RAM; 8x CD/DVD-ROM drive; 1.2 GB free hard disk space plus space for saved games, Windows swap-file and DirectX 8.0; 16 MB suppported OpenGL capable video card with OpenGL and DirectX 8.0 compatible driver; DirectX 8.0 compatible sound card; Keyboard; Mouse

Genre: FPS
Christian Rating: 3 of 5
   (some objectionable elements)
Gameplay: 5 of 5
   (excellent)
Violence: 1 of 5
   (extreme)
Adult Content: 3 of 5
   (mild)

Remember the opening sequence of Saving Private Ryan, on the brutal shores of Omaha Beach? Welcome to "Medal Of Honor: Allied Assault", where you'll not only see the landing on that bloody sand, you'll take part in it.

"MOH:AA" follows Lt. Mike Powell as he goes on secret missions to prepare for Operation Overlord (D-Day), partakes in the landing, and completes missions given to him as he and the American forces progress deeper and deeper into the heart of Nazi Germany. The game doesn't have much of a

Box art for 'Medal of Honor Allied Assault'

storyline, but the missions flow well chronologically and logically; no mission has the player wondering what the point is of his or her actions, and it can be assumed that as the game progresses, so does the distance behind enemy lines that Powell travels. They also realistically depict what was expected of soldiers during WWII, and remind us how grateful we should be that it was them, and not us.

Screenshot from 'Medail of Honor Allied Assault' The game itself takes up an amazing amount of space on your hard drive (1.2 GB for basic installation), but once you understand the scope of the game, you will appreciate the level of detail that was put into the game. For example, the most difficult mission of the game has Powell and a small company of mechanics playing a game of cat-and-mouse with German snipers through the decimated streets of a bombed-out village, while on their way to sabotage a tank under repairs. Seeing the ruined storefronts and houses, watching for possible sniper action in the window of the church tower, you will be having the time of your life and silently thank EA for making sure the game was realistic as possible.

Screenshot from 'Medal of Honor Allied Assault' It's that realism that might drive some off; the game is very violent. True, those being killed are Nazis, and all the action is bloodless (a very tasteful development decision), but many will dislike the high body count and the intensity that is present in the game, along with the actual deaths of those dying (quite realistic). It must be noted, however that the body count is not unreasonable; soldiers are not treated like cardboard pop-ups, but rather “think” for themselves. I'm glad that the developers realized that one smart soldier with a gun is infinitely more challenging than 50 idiotic drones with guns, who only test your trigger finger and not your mind. That is about the extent of the objectionable content of the game; there is a small amount of profanity while the soldiers are on Omaha beach (and I mean SMALL--three or four mild expletives), but otherwise, the violence is the only thing to worry about in regards to who to buy the game for.

"Medal Of Honor: Allied Assault" is one of the finer war games to come our way in a while, if not the best. If you are confident that it is appropriate for you or your children, then by all means buy it. You not only will get to enjoy a fine game, but also be reminded of the price that our country's soldiers paid and continue to pay, and maybe have a little more appreciation for their sacrifice. Thumbs up.

Year of Release—2002

Neutral—A truly wonderful FPS game, but still it misses the fact that war is bloody and ugly. The image that this game gives to people is the glorified image like the 1950's movies. My Ratings: [4]
—Mikael Palsio, age 20, non-Christian

Positive—As a person who has grown up studying WWII and has been to Normandy, Dachau, the Eagle’s Nest, the Ardennes, Bastogne, Paris, Berlin, Pearl Harbor, and hundreds of other unknown battle sites across Europe, I truly appreciated and enjoyed this installment of the MOH series (the rest being on the Playstation 1 & 2 platforms). I was a bit worried at first when I saw this was on the computer (crash-happy machines(-:), but EA has truly done a magnificent job here. The opening sequence (D-Day) took me an innumerable amount of attempts to get past, raising in me a true appreciation for what those men accomplished on that beach I stood on almost 11 years ago. And the game gets better from there. Although I was sitting on the edge of my seat anticipating where my next foe might come from, once each mission is over my mind was reeling from what I had just “survived” and at the power of a nation's control over its citizens to drive them to fight me so tenaciously. Compared to other FPS games (AKA GoldenEye, Perfect Dark, Doom, Duke NukeEm, and Halflife), this game actually makes you think. If you don't think, you will die. The mission with the tank engineering squad in the sniper infested town was by far the most challenging mission I have encountered. My wife thought something was seriously wrong with me when she heard me cry out in agony at my “demise” and then again when I later lost my engineering crew. She was worried at first that this game would “deaden” my sensitivity to such violence. I think she would argue differently now. I would not recommend letting younger minds play this game. It is intense and frightening at times. But for someone who knows the scope and the reason behind this game, mainly understanding what our G.I.'s went through in WWII, this game is the top of the class in a great series. It truly helps us “never forget” a sacrifice that for too long was across the oceans and lost in the forests of Europe only to be found by a traveler as they stumbled across it while going somewhere else. My Ratings: [3 / 5]
—Brian Guthrie, age 25

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this Christian Spotlight review are those of the reviewer (both ratings and recommendations), and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Films for Christ or the Christian Answers Network.