The cost of war beyond fighting

Medal of Honor Warfighter is a first person shooter and sequel to the Medal of Honor reboot, which was released in 2010.

As a direct sequel, there is not much recap of what happened in the first game when you start Medal of Honor Warfighter. That makes it a little difficult to understand the soldiers and their call signs used in the game.

The story of Medal of Honor Warfighter is a mixture of flashbacks of previous and current missions that the Tier 1 Special Forces operatives experience while trying to stop terrorist attacks on the United States. A secondary plot details the effects on the families of these soldiers, as they struggle being absent from their families’ lives.

You will spend a majority of your time playing as two operatives named Preacher and Stump. You are tasked with locating people-of-interest and finding weapons that are going to be used for domestic attacks on the United States. The missions all involve the tried-and-true FPS method of moving from point to point, defeating all the enemies, and moving on until the end of levels. Medal of Honor Warfighter does add a couple driving missions that break up the shooting gameplay .

While the missions are loosely connected, the narrative in Medal of Honor Warfighter moves at a breakneck pace and there are few moments to register exactly what you are doing in a specific mission. For those who are only aware of the military through FPS games, Medal of Honor Warfighter’s story can feel very simple, but it speaks volumes to people who have friends and family in the military.

Using the Frostbite 2 engine, which originally debuted in Battlefield 3, Medal of Honor Warfighter looks impressive. Developers Danger Close tweaked the engine a bit and it looks more realistic and detailed. In most missions, there is a lot going on during firefights and the variety of environments is impressive.

Weather and lighting details stick out along with the character models for the primary characters. The different operators all have distinctive looks that are established during the rendered cut scenes. The quality during the scenes is amazing and are very lifelike.

When playing, you are going to notice a lot of detail on the different weapons that you use and uniforms that the main characters wear. Unfortunately this does not translate to the other enemy fodder that you fight most of the time. They all have a very similar appearance and most of the time their faces are covered with masks. Frostbite 2 is an impressive graphics engine and it really shows when playing Medal of Honor Warfighter.

Since Medal of Honor Warfighter is broken up into various missions, you are normally going to be moving linearly through a level to accomplish various tasks. There is not a lot of variety in exactly what you are going regardless of the actual mission. The driving missions are different and fun, but can be difficult for players who are not used to driving from a first-person perspective.

Using standard FPS controls, you have two default weapons, but are able to pick up dropped weapons from enemies. This is a nice touch as they do not replace any of your default weapons so you just throw them away after using them.

Medal of Honor Warfighter includes an interesting door breaching mechanic that is used a lot throughout the game. There is a small leveling mechanic where you can unlock new breaching methods to use during the game. It does not change how the gameplay works, but adds a little bit of variety.

The combat gameplay is not anything vastly different from other FPS games, but the inclusion of multiple scopes on a single weapon used by Special Forces is interesting. The focus on authenticity is seen through the game with the weapons and gear that the team uses. Medal of Honor Warfighter, at its core, is a FPS game and does not try to interpret the action in the game as reality, but the experience is still intense and impressive.

If you’ve ever wondered what specific weapons sound like, Medal of Honor Warfighter will teach you. A wide range of weapons are reproduced and ambient effects like sniper fire and explosions are huge. Medal of Honor Warfighter is a mixture of an action movie and gun range when it comes to its sound.

Voice acting is also among the best for a FPS game. The main cast from the 2010 Medal of Honor return to voice their character, which helps to give convincing lines of dialogue. When you are on missions, you are able to hear your partner through an in-ear radio. Medal of Honor Warfighter’s sound is some of the strongest for an action FPS game and it will be interesting to see what other games will do to best it.

Medal of Honor Warfighter’s multiplayer features Tier 1 Special Forces from around the world, where players can choose and play as an operator from another country. Instead of a good vs evil match, Medal of Honor Warfighter consists of operators fighting in fireteams of two.

The fireteam mechanic is excellent. Having a partner that can heal, resupply, and act as a roaming spawn point is a lot of fun. Experience points can be shared between both players when they work together and adds another level of collective combat.

Medal of Honor Warfighter’s various modes are standard for FPS multiplayer modes, but given different names. ‘Team deathmatch’ and ‘capture the point’ were the modes I played the most with a partner who was a much higher level. Working together, it is possible to survive much longer than running around as a lone wolf.

Earning XP will unlock new character classes and weapon modifications. This adds another level of planning with your partner because you can strategize how to accomplish tasks. All your multiplayer data is stored in Medal of Honor Warfighter’s Battlelog containing all your stats like kill-to-death ratio, accuracy, unlocks, and other specific information.

Medal of Honor Warfighter’s multiplayer is not the run-and-gun of other FPS games, but requires more teamwork. In comparison to other games, Medal of Honor Warfighter is more deliberate and offers a tactical approach not seen as much in other games.

If you are looking for a more reverent take on a FPS game, then yes. When compared to the numerous other FPS games, Medal of Honor Warfighter is different because it approaches war from a different angle. It strives for authenticity while fighting to still be an entertainment product.

The story may feel bland and repetitive, but honestly, it speaks to a different crowd than the action movie FPS fan. Even though the narrative in Medal of Honor Warfighter can been seen as derivative because it strings a story through different events, it actually feels more realistic than other “one-man army” FPS games.

The single player campaign is a little short, but full of intense moments that can be construed as repetitive, but the FPS genre is still presenting the same core gameplay with different bells and whistles. The teamwork-focused multiplayer is one of the first that I actually feel like playing long after I am done with the single player mode.

Medal of Honor Warfighter may not be the next big blockbuster FPS game, but it presents secondary subject matter not often discussed while still presenting a solid single and multiplayer experience.