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jp's Medal of Honor: Frontline (PS2)
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| [July 9, 2004 11:40:29 AM]
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I finished this game last night. I don't feel terribly proud or anything since the last levels were cleared with "invincibility mode", but who cares. It really is a shame because the games levels are cool and interesting, the gameplay just doesn't match the visuals (and sound).
I've heard even worse about MoH:Rising Sun so we'll see if I get that or not.
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| [July 8, 2004 12:36:18 AM]
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Time to play this thing again. I'll admit it, this time I didn't even TRY to clear a level without the "invulnerability" cheat. What for? The clunky controls always end up giving me grief so I thought I might as well plow ahead to the end. I didn't quite make it, I cleared 4 levels and I've probably got another 3 left before it's all over.
Why bother? Well, the levels are interesting. The locations are cool (the mine cart level was awesome, VERY Indiana Jones), the audio is excellent and I just like to see what happens next. It really is a pity that the gameplay has problems.
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| [July 5, 2004 01:22:24 PM]
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I decided that it was about time to keep on playing this game. The longer I have been keeping this GameLog the longer I feel an urgent need to finish games, or at least decide that I don't want to play them anymore. Basically, looking at my list of "Open Logs" shocks me into going back to playing games that I wasn't really that excited about finishing. I sort of figure that I'll give each game another chance and see how it goes from there. I wonder if other people would react like this as well?
Anyhow, I was at a point where I had jsut finished the last level of a mission and was ready to move on to a new one. This next mission is about infiltrating a secret airbase (I think). The first level was boarding a secret train and I was able to complete it without much difficulty. It was interesting, though level design is still a problem...basically I was stuck for a while without being able to advance because I hadn't noticed a door!
The next level is on the train itself. Here, the game AI shows some of its shortcomings. I basically lobbed a grenade at a soldier, missed, and watched him just sit there until I walked up. (undoubtedly, the soldier was "shocked")This level was interesting until I get to a part with an open flat car. It turns out that there is another train by the side of this one. It is firing at me rather indiscriminately. There are some machine guns on the flatcar that can be commandeered. Once again, control problems result in me losing a LOT of health before being able to use the machine gun and take out the train. So, I basically die 3 times trying to complete this level..all thanks to crappy controls. Grrrrrrrrrr.
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| [June 17, 2004 02:50:01 PM]
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Last night I gave up on the level I've been playing. Yup. I went online, found an "invincibility" code and cleared it. Of course, I won't be using the code for later levels (hopefully) since I do like to play my way through things. This one level was just too painful and I really do want to get to the end of the game.
Also, and this is REALLY cool, I used a code to unlock all the movie extras. They are AWESOME. Really. You should not miss them. Basically, they are a bunch of behind-the-scenes, outtakes and random material about the developers. There is a clip of a game of paintball they played as well as a spoof documentary where they talk about "the old days" when they where making the MoH games. (this documentary supposedly takes place in the future...). It is really funny and gives you a neat perspective on the dev team. (Yes, they are human and like to goof around and have fun).
This game has, by far, the best extras I've ever seen on a game.
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| [May 28, 2004 01:53:59 PM]
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I'm STILL on the same level. I gave it another go last night and surprise, surprise (note the irony)... I ran into more problems with this game.
I'm not particularly bothered by crappy teammate-AI if it doesn't get in the way.
I'm not bothered by crappy enemy AI either..
What REALLY gets me is shoddy level design or whatever it is that happened to me last night. I'm nearing the end of the level and I have to take out a squad of Panzershrek. (think guys with Bazookas..) I find a nice spot to snipe, take out a bunch of them and see a message on the screen that says "Half the Panzershrek Neutralized". I change location, spot a few more...take them out and see a message on the screen that says "Panzershrek Squad Neutralized". Great!
I get down from my vantage location, walk around and pick up some ammo that was lying around. A teammate runs forward to man a machinegun. I walk around some more, find some more goodies and eventually move to get some ammo behind my guy on the machinegun. There are no sounds of shooting, movement or anything.
Once I got the ammo (I was facing a fence) I turn around so that I'm facing in the same direction as the guy behind the machinegun. Surprise! 4 Germans with Bazookas have materialized out of thin air and are firing their bazookas at me. The guy behind the machine gun is frozen. WHAT THE HECK??
I repeat, I'm not bothered by the crappy AI..but what is going on with enemies warping in out of nowhere?? I had neutralized the squad!! This isn't Star Trek!
Why? Why? Why?
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| [May 19, 2004 03:07:26 PM]
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Last night I played a bit more and got very annoyed. I was almost at the "I'm gonna throw the controller through the tv screen" level of annoyed.
This is what happened. Laugh if you will.
