Military FPS Extravaganza



First up: Medal of Honor (PC)

The single-player game and the multiplayer game are powered by two completely different engines and developed by two completely different teams. This probably saved them a lot of time, but the evenness definitely suffered. For example, the multiplayer maps may resemble the theme of the single-player game (Afghanistan), but they are not from the game at all. The guns don't carry over, either.

Single-Player
Powered by Unreal Engine 3, this is the uglier of the two modes. The textures are not very good, and the AA doesn't really work too well; everything is still jaggy. The actual campaign, though, is excellent. It felt less like a Michael Bay movie, and more like a modern war movie, like Hurt Locker, the superior Green Zone, and even Brothers. This is the most emotionally captivating FPS I have ever played. The length, however, is pretty short. You can finish this game in 5 hours. Also, the FOV is non-changeable, unlike in multiplayer. I got used to it after a while.

Multiplayer
Powered by Frostbite 1.5, this is the most beautiful engine I have ever seen. It looks better than Crysis to me. There are only 3 classes, and you don't get unrealistic perks like in Call of Duty, but the graphics, the realistic maps, and the non-rushing nature of the gameplay is very good. I dislike the offensive support actions. Sometimes you'll get hit by mortar strikes, rockets and missiles over and over again. It's really annoying. Also, it's hard to get experience points without getting a kill. Trying to get a kill as a sniper is like trying to teach a person how to differentiate between "it's" and "its".

Next up: Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (PC)

In this game, both the single-player and the multiplayer are powered by the awesome Frostbite 1.5 engine, but the FOV still can not be changed in the single-player component.

Single-Player
As far as action goes, this game blows Modern Warfare and Modern Warfare 2 out of the water. The Modern Warfares tried too much to be an action movie. BFBC2 does not try as hard, and succeeds more as a result. The takes-itself-too-seriously vibe of Modern Warfare is replaced by the balance of seriousness of war and the comedy of the group dynamics of a group of 4 soldiers. While you might think there's no place for comedy in a military FPS, I beg to differ. The comedy actually brings an emotional realism to the genre that I have never seen before, so you care more about your comrades, and you have fun listening to them talk amongst each other - something you can not say about the Modern Warfares. Also, since you are mostly playing as one character through the entire game, and not jumping around all over the planet from one character to another like in the Modern Warfares, it's much easier to become immersed and invested in the world of BFBC2. Also, the MWs liked to zoom far above the planet and then zoom in really close right before you had control of your character. BFBC2 doesn't do that as often, so you don't feel like a tiny, insignificant piece of the world. Length-wise, it's only 1 hour longer than MoH at 6 hours.

Multiplayer
Haven't tried yet; trying to max Sniper on MoH.

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