Joystick gives Medal of Honor: Airborne by EA Games for the PC, 3 out of 5 stars.Publisher: Electronic ArtsSystem: PC and all next generation consoles

Strap on your sky goggles – and your Tommy gun. EA Games has a new World War II game that sends you leaping through the clouds and straight into enemy gunfire.

EA Games has been in a dry spell during the past few years when it comes to first-person shooters. This is especially true when it comes to the ‘Medal of Honor’ franchise.

This long-lasting assortment of WWII First Person Shooters (FPS) has been on a steady decline since the first of its kind ‘Medal of Honor: Allied Assault.’ Since ‘Allied Assault,’ EA Games hasn’t been able to keep up with the times within FPS – that is, until ‘Medal of Honor: Airborne.’

‘Airborne’ does little to expand upon the elaborate genre of FPS, not to mention it barely scratches the surface of originality compared with the never ending supply of WWII shooters that exist. Yet while ‘Airborne’ hasn’t blown hardcore gamers’ minds, it certainly has set a new level for the renowned ‘Medal of Honor’ franchise.

‘Airborne’ is full of fast-paced FPS fun and takes a somewhat new approach to the FPS genre. Instead of starting the game in a non-hostile zone and letting your player ease into battle, EA decided to let the gamer choose where to begin the level.

When levels begin, you are starting from an air transport unit that you jump out of as you parachute your way into battle. Except this time, the player has full control of the jump and can literally land anywhere within the map. The maps are enormous and to reach the limits is a difficult task.

When landing the parachute, the gamer can choose to land within safe zones (marked by green flares), or red zones, full of enemy gun fire. ‘Medkits’ and ammo can be found in the safe areas, while earning those supplies requires killing soldiers within the red zones. Choose wisely. Those who have the cojones, go for the red zones – that’s where the fun is.

Players are not limited to the contrast of red and green. They can go in between shades by landing on rooftops and taking down enemies from high cover.

Still, the single player campaign remains brief and fairly repetitive: jump from a plane, choose where to land, complete objectives – mission over.

There is little to no story line. The only reward for completing missions, other than progressing, is the new upgrade and rank system, which we’ve all seen before, just not in a WWII shooter. It works by giving new skills after you’ve completed certain tasks.

Getting kills with weapons adds to achievement points. When you’ve earned enough points, upgrades become available for those particular weapons, such as faster reloads and better accuracy.

There is no depth in realism within the game except for some cool visual effects like blurred vision when moving quickly. Also, there’s a nifty sprint visual – when running, the screen bobs, making it seem as though you’re rushing through the battle.

The game lacks in some realistic aspects. When ducking for cover, you should not be able to survive hiding behind a wooden fence when taking fire from a machine gun. The fence should be easily chewed up, along with you and the rest of your squad.

Even so, the game looks and sounds much better than previous ‘Medal of Honor’ games, and it’s definitely the best since the original ‘Allied Assault.’ It makes an attempt at new single-player aspects for this type of game, though the multiplayer lacks anything new and exciting (minus implementing the parachute idea).

It might not blow your mind, but ‘Airborne’ acts as an enjoyable FPS with some unique ideas that expand upon the linear WWII gaming genre. Plus, you get to go skydiving.

Published on October 9, 2007 at 12:00 pm