Today, Medal of Honor: Allied Assault is good for nostalgia, but that's about all. If you don't have fond memories of this series, leave it alone. When it was released, Medal of Honor: Allied Assault was exciting and gripping. It was the model World War II shooter, for a little while. It has not aged well. Obviously, the graphics are dated, but far more importantly, the gameplay mechanics are dated. After MoH:AA, a large part of the development team left to form Infinity Ward, which went on to release Call of Duty. Call of Duty may have a bad reputation (in some circles) today, but it is worth remembering why people became so excited about CoD when was released and there is no better game to compare CoD to than MoH:AA. In MoH:AA, you are nearly always alone, creeping around, sniping enemies and scrounging after health kits. 18 months later, Call of Duty came along with almost exactly the same formula, but with a more exciting and varied campaign. And for once, you were not alone! Yes, MoH:AA gives you some squadmates in a couple of missions, but they have a tendency to die immediately, at which point you are alone. Again. Just like in every other shooter you had ever played. MoH:AA just feels dead by today's standards. You are alone. There are some Germans. You shoot them and move on to the next level. When it was released, MoH:AA was very, very good. It was soon bested by a game that redefined the single-player shooter experience. If you want a WWII-style shooter from this era, get the original Call of Duty and forget about this one. (Or, even better, get Call of Duty 2 - aka Halo with Nazis - although that is not really from the same "era")
I want to emphasize something that I feel the other reviewers have left out in their reviews: the freedom ArmA gives you in carrying out the single-player campaign. The missions in ArmA ("Operation: Flashpoint" for those who bought it back in the day) can often be completed/solved many, many ways. Thus, some of the hardest parts of the game become the most rewarding as well. Here is one of many favorite instances (minor spoilers ahead, obviously): NATO is retreating after being crushed by the opening Soviet attack. Your platoon has been wiped out, leaving you trapped behind enemy lines. The sun has just come up and you've got to make it to the extraction point. Do you a) quietly make your way through the countryside, dodging patrols b) pick up your dead buddies' gear and try to shoot your way through to some friendlies c) sneak in the occupied town, steal a civilian's car and floor it before you get lit up. I'm sure there are options d), e), and f) too, if you're creative enough. I've got to say, though, that dodging tank shells in a busted up Lada gave me the biggest adrenaline rush I've ever gotten from a video game. And here's the thing: it didn't feel "game-y," like the developers had put that car there, just for that purpose. No, it felt satisfying and clever. The campaign is chock full of opportunities to use unusual angles, and that's what makes it so rewarding and fun to come back to. The black ops missions in particular encourage you to be devious. The "Resistance" expansion practically requires you to use your brain more than your trigger finger. I'm giving this a "high" four stars. Four because, and there's no point in denying it, this game has some rough edges, and not just in the graphics department. The enemy AI gets weird, dumb at close quarters (although it should be noted that 99% of the time you are shooting from 100+ meters away). Friendly AI often has the usual litany of friendly AI problems. The learning curve spikes steeply once (minor spoiler) you start commanding troops of your own. I say it's a "high four" because the overflowing ambition, the replayability, the character-driven story and the fine balance of tension and excitement put ArmA ("Operation: Flashpoint," excuse me) in the same category as Jagged Alliance 2 and GTA: San Andreas. A neutral thing about the game, as well. The in-game cutscenes have a very unusual, languid, "pan over the enormous landscape" feel to them that makes me think of classic westerns, David Lynch and - especially - Terrence Malick. It's a funny ambience, and probably just an accident of the game's engine, but I enjoy its strangeness. Has anyone else ever been struck by that?
