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Could it be that gamers are finally tiring of military shooters? The spotty reviews Medal of Honor: Warfighter has been receiving since its October 23rd release indicate as such. If the general consensus is anything to go by (e.g. IGN's disgusting farce of a review awarding the game a 4.0 out of 10) this current trend in gaming has finally run out of gas. After all, it's not like most consumers who purchase every yearly iteration of Call of Duty and its massively overpriced DLC map packs are the same consumers that will likely spend their hard-earned dollar on deeper, brainier material as well. I'm sure the "gamer" whose only real gaming experience starts with the word "call" and ends with the word "duty" is growing quite tiresome of military shooters because, well, what the hell else do they play?
Yes, Activision's prized cash cow has been breaking sales records since 2007 and, I'll admit it, has held onto its mainstream success two years longer than I expected it to. But how many first-person shooters since the runaway gravy train that was Modern Warfare 1 were almost always met with staunch criticism that usually ended in, "But Call of Duty does *insert gameplay element here* better?" How many enjoyable, sometimes innovative shooters were pushed aside because A) They weren't like Call of Duty B) They were too much like Call of Duty or C) Were completely ignored because, shit, a new Call of Duty comes out in four months! Can you really blame both the game publishers and developers for creating similar experiences hoping to stay afloat in the aftermath of a huge economic downturn?
Enter EA's time-tested Medal of Honor series. The very series Activision owes its success to this generation. Why is that, I hear you ask? Because their success is entirely derivative of the lucrative business model that gave EA years of high profit margins. A decade ago EA had absolutely no problem flooding the market with Medal of Honor games every year and, more often than not, of questionable quality. But when rival shooter franchise Call of Duty struck paydirt with Modern Warfare the battle for FPS supremacy was all but won. EA's 2010 reboot of the Medal of Honor series was met with mixed reviews, though most who have played it felt its strong (albeit short) single-player campaign was a step in the right direction for the genre. I was one of them. Design studio Danger Close crafted a far more emotional, authentic, and gritty shooter experience than its competition, hoping their approach would net them recognition in a market overcrowded with Michael Bay action vehicles masquerading as playable entertainment.
If anyone knows me they know I think very highly of Danger Close's previous Medal of Honor. Heavy scripting and strict linearity aside, I loved its realistic plot, gun battles, and very human lead characters. Backed by the unbelievably powerful Frostbite 2 graphics engine and a single-player story written by real-life Tier 1 Operators to boot, Medal of Honor: Warfighter has promise by the bucketloads. Originally developed by DICE for last year's Battlefield 3, the Frostbite 2 tech allows for high-end visual effects, crystal clear sound, and photorealistic facial renders & animations. Graphically speaking, Warfighter is already a giant leap ahead of it's Unreal Engine 3-powered predecessor. Warfighter's visuals are consistently dazzling and sometimes downright groundbreaking. Make no mistake, this is one good looking game.
What separated Medal of Honor from its competition two years ago is the very same thing that separates its sequel today. There's a very noticeable human element that lends a palpable, dramatic tension to the goings on. There are numerous returning characters from the previous title and despite being completely fictional I couldn't help but feel like I was reuniting with old friends. One of the huge differentiating factors at play here is that unlike other military shooters, the men you are fighting alongside aren't Hollywood-style archetypes capable of unimaginable feats of heroics and valor. There's no last minute slow-motion headshot to save the day, no outrunning an onslaught of aerial bombardments, and certainly no close-as-all-hell explosions that you and they manage to get up and walk away from time and again. Medal of Honor: Warfighter makes sure that you know you're not a superhero, but a highly trained soldier that's still capable of being shot, killed, and emotionally wounded just as any other ordinary citizen.
That's not to say Danger Close doesn't cook up some impressive scenarios, however. There's a technically astounding mission early on in the game that sees one of the player characters, Preacher (returning from the 2010 entry), wading through the hurricane-ravaged streets of the Phillippines with brother-in-arms, Mother (yet another returning character), in order to secure intel on a highly volatile explosive substance codenamed P.E.T.N. Thanks to the Frostbite 2 engine's gorgeous lighting and destructible terrain, things like derooted trees crushing structures into jagged piles of rubble in real-time are made possible. It makes for an exciting mission, topped off with fantastic gun handling and a very hectic, successive feel to the gunfights.
