Medal of Honor: the first 15 minutes (plus analysis)

Go watch the first fifteen minutes of Medal of Honor here.

Between this video provided by EA to numerous press outlets, press reviews, and the various “MoH Experience” trailers available pre-release, gamers have a very good idea of what to expect if they decide to play Medal of Honor. We can argue about whether this is almost too much exposure, but EA recognizes that FPS fans are looking at their game with a considerable amount of skepticism.

One, this is another WWII franchise that is modernizing itself. In so doing, is it anything more than a Modern Warfare clone? Two, it’s sandwiched between two very popular games, Halo: Reach having already been released and Call of Duty: Black Ops coming in just a few weeks. This is a game that has to stand out for people to get really excited, especially since both Reach and Black Ops are arguably more innovative (Reach with its Forge revamp in particular, and Black Ops with its 3D capability, and credit system/wager mode/contract additions onto the classic Modern Wafare-style multiplayer).

So, you watched the video. Here are a some things to take away from it:

• The headshot indicator. I love the medals and campaign scoring in the Halo games from Halo 3 onwards, but it feels out of place in a game like this. I’ve read a lot of press reviews, so forgive me for forgetting who wrote this, but the indicator stays on-screen for far too long.
• The dialogue sounds accurate and full of jargon, as a modern military FPS should be. That, together with the interesting opening sequence gives Medal of Honor a different vibe from its predecessors. It will be interesting, though, to see Treyarch’s take on special ops (granted, of a different era) in Black Ops.
• Perhaps the worst melee animations I’ve seen this generation. Seriously, how fake does that look–and EA doesn’t help its cause by providing footage involving a number of gratuitous knife slashes. It just highlights how bad it looks. Especially since I’ve been playing a lot of Halo: Reach–a game whose assassination animations are nothing short of fantastic. I want an allegedly “badass” Tier 1 operator to do dramatic knife kills.

Have your own comments on the video? Actually playing the game and want to add something? That’s what the comments are for!