With the latest game from EA’s Medal of Honor franchise, a franchise which has been highly acclaimed since its 1999 debut, European Assault establishes itself as yet another immersive experience as found in past titles.

With the WWII first-person shooter genre crowded by many titles lately, none have yet to surpass the quality and features that are found in Medal of Honor. Although the idea of another WWII game seems a bit played out, EA steps up the original's standards, bringing with it originality and a number of different goodies that'll impress videogame veterans.

Storyline:

The story follows the actions of allied forces in 1942 Europe. Against the Nazi forces, a US army lieutenant named William Holt is the first field agent of the newly formed office of Strategic Services, or the OSS. By putting the player in the forefront, it drives a sense of struggle in the overall liberation of Europe. Instead of being one of many nameless soldiers, Holt will be called specifically by radio to take on certain obstacles that may get in the way of his goals. With Holt's narration, he cleverly envelops the overall mission and presents clues of what to look out for before the actual briefing, giving an overall sense of ownership over the events taking place throughout the game.

In the end, the player gets to make decisions. As the story unfolds between battles, newspaper headlines will reveal the success of your missions with amazing accuracy true to the timeline.

Gameplay:

European Assault seems to play as the other titles, but adds a bit more strategy to working as an effective unit than alone, as you command a three man team. Although the A.I of your fellow comrades leaves room for improvement, their involvement to the entirety of most of the key missions proves useful in the end.

Taking a page from many squad-based video games, the group of men at your disposal move in the direction you choose, although actions and other specific commands are not given from Holt specifically. This gives a bit more importance to the placement of troops- if left alone they wander about into gunfights they may not win. Thus, management and care for the squad is imperative for the entire unit’s survival.

With all this in mind, it seems that although this is the first try for the Medal of Honor series to take on commands for a unit, it doesn’t completely fall flat on its face. There is definitely room for improvement, though.

Putting the squad-mates aside, the main character Holt brings to mind a WW2-era 007. Even though gunfights are a large portion of the game, it doesn’t always get the job done. Most missions put Holt in the middle of a tiger tank or a Radar satellite, with radio commands to take out the radar to disable the oncoming air strikes or the tank to stop the barrage of an the entire army. In short, the use of gadgets and vehicles bring this game above traditional FPS titles.


Should I blow up this tower or not, hmmm?

The difficulty varies greatly, depending on the mission at hand; players can choose whether or not to go after sub missions during the game. As mentioned before, the player can choose from going from point A to B and ending the level within a few minutes, or continue to explore enemy trenches and bunkers to find documents, eliminate specific targets and destroy buildings in order to make future progression through the game much easier. Stepping away from one area, the game sets the OSS operative William Holt in deserts, towns, behind enemy lines and many more locations.

Although the weaponry varies from mission to mission, the standard rifle and machinegun, either German or American made, can be swapped for other weapons such as the Full Auto Sub-Machinegun, Anti Tank Rocket Launcher, Bazooka, Russian Sub Machine Gun, British Sub Machinegun, U.S Shotgun and RPG (the Rocket-Propelled Grenade, not the game genre). All of the damage of each specific weapon varies as well as does the availability in each level. Most weapons won’t surface until about halfway through the game, but their appearance brings a much needed relief to the tanks and hordes of enemies per level.