I half-expected Danger Close to move Warfighter in this direction, that is to say taking more liberties with its shootouts and set pieces. Thankfully things never get as crazy or as unbelievable as other shooters, and while the prospect of a two-man team executing a hostage rescue in the middle of a hurricane is very, very far-fetched (though true, from what I've read), Danger Close still adhere to the rule established in the first: moderate suspension of disbelief in the name of exciting gameplay is fine as long as the characters aren't turned into indestructible caricatures of members of the armed forces.
For every high-speed car chase and every lengthy on-foot pursuit there are just as many funny, touching character beats that aptly provide that very human facet the 2010 reboot incorporated so well. Outside of the main P.E.T.N. plot, there are flashback sequences involving Preacher's relationship with his estranged wife and daughter who have had enough of his constant lengthy deployments. Some have complained that these cutscenes - while noteworthy for simply being included in a videogame - are never capitalized upon. I beg to differ. It ups the stakes considerably when you're in control of and directly partnering with a virtual character that has a name, family, and the same fears and responsibilities that you the player has. Oftentimes we forget that soldiers are also husbands, wives, sisters, brothers, and friends. Warfighter pays tribute to that very forgotten aspect, videogame or otherwise.
The other, perhaps biggest complaint lobbied at the previous game was that it was just too short. It's brevity doesn't subtract from everything it does right, but when you have an experience as fun as the 2010 game was, four or five hours of gameplay time just isn't enough. Playing on the normal difficulty, Warfighter's campaign ran me about seven hours. That additional two or three hours of play time benefits the game greatly. The game's 13 rather diverse missions are pretty straight-forward in terms of design, but not so linear that those willing to search the surroundings a bit won't find routes in which to flank or get above their enemies. Danger Close have taken into account some degree of bullet physics, so simply aiming down your sites and firing doesn't mean an automatic hit or kill. Taking and maintaining cover is crucial, and to aid in the protection of the player are the abilities to both slide into and peek over & around cover, both of which are welcome returning features from the previous title.
It's rare nowadays that a military FPS actually takes the time to build tension, build its characters, build the stakes, and then deliver a surprising, tragic twist without having some sort of score-one-for-the-good-guys cliché in which the player character and his squadmates exact some satisfying revenge regardless of whether or not it invalidates everything before it. Warfighter sticks to its guns nicely by ensuring that there is no stereotypical, mustache-twirling villain revealed as the catalyst for all of the pain and agony experienced prior.
With that said, it couldn't be more appropriate that Danger Close ends the game with a beautifully written eulogy on the strength, determination, and unwavering courage that these amazing individuals worldwide possess. We've reached a bit of a stalemate as far as first-person shooters are concerned and if you're already tired of ones that rely on linear level design and heavily scripted moments, Medal of Honor: Warfighter isn't going to do much for you. There's a place for games like these, though, just as there is a place for long-winded RPGs and expansive open-world games. Warfighter did something that very few games do for me anymore: it made me feel something. After all was said and done, I was exhausted. I was thankful. I was heartbroken. I was worn.
Warfighter isn't a somber military simulator intent on exploring the hellish bowels of war, but it also isn't a war shooter full of male machismo and eye-rolling characterizations either. It improves on an already outstanding game by making it better looking, better playing, longer, and more satisfying overall. I'm glad to see Danger Close didn't sacrifice the authenticity of Medal of Honor 2010 for over-the-top action sequences and Hollywood theatrics. It's what made the reboot so endearing and why its sequel remains such a rewarding alternative to Call of Duty and shooters of its kind. And that's very simply because it remembers that the events transpiring on-screen do indeed happen on a daily basis. There are countless individuals worldwide that fight for their people and their countries. I feel very confident in stating that Medal of Honor: Warfighter is one of the best military shooters in years. I couldn't have asked for a better sequel.
9/10