I'm currently at a level where I basically (in Holland) have to romp through a city that is partially demolished and help bands of Brit soldiers out. (they are under attack). Each group of soldiers is like a little scene...once you kill all the Nazis, you can breath..walk around and pick up stuff, etc. Then you move on to the next "scene" and so on and so forth. Last night I must have played this level 5 times. I died on each and everyone of them and for different reasons. 4 of those times it was due to crappy/unresponsive/poor control issues.
For example, in the 2nd scene there are a bunch of germans firing at you and all of a sudden a tank rolls out. There is a stationary machinegun pretty much in front of it. Bingo! Grab the machine gun, and fire it at the tank to take it out! Nope. Didn't work. I stood right next to the machine gun, pressed "Use" and nothing happened. Then I got blasted by the tank. Next time around I snuck up by the side and threw grenades. It worked and I took out the tank. I then walked BACK to the machine gun to see if I could get it to work. I did. Why the heck wouldn't it work the first time? Shoddy controls...grrrr.
All my other deaths where in the same vein. I either fumbled with the aiming..got stuck on a staircase (and had to take out one of my guys in order to move), etc.
What a disappointment. Grrrrrr.
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| [May 5, 2004 10:25:48 PM]
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I'm really not that impressed by this game. I'm enjoying it though, so don't get me wrong!
This time around I wanted to comment on something REALLY cool this game has. When you succesfully complete a mission (and get all gold stars on the mission's levels), you open up a bunch of really neat extras. In this case, you get (at least) two video clips you can watch. The first one is a historical one that has real footage and goes on about some topic (for example: Sherman Tanks). The other video clip is a "behind the scenes" clip with bits and pieces from the level and perhaps more. For example, recordings showing the voice-actors, or the choir being recorded, animatics, level layouts, etc.
These extras definitely add to the game experience, they give a greater sense of historical depth (which is good for immersion within the game) and also give you a better sense of what went in to make the game. It is also an idea akin to most DVD extras, and I usually love those to. Media junkie? Maybe... but it is still a kickass extra!
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| [May 2, 2004 10:22:27 PM]
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I've played a few more levels and am currently doing missions in Holland. I think it is kind of cool that the Dutch campaign (Market Garden) was included. This is definitely a plus in my book.
The game hasn't thrown any new surprises and the experience is what I've come to expect. Nothing extraordinary, but still entertaining enough. I'm geting used to the controls a little bit, which is good. I'll never be completely accustomed though since they are simply too imprecise and painful. This is something which could have been corrected without too much difficulty (I think). Especially in the post-Halo world.
I expect I'll finish the game and then move on to a new one. Nothing special, but nothing wasted either.
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| [April 23, 2004 11:41:20 PM]
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Still on the D-Day landing I continue to progress. Now I have to make my way up a bunker and clear it. No problem. I make it to the top, kill the baddies and am informed that I must lay a smoke grenade. Where? Dunno.
A few seconds later a red box appears in the middle of the area I'm in. Oh! Place the smoke grenade there. How? Dunno. Lets try action button. It works. Ok. Now what? I check my objectives, there are none. I decide to walk around and make my way towards the exit. As I cross the door a huge explosion goes of and I die. Oh? What the hell was that? I now need to repeat the entire mission. Bummer.
Next time, I decide NOT to walk around. After all, walking out the door got me killed, right? This time I die in the same fashion but standing in the middle of the bunker. What the hell?
I now play the level AGAIN, for the 3rd time and decide to run out the door as fast as I can. The level designers could at least have thought to include a message (or further objective) that said "Get the hell out of the bunker as fast as you can!!". Right? That would have saved me some SERIOUS frustration. Sigh.
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| [April 23, 2004 11:36:58 PM]
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I played Medal of Honor:Allied Assault on the PC and loved it. It was an awesome cinematic FPS that had me re-living Private Ryan and Band of Brothers.
How does Medal of Honor:Frontline stack up to that experience? Not too good I'm afraid. I won't bore you with how Mouse+Keyboard is so much better and other rubbish. The truth is, the game suffers from control issues and level design problems. Real annoying ones.
The first mission you play is the D-Day landing. It is pretty hard to figure out what to do, but eventually you get the hang of it. In one part you have to man a machine gun. Easy. I'm at the machine gun and a little message pops up. "Press ACTION button to man machinegun". Ok. Which is the action button? Dunno. Lets try ALL the buttons. I do. None of them work. I die. I repeat. I try ALL the friggin buttons. None work. I die. I repeat. Somehow, and I don't really know how or why, the action button works sometimes. Sometimes you reload others you man emplacements. Apparently I switched between these two modes without knowing. I looked in the manual. Couldn't find anything about that either. Result? Frustrating and stupid annoyance.
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jp's Medal of Honor: Frontline (PS2)
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Current Status: Finished playing
GameLog started on: Friday 23 April, 2004
GameLog closed on: Friday 9 July, 2004 |
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jp's opinion and rating for this game |
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Very cinematic but has level design and control problems. Grrr. At times its fun..but at others it is annoyingly bad.
Rating (out of 5): |
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