Medal of Honor Vanguard Review (PS2)

Medal of Honor Vanguard is the latest WWII shooter brought to us by EA. In it, you fight members of the Axis of Evil (the old school one that is), blow up tanks, so on and so forth. Sound familiar? Well, it should, as Vanguard does so little to change a diluted genre, sticking to tried a true mechanics that are starting to come off as lazy and boring.

Pros

Cons

Ever since Saving Private Ryan came out in theaters, people have had an insatiable itch to relive the heroics of our nation’s finest, and it seems Medal of Honor has sought to scratch that itch singlehadeldly with it's fifteen or so games "bringing to life" WWII time and time again. With each game came little change, and in this reviewer’s opinion, absurdity has ensued. We've all saved Private Ryan, fifteen times now, how about a little innovation with our WWI?

In MOH Vanguard, you assume the role of Keegan, a soldier enlisted in the 82nd Airborne Division, one of America’s first paratrooper brigades. Each mission begins with you in a plane, which you soon jump and/or are blown out of. One of the few positive points about this game is the impressive cinematics that take place from the point of your exit out of the plane to the ground. The scope of the battle ensuing around you as you float downwards is at times breathtaking.

As far the gameplay is best described as "generic." You start the level with an objective; you follow a very linear path to it, and then go to the next objective on your list. Repeat until the level is over. Then do it all over again in a different setting. The controls and fighting are also normal enough. Crouch, find cover, and shoot the guys in the gray uniforms as they pop up from behind their cover like clockwork.

Because there isn’t so much emphasis put on in-depth gameplay, you’d imagine that the appeal of this game comes from the emotional thematic nature of World War II. Duty, honor, freedom, stabbing Hitler with an American flag. Well, maybe not that last one (Oh how I miss you Wolfenstein 3D). To be honest, any emotional weight felt while playing this game is lost to the fact that you’ve played this game so many times before. Sorry Vanguard, but 15 sequels is hard to swallow in any genre.