1 post tagged “shooter”

final verdict:

6.0 Average.  Nothing that even casual players haven't seen before.

5/10  Concept - a WW2 fps? haven't seen one of those before.
6/10  Gameplay - controls are hard to get used to.
6/10  Graphics - not bad. not great, either.
6/10  Sound - gunshot, gunshot. screaming. not much to go on, but the opening music was good. main character's voice was highly annoying.
7/10  Entertainment - relatively enjoyable once you get the hang of it.

 i have to start with: i never really liked fps games. it seemed a little dull to me; shoot, clear an area, move on. do it again. and again.

that being said, i have to follow it with: i'm changing my opinion of fps games but not because of medal of honor: vanguard.

the story

the game starts out with an annoying voice over of your main character, frank keegan, a paratrooper in the 82nd airborne division. i wanted to mute his voice, it was so annoying, but i was afraid i might miss something important.
you're on the coast of sicily, about to jump out of a plane, when it's hit with enemy fire. mission: kill bad guy. isn't it always?

the controls

the wii gives you a quick crash course on steering your parachute jump but it still manages to contradict its explanation when it comes time to put it to use. after landing, you're given another tutorial about how to control your character. unfortunately, the nunchuck is used for everything. standing. crouching. laying down. reloading. turning about face.  you keep flicking your nunchuck in the air in an attempt to stand up, but you keep turning around and reloading instead. how annoying is that when you're trying to move quickly?

the wiimote is your line of sight and your gun. i hate to brag but i will: i have excellent aim. medal of honor: vanguard does not. it takes about three or more shots to kill off a character and god forbid they be in the distance. the rule isn't a two way street, however. i was picked off a few times by characters so far in the distance their bodies were just outlines against buildings. once i figured out where the game required me to aim, i was down to killing characters in one or two shots but something seems off about aiming a foot above their head for a head shot.

the only other problem i had with the wiimote was that my character would sezuire every once in awhile, and instead of turning to look right i would turn upward, all the way up, around and then aim at the ground.  of course this would happen in the most pivitol of situations, like the moment i choose to come face to face with an enemy. i closed the blinds in our living room and that seemed to help a bit, you can also alter the turn sensitivy in your options if keegan keeps sezuring out too much for you.

the graphics

i'm not playing this game for graphics, but i've heard from more than one source that the wii version outshines the ps2 version. there was nothing particularly brilliant about the graphics, but nothing so bad that it really diminishes gameplay. i'd show you an image but they're pretty impossible to find (with a 30 second google search they were anyway, and that's all the time worth devoting to it.)

i really wanted to like this game. i had a blast with cod3 for the 360, and i figured, "a fps where your controller acts as an actual gun? sounds like fun to me."
 
unfortunately, while the premise is good, vanguard doesn't pull it off in the end. stick with call of duty.

Anything You Can Do GAME REVIEW by Jill.