Dan Gardiner just wishes that it was a little bit longer – the game that is…
If the original Medal of Honor: Allied Assault borrowed selectively from Saving Private Ryan, the new Spearhead expansion pack could almost be called Band of Brothers -- The Game. The first two-thirds of Spearhead pay homage to the recent TV series in a spectacular fashion, fusing the best of BoB into a supremely playable experience.
The game starts with one of the most excellent events we’ve seen in modern gaming -- a parachute jump out of a burning plane into enemy territory. Although it’s only an in-game cutscene, it’s a great scene-setter and it really kick starts the game.
In Spearhead, you play as a member of the 101st Airborne, one Sergeant Jack Barnes. Your missions take place across Europe; in the hills of Normandy just prior to the boat landings on D-Day; in snow-covered, mortar pounded forests; and deep in the ruins of Berlin. Missions are widely varied and generally lots of fun. In many ways, Spearhead takes the best parts of Allied Assault’s single player experience and refines them even further.
On of the most significant improvements is the inclusion of large squad-based battles. These are just damn cool to participate in, as you rush headfirst into half a dozen Nazi’s with your weapon blazing, your squad-mates keeping pace and picking off enemies as they go. Spearhead’s sounds and music are characteristically brilliant. The orchestral score from the original makes a second welcome appearance, and the effects sound just as realistic as before.
It’s somewhat ironic that while Spearhead was developed by a different design house than MOH:AA, it still suffers from many of the same problems as the original. Scripted events are still at the core of the game; sometimes they work well, other times they’re about as obvious Bennett is horny (which is to say, disturbingly so). It’s not that we mind scripting so much -- it’s just that its effectiveness really depends on how noticeable it is.
Also like the original, playing through the Spearhead on hard is primarily about knowing exactly what to expect from scripted enemies then figuring out a way to overcome it -- and trying again and again until you get it right.
The story is pretty disjointed, and there’s not much of a sense of continuity between missions. It’s frequently unclear exactly why Sergeant Barnes is where he is, as there’s no narrative that links the missions. One minute you’re in the thick of the Ardennes forest in France, the next you’re in the heart of bombed-out Berlin.
Both squad-mate and enemy AI is generally good however, but never really outstanding. Squad members generally behave themselves but don’t display much intelligence. They can still occasionally wander too close to an explosive you’ve just placed, or run into a house crammed full of machine-gun toting Nazi’s -- with their resulting death forcing you to reload.
There were one or two annoyances in MOH:AA that have thankfully been removed from Spearhead. Gone are the frustratingly accurate Nazi soldiers -- you know, the ones that could probably pick you off from a thousand paces with a flintlock pistol. Nazi’s are now more varied in their accuracy, and will frequently have to fire off a couple of rounds before zooming in on your position.
The sheer brevity of the single player game is Spearhead’s main weakness. Most people who’ve finished Allied Assault should be able to breeze through the three missions (nine levels all up) in an evening or two of dedicated playing. It’s fun while it lasts, although most Atomicans will find the whole experience all too brief.
Multiplayer helps to redeem the shortness of single player somewhat, and introduces 12 new maps and a superb new game type called Tug of War. ToW works in a similar fashion to Conquest in Battlefield 1942, although it’s a little more involved. Rather than just holding a series of points, each team must attempt to complete a set of objectives, such as closing an important gate into a village, or holding onto a piece of artillery. Each objective shows up as a dot on your compass so it’s easy to find, and it’s a lot of fun scrambling around trying to complete the tasks with your team-mates.
Sadly, there were very few active local servers when we played online, and we mostly had to put up with ping times above 200ms.
Overall, Spearhead is a little mixed. The majority of levels are beautifully constructed and even slightly better than those in the original. The new multiplayer maps and ToW are Spearhead’s saving grace, but most people won’t be able to play them extensively because of the lack of local servers.
Issue: 137 | June, 2012