Forget what you think you know about Medal of Honor. The game formerly known as Medal of Honor: Dogs of War is set to be a radical departure for what has become a rather stale series over the years. This seems to be a growing trend in games these days: complete overhauls. After the rather lackluster outing that was Medal of Honor: Rising Sun, EA is hoping to breathe new life into the franchise with their release of European Assault this June.

European Assault takes the player through four campaigns from the “War to End All Wars.” These include St. Nazier, France; North Africa; Stalingrad, Russia; and the Battle of the Bulge. Each campaign consists of three levels for a total of twelve missions. This may not seem like a lot at first glance, but one must take into account the fact that EA is implementing a more Grand Theft Auto-style of mission-based game play (why does every developer and their mother feel the need to copy the GTA games?).

This is my rifle! This is my gun!

Each level will contain primary objectives (the ones you must complete in order to progress to the next level), secondary objectives, and tertiary objectives. This should come as a welcome addition to fans of the series, as no previous game has allowed for this kind of open-endedness. The secondary and tertiary objectives, while not mandatory, are there to reward the player for exploring every nook and cranny the level has to offer. The tertiary objectives, specifically, award the player with weapon upgrades, secret maps, and various other fun things. Also, to help add to the massive scope of each level, there will be no less than 50 enemy soldiers onscreen at once, and each one can be individually approached and interacted with.

Players will have a host of new moves to perform in their pursuit of total Nazi annihilation. Your character will have fellow soldiers that the player can control. Controlling them shouldn’t get any more complicated than “run, shoot, lather, rinse, repeat.” Players can now engage in melee attacks, carry two weapons at once, peek around corners, and even shoot grenades out of enemies’ hands (or kick the grenade back at the enemy if it’s already been thrown at you!). Players will also be able to pick up any gun that has been dropped on the ground by an enemy or ally.

This is for fighting! This is for fun!

EA LA is also introducing a new game mechanic known as the “Rally Mode.” Players can build up points with headshots, multiple kills, and healing their allies. These points will enable them to activate the Rally Mode. The player will become invulnerable, each shot they fire will be a one hit kill, and all the enemies slow down in a bullet time-ish effect (does anyone besides me think that bullet time is way too overused?). You’ll probably need this mode a lot, as the AI of the enemy soldiers is a lot more intelligent than artificial when compared to the rather dimwitted enemies of Rising Sun.

And shock of all shocks! NONE of the different versions of European Assault will feature online play. Now GameCube fans can laugh at PS2 and X-Box owners for once, instead of the other way around. However, there will be splitscreen 1-4 player multiplayer options included. Presumably the lack of an online mode is so EA LA can focus on making the single player, offline game that much better. With all of the changes they have made to the game play, it is certainly looking like they’ve succeeded. Fans will just have to wait a little longer to find out.

Will Szwagiel