In the late 1990s, Steven Spielberg and his company Dreamworks created the first Medal of Honor game. After Spielberg and his team made the stunning WWII movie Saving Private Ryan, they wanted a video game that portrayed the horrors of WWII as well as the feature film. As you may recall, both pieces offered a nerve-wracking look at the famous Battle of Omaha Beach, near Normandy, in which thousands of soldiers lost their lives landing on the coast of occupied France. The Medal of Honor was a bombshell, so it was no surprise that the franchise spawned 15 more titles. However, Medal of Honor: Warfighter was a huge disappointment in 2012 and marked the premature end of the war streak.
Well, Medal of Honor is back, and Respawn Entertainment has embarked on a mission (excuse the redundancy) to lead this classic into a new era. When Dreamworks took on the design of the first Medal of Honor, the task was a total experiment for the company, and Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond is a little further away as it didn’t take the easy path – it was designed to be in full Trains can be enjoyed. in virtual reality. We thank that the developers worked very hard to find a solution accessible to everyone that not only fulfills the wishes of the fans of virtual reality. The title has five main missions and 56 side missions. At the beginning, these missions in particular can be a little short and little more than a character telling you something or a very short sequence of action in a small space. To avoid the possible dizziness VR can cause you, Respawn Entertainment has taken the time to slowly introduce players to the mechanics and quirks of VR.
Medal of Honor: Above and beyond, the VR muscle shows from the start that the same main menu is in a very detailed room in the middle of the OSS military intelligence headquarters. You can interact with different objects and examine them as you hold them, or you can type something on a classic typewriter too. Once you get into the action, you’ll be introduced to the realistic and intuitive way of using the guns, which involves taking several things into account: for example, to reload the gun, you need to drop the empty magazine before taking the new one and plug it in the weapon. In most cases you will need to activate the safety lock before you can proceed to the next step. The fact is that this manual reload method will give you a good adrenaline rush when the bullets are raining on you. Another element that allows you to fully immerse yourself in combat is the intuitive way in which you can move through the scenarios designed in 3D, as you have to move your head to see the battlefield. The best part, without a doubt, is that you can poke your head a bit to peek around corners or duck for cover. If you play standing up, I assure you the title can make you sweat, but a little exercise combined with teleworking is always good, isn’t it?
Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond speaks of realistic and intuitive elements and has plenty of them everywhere. For example, when we inject an insulin syringe into our chest or when we remove the ring with our teeth from a grenade. It also has specific goals that take advantage of the properties of virtual reality, such as: For example, when using a metal detector to search for mines or when looking through binoculars to locate enemy anti-aircraft artillery. In addition, there are situations when you have to mow down Nazis while moving around in a car or motorcycle on wheels, or even standing at the controls of an armored turret. The sequences aren’t the most authentic in the world, but they’re full of fun and fit perfectly with the essence of the Medal of Honor, which has always been closely associated with tabloids, comics and adventure films that deal with the traumas of war in a somewhat naive way and that was the daily bread in the 50s and 60s.
Along with the fun that comes from the title, lies one of the problems he has. It’s clear that virtual reality is the perfect vehicle for capturing the atrocities of war, but instead of tapping into that immense potential, Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond has gone for a more cartoonish soul. The fact that the characters don’t look real can be done on purpose, but still, it’s a pretty disappointing thing to have enjoyed Half-Life: Alyx and Star Wars Squadrons recently. The timed coordination The dialogue isn’t the best in the world either, and the character animations aren’t very well done. In fact, the way enemies drop guns when they die reminds me of the first Medal of Honor, and this isn’t good news in late 2020. You may think it’s not that serious either since they dropped them stay floating and falling straight to the ground, but in virtual reality these things are much more valued because you are immersed in the surroundings and this reduces the impact that some wonderfully designed scenarios offer.
Any elements that don’t fit into reality are a real disappointment as the title features other moments from a historical documentary that offer a completely different vision. Listening to veterans tell real stories is something very emotional, especially since it is evident that the events they are talking about have shaped them for life. It’s a shame the game doesn’t follow that line, but I’ll be honest: it’s a title aimed at the most seasoned fans of the franchise who want a good time with it, Nazis with an epic military march behind them to drill. Well the truth is, you don’t have to pierce the Nazis to end them as you can also slice them with knives or other items found on the battlefield, such as a pitchfork or knife. You’ll see torrents of blood throughout the adventure, but it’s not half as wild as Saving Private Ryan. So don’t expect an orgy of organs and mutilations.
As an interactive shooter, Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond offers a highly entertaining experience. Although the missions end without notice and the title doesn’t enjoy that Call of Duty-style cinematic spectacularity, it is true that virtual reality adds something special that keeps surprising you. Official figures show that around 1,200 people worked to develop the work and this is evident in the multitude of details enjoyed by the world they created. Above and Beyond can be a fantastic first experience for those new to the VR world, while most veterans can find some elements that they have already seen in other VR titles. For example, putting two guns on your back can create confusion, and inventory management or the pickup mechanics can get you in trouble from time to time. In general, some elements of the title could have been a little more polished; Of course, both the design of the cards and all of the content in them (the one who has no life) is top notch.
Above and Beyond’s multiplayer mode is very average. Yes, it’s fun, but the problem with the length of time is that there isn’t a level system that is as sophisticated as that of other current shooters. A pretty awesome game mode is Mad Bomber, in which all players have to hide bombs on the map and in turn find those that others have hidden before they detonate. If you are successful you will get a lot of points. We have to be vigilant to see if Respawn Entertainment has an idea, look into the multiplayer aspects over time, and see if they add more content. The campaign mode offers various collectibles and offers you the opportunity to unlock new soldiers for the multiplayer mode. If you feel like you have the campaign mode, then you can try the survival mode that the title offers.
In short, Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond is a title that needs to be considered in the franchise. I am sure that those who try VR for the first time will hallucinate in some situations, while experienced ones will have to complain about the demanding hardware specifications that need to be met and some items related to the controls that are better. in other VR titles. The cartoon vibe that it offers is not for everyone, but moments of a historical documentary shouldn’t be missed. This is where Above and Beyond shines in terms of the historical context it provides. He also shares the same ambition as Steven Spielberg and Dreamworks when it came to designing the first Medal of Honor, and they crystallized it in fascinating ways.
