Preview

Medal of Honor Warfighter preview

Medal of Honor: Warfighter looks to freshen up multiplayer shooters by putting players in the boots of real-life Tier 1 operatives from 10 different countries.

Ozzie Mejia

June 6, 2012 1:00 PM

QUICKTAKE: Medal of Honor: Warfighter looks to freshen up multiplayer shooters by putting players in the boots of real-life Tier 1 operatives from 10 different countries. Each of these soldiers sport different abilities and perks. One of the most enticing features is the use of fire teams, which is essentially a buddy system for two friends. Tactics and teamwork from fire teams are rewarded with quicker respawns. THE DEMO: Public demo attendees were greeted with a recorded message from Warfighter's executive producer, Greg Goodrich. After a brief introduction to Warfighter's multiplayer, attendees were thrust onto the PC battlefield for a 4v4 Sector Control match in Somalia's Pirate Town. The objective was to capture and control three different control points until one team reached a certain score or time ran out. DETAILS: Goodrich offered up a brief overview of the 10 countries who will offer their Tier 1 soldiers to Warfighter--the United States, Canada, Germany, Norway, Poland, Russia, South Korea, Sweden, Australia, and the United Kingdom. Each of these operatives has their own advantages, perks, and abilities meant to appeal to different play styles. For example, the Polish GROM has balanced attributes suited to all-around players while the U.S. Navy SEAL is better suited for snipers. With the introductions out of the way, it was time to spring into action. I went with the Canadian JTF2, not out of a particular affinity for our neighbors in the Great White North, but because of their special suppression ability. Finding cover allowed me to set up a light machine gun atop a tripod and suppress incoming enemies with rapid fire. This was made all the more easier thanks to the infinite ammo granted by this ability. I couldn't protect my backside, so I was often at the mercy of melee attacks, but suppression fire was a blast and got me a good number of kills. It also allowed me to better cover teammates attempting to capture or protect control points.

Getting the enemy in your sights

The addition of fire teams made this round of multiplayer more interesting. Before the round started, I introduced myself to my buddy next to me and we went into the game watching each others' backs. Fire team buddies will always spawn next to one another, emphasizing a sense of camaraderie. There's also an incentive for revenge kills added, in that avenging your fallen comrade will instantly respawn them next to you. There are some kinks to work out with some of the multiplayer mechanics. One instance saw me watching through my respawn camera as my fire team buddy was exchanging bullets with an enemy player. He quickly died, but I respawned next to him a second later and took out the enemy. He never saw me coming and even I had to admit it was a cheap kill. Another issue involved the Black Hawk helicopter ability of the JTF2, which changes spawn points to inch closer to a target and can be easily abused. I was able to sneak up to the Black Hawk’s deployment area, so I started picking off spawning players like fish in a barrel. Despite some of these hiccups, the Warfighter Sector Control match was a lot of fun. There was still the occasional fragfest, but the players in this demo all worked cohesively, combining perks and abilities to complete the objective. It was fun to watch my suppression fire back up a U.S. SFOD-D calling in backup in the form of a strafe attack from above. Medal of Honor: Warfighter arrives for PC, Xbox 360, and PS3 on October 23.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?

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Shacknews

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June 6, 2012 9:00 AM

Ozzie Mejia posted a new article, Medal of Honor Warfighter preview.

Medal of Honor: Warfighter looks to freshen up multiplayer shooters by putting players in the boots of real-life Tier 1 operatives from 10 different countries.
- Tuskin
  
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  June 6, 2012 1:47 PM
  
  Only thing interesting me is that it is on Frostbite 2 and the fact you can play as different special forces from around the world in Multiplayer.
  
  I'll need to see more gameplay.
  - Wisp!
    
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    June 6, 2012 7:55 PM
    
    Do you work for EA?
- dantastic
  
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  June 6, 2012 1:56 PM
  
  that's weird i didn't think we had blackhawks. they should have put in sea king support with an invisible dice roll to see whether the power up crashes and burns instead of giving you a a closer spawn
- Demon4231
  
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  June 6, 2012 4:07 PM
  
  So yet another CoD game.... I wonder if PC will be the lead platform on this as well.
- CrazyRussian1989
  
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  June 7, 2012 6:31 AM
  
  I was always a fan of Medal of Honor.. well at least until 2010... i don't know how i feel about this game but it think i might get it anyway... loyalty to the brand i guess
  - OzzieMejia
    
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    June 7, 2012 1:34 PM
    
    I personally walked out this wondering why people would pay for Battlefield Premium when Medal of Honor's multiplayer was just as fun.
- Darkknit5
  
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  April 11, 2013 10:04 AM
  
  I downloaded this game for free from Mygame9.com . Other wasted their money in buying it. Superb Game Though :P