Medal of Honor Beta – What it Does Right, What it Does Wrong.

For those of you who have been hiding under a rock for the last couple of days, I am glad to inform you that the Medal of Honor Beta is live for PC and Playstation 3, as long as you’re a VIP from Bad Company 2, or pre-ordered the series reboot set for launch at the end of 2010.

I’ve clocked in about 4 hours gameplay now and whilst that might not seem like a lot by conventional standards, keep in mind there’s only two maps, and two gametypes. This editorial isn’t a whinge, moan and rant post, I am merely expressing what I believe is right, and what is wrong with this Beta, and whether it’s worth going to the trouble of even downloading. It is also worth noting that this game isn’t Battlefield: Bad Company 2, and people should remember then when playing this game.

What It Does Right

Sound Effects:

Something synonymous with the Battlefield series and Medal of Honor series is the always stellar environmental sound effects. Whether it is friendly soldiers yelling out that they’re throwing a fragmentation grenade full of death, or whether they need ammo, you’re always informed. In Medal of Honor this has been taken one step forward, and now there is contextual conversations that are triggered when you encounter too many enemies, or even get killed too much.

Weapons have great sounding effects whether it be the initial firing sound or empty shells hitting the cold hard ground. Something I love even after hearing it so much is the whip of bullets rushing past your head and thud into walls behind you.

Gametypes & Maps:

From the samples included in the Beta Medal of Honor is focusing on small scale infantry based battles as opposed to large open maps that DICE, the Multiplayer developers and developers of the Bad Company series, as used to working on.

Included in the Beta was the maps Helmund Valley and Kabul City Ruins played on Combat Mission and Team Assault respectively. Combat Mission is a more story driven multiplayer game mode that tasks you with capturing five objectives which each relate to a larger goal, in this case, capturing a Taliban high priority target. Team Assault is a Team Deathmatch game mode set in a smaller environment featuring street level and indoors combat.

Both play to their advantages with Helmund Valley allowing the Taliban fighters to sneak around in tight rocky areas whilst the US Rangers are in a more open flat creek bed. They do have to their advantage though an Armoured Bradley. Both Gametypes are fun, and really give a good idea of how the game will play out.

Weapons & Attachments:

A running gripe that seems to be trending in most First-person shooters now is the whole system of “Start off with Iron Sights then get the best attachment and dominate. Medal of Honor rectifies this by still starting you off with Iron Sights but offering weapon attachments as your Global Rank and EXP goes up instead of a standalone weapon experience. The attachments also offer no damage modifiers (That I’ve noticed yet) which helps balance the game out. The guns seem great and have their pros and cons, my favorite being the Spec-Ops Assault Rifle.

Dedicated Servers for PC:

Activision and Infinity Wards downfall on Modern Warfare 2 was the removal of PC Dedicated Servers. This caused a furore amongst the PC community and as such the game wasn’t able to be modded, or feature any of the great features that the community had created during the lifespan of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare 2.

Dedicated Servers are back for PC in the Medal of Honor Beta and they work great. Both gametypes have a max player limit of 24 however I would imagine once the full game comes out that will be admin controlled. Hopefully there is extensive modification abilities for the full game i.e.; weapon restrictions/vehicle  removal etc.

What It Does Wrong

Dedicated Server Browser:

The addition of Dedicated Servers is great, but in order to fully utilise them I need to be able to view them all. Way too many times I would be browsing the list, looking for a low latency server, only for the Beta client to disconnect which in turn would force me to re-download the whole entire list and then it would happen again.

The list of servers is extremely bloated, and I think a nice addition would be a listing system similar to CoD4 in that you can sift through the matches with various tabs, so one for Team Assault and one for Combat Mission. Continental listing would also be great, but is highly unlikely.

Is Perhaps Subconsciously Racist?:

When compared, the US Rangers and Taliban soldiers in Medal of Honor have the same three classes. An Assault class, Spec-Ops and Sniper class. The Assault class for the US Rangers has an M16 whilst the Taliban have an AK-47. The M16 fires a 5.56mm round, the AK-47 a 7.62mm round. In a real world firefight the AK-47 has more punch and stopping power, yet for some reason in the game the M16 is amazingly stronger, and more prone to causing death to the person on the point-to-kill end.

The same is true to both sides Sniper rifles, with the US one being stronger yet firing a weaker round compared to its enemy counterpart. I understand this is a game, but something like that is noticeable and unexplainably stupid.

Gameplay is too Chaotic:

When playing the Beta it’s not unseen to literally spawn and die in the crossfire of one of your comrades fighting an enemy. Say you’re lucky enough to make it out of your spawn area, you’re more than likely to actually get killed from someone you can’t even see, and not because of the map design, but because of the sheer amount of debris in the air.

Team Assault, even at best of times is difficult to enjoy because of the fact there’s generally 12 people within 15-20 meters of your spawn point having a literal turkey shoot as everyone tries to scramble out of the spawn point to defend the objectives. This is especially apparent at the last objective for the Taliban as you get locked into one tiny space.

New Offense or Defense Rewards:

Completely different to Modern Warfare 2, when you get enough kills in a row you have access to two default kill streaks, either a Mortar Strike, UAV or Ammo, that I have seen so far. It then comes down to either helping yourself or helping the team. This shoots itself in the foot though, by offering more experience for being Rambo then helping the progress of your team.

