Medal of Honor: Warfighter Review

War isn’t always this pretty…

The first person shooter has become the most popular genre in video games. Every year dozens of shooters are release but only a select few can be put in the same category as heavyweights like Call of Duty and Battlefield. This year EA is releasing the second Medal of Honor game this generation. Developer Danger Close has done its best to try and turn Medal of Honor: Warfighter into Black Ops 2’s main competition this holiday season. Is this outing of Medal of Honor good enough to be mentioned in the same breath as the other juggernauts coming just a few weeks after it?

Click to Play Medal of Honor Warfighter Video Review

Medal of Honor: Warfighter is a direct sequel to 2010’s Medal of Honor and puts you in the shoes of Preacher and Stump, two Navy Seals of AFO Neptune which is a team consisting of Tier 1 operatives. Although you split the play time between the two this is really Preacher’s story. The campaign tries to tell a more personal tale by introducing Preacher’s family and the consequences of the actions men like these are forced to make. There are a few genuinely touching moments in the short 6 hour campaign and the game does a good job of making you care what happens to the people around you. The story is interesting enough to keep you engaged but don’t expect anything revolutionary, it is still a modern take on war and if you have been growing tired of this particular style of game then Warfighter won’t change your mind

Technically Medal of Honor: Warfighter is a mixed bag. The game can look absolutely beautiful at times while some of the textures seem like they were just an afterthought. The game runs on the Frostbite 2 engine which is the same engine that powered Battlefield 3 last year and it shows. There isn’t as much destructible environment and a few glitches here and there can be bothersome but overall the game looks great.  The feel of the game can take a little getting used to but after a couple missions you will be getting headshots left and right. The gameplay can feel a little off and the gun would shoot on its own sometimes but never often enough to become too annoying or distracting.  Some guns allow you to switch from a scope to iron sights on the fly, and while it isn’t anything new it really helps out in certain situations. Pressing LB while behind cover allows you to do a “peek and lean” which helps you to get quick shots into your enemies and quickly get back into cover. The sound of the guns is great, especially while wearing a headset and installing the optional sound and texture pack is definitely recommended.  Explosions are loud, the handfuls of vehicle and chase missions are intense, and the music really helps maintain the games atmosphere.

Call of Duty is huge, no one will deny that. Medal of Honor: Warfighter does a decent job of trying to compete, and hopefully it does because competition usually pushes developers to try different and new things. The campaign tells a good military story and doesn’t overstay its welcome. The fact that it is only about 6 hours shouldn’t keep you from playing it since most shooters these days try to keep their campaigns around the same length. The game also brings a big multiplayer mode to the table but I don’t feel like I have played it enough to accurately review that part of the game. Keep an eye out for the multiplayer portion of the review in the coming days. Medal of Honor: Warfighter is a welcome addition to the lineup of first person shooters being released this holiday season.

In my Medal of Honor Warfighter review, I give it a 7.5/10