Review: Medal of Honor: Airborne
Okay, I know what you're thinking: not another World War II themed shooter. But don't let go of your M1's Garands just yet: Medal of Honor: Airborne has enough new ideas to make you reconsider.
Learning to Fly
Airborne's campaigns all start you off with a leap from a militarized DC-3 airplane instead of simply spawning you at a fixed location. The beauty of this concept is that you can play it safe and head for the green smoke of the landing zone, seek out "skill drops" that reward landings in tight spots, or take a suicidal plunge deep behind enemy lines. Once you touch down, you'll be off and running in the ground war.
There are only six missions available, spread across Italy, France, Holland, and Germany, but each is an enormous, beautiful playground with objectives attainable in nearly any order. When so many games bind players to a linear path, these open battlegrounds are wonderfully refreshing. Sure, there are scripted moments and a few occasions where enemies seemingly appear out of thin air, but Airborne largely delivers a fluid world of combat freedom. Your inevitable death triggers an irritatingly long reload, but each air-drop is also a fresh opportunity to try a new approach.
Building a Better Gun
The other major boon Airborne boasts is upgradeable weaponry. Each time you take out a handful of soldiers with a stick grenade, disable a tank with a rocket launcher, or put two slugs in a charging hostile's midsection, your experience level with that weapon grows; eventually, you'll be rewarded with faster reload and firing times, larger magazines, and field modifications like bayonets and scopes. You won't have to constantly watch your ammo counter, either: thoughtful and effective aural cues subtly inform when you're down to your last few shells.
You'll definitely need the firepower because, for the most part, the enemy forces don't utilize the typical charge-and-die tactics of most shooters. You'll still see some faulty A.I. staples like suicide charges, zone coverage (where enemies only engage you if you are in a specified zone) and cheesy tactics like panzerfaust blasts and long-range peek-a-boo sniping, but the majority of the time, the foes are cunning and use every inch of terrain to their advantage. They'll push forward only after cutting off your support and they'll seek out the valuable high ground. At no point are you likely to have success simply charging an objective; patience and flexible tactics are vital to surviving more than a few minutes at a time, even on the lowest difficulty.
Death from Above
While the single-player campaign is on the short side, the sheer liberty of each spacious shell-shocked venue grants replay value few shooters can touch. Unfortunately, the same can't be said of a multiplayer offering that consists only of deathmatch, team deathmatch, and capture the flag. Next-gen recreations of classic maps are welcome, and the experience is smooth and entertaining to be certain, but the only thing that truly differentiates Airborne's online contests is the ability to kick an opponent's head as you parachute in.
Medal of Honor: Airborne might not make you feel like you're picking up that Garand rifle for the very first time, but it does still seamlessly inject some intriguing new elements into an overly familiar conflict. It's no new classic, and the multiplayer options are sparse but even burnt-out veterans should jump out of this plane at least once.
PROS: Convincing sense of freedom in combat. Upgradeable weapons and challenging AI foes.
CONS: Short single-player campaign. Aggravating loading screen after every death. Online modes need more variety.
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