That’s not dissimilar to most games now that give bigger and better rewards for operating as a lone wolf as opposed to acting as a team player, which is completely contradictory to the whole idea of this game, that being the team work of the US Rangers in their missions.

The Wrap

I hope people have enjoyed reading this and have kept an open mind in doing so, because I do and have enjoyed the Beta, and will get the full retail release when it comes out. That being said, the game can do with improvement and hopefully when it goes live in two days, DICE will get onto it and fix a bunch of problems that I have mentioned, as well as other problems that thousands of players will be likely to find.

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  • Rei

    Hey Bryce, great hands on impressions – it’s what I’ve been waiting for. Seems to me you have played this in the PC, and if so, I want to know if can you strafe at the same time while you’re sprinting? This is one thing I miss when playing Bad Company 2, because I love the responsiveness and freedom of movement of Call of Duty 4 and upwards. The other other things are, do you have an option to toggle crouch, and can you do prone, too? Thanks, I hope you can answer this, or at least, suggest this when you submit a report to DICE.

    • http://www.ripten.com Bryce Wilson

      Thanks for checking the article out Rei, and I am glad it helped you.

      Strafing + Sprinting: No, and I think it’s stupid. Hopefully they fix that up. I didn’t include it in the article because I didn’t think it warranted the whole Beta being discredited because of it. :)

      Crouching: At the moment I can’t find an Option to Toggle crouch, so you’re stuck holding the Control key on PC, however most consoles have Toggle Crouch on by default.

      Hope you enjoy the Beta :)

  • Mark

    I seem to get sided with the Taliban more often in the games i’ve played and their weapons are definitely weaker.

  • Kris

    I don’t quite understand how the alleged imbalance of the game’s weapons can be in any way perceived as racist.

    I will take this time to remind you that this is, for all intents and purposes, a multiplayer beta. Feedback of this sort is exactly what the developer is looking for, and while it sounds like its unfortunately hampering your experience, betas are designed for one primary purpose: to test the game.

    Citing the gameplay as chaotic, however, is proper feedback. Though, while you mentioned the map design isn’t a culprit, I have to disagree. The examples you’re providing say to me that the terrain does play a factor, that being a major one, especially if the enemy can rain fiery death onto your spawn point.

    • http://www.ripten.com Bryce Wilson

      I’ve done Map Design/Modding for a lot of games, and the maps are made before spawn points are added. They didn’t plan the spawn points with the maps in mind.

  • pantz

    Heavier rounds are slower. IE the m16′s 5.56 shoot around 3,100 ft/s
    is faster then the AK-47′s 7.62 2,800 ft/s not to mention the shit accuracy and fire rate compared to the m16. my conclusion is that 2 5.56 bullets are better then 1 7.62

    • Caz2102nd

      That has little to do with the amount of force and stoping power of the power of an AK vs M16. compare a 9mm to a 45, the 45 no doubt wins when it comes to strength, same applies here. It is also important to mention that the accuracy wouldnt matter in an engagement within 60 yds (which the accuracy of 7.62 drops at over that range) – most fights in this game occur within 50 yds. It is truely unfair. Also it would be nice if the game had any recoil in the guns…

  • warrka

    the Ak-47 being weaker in this game is the same with all games……because American’s are stupid and can’t admit Russia made something better than us….also the ak is the most customizable and can shoot m16 bullets

    my only question is this beta online or a single player….cause i’d prefer a single player one to show us they care more about the story like older medal of honor’s….either way im getting the beta

    • PanSkrzetuski

      No, the AK47 cannot shoot the .223 round that the M16 fires. That’s like saying your shotgun can shoot 9mm because you switched barrels and firing mechanisms. (You can have a .223 gun with an AK stock if you want though.)

      The American thing of late has been lighter rounds with higher muzzle velocities and more accuracy as Pantz says. You end up with a gun with similar killing-power and its much easier to carry the gun and ammo because they are both much lighter and have less recoil.

    • Caz2102nd

      That sounded incredibly racist and not to mention that its a wrong statement. I believe that the 2 guns are tied (I am American, and a gun enthusiast). M16 has the advantage in Range, Accuracy, reload speed, weight and weapon attantchment capability. That being said, Most Americans (at least the ones I know, and I know a lot since I am American) admit that Russia made a better weapon, or is on par to each other.

      • http://ripten.com nick lanehart

        the ak is legend but here are some factors to think about
        1 the ak 47 is the original not one of the newer better models, meaning the original sacrifised recoil and fire rated for power and range.
        2 the taliban got there guns from us during the cold war to fight the russians, we gave them russian guns to disguise our action, we failed everyone new. oh well
        3 in reality if two people were to dual with m16 and the other a ak 47, m16 would win about 3 out of 10, the ak would win 2 out of 10 the rest a draw, close call…why would m16 win, a bullet is bullet and if ur hit ur dead, the m16 is lighter, so the person would draw and aim faster, m16 fires more rounds so the m16 would fire a burst while the ak fires one shot
        now i should say m16 wins, but the ak is a beast of the gun and is respected so i do agree they ABOUT equal.

    • steve

      us americans are so stupid that we helped dissolve the soviet union, won the cold war and are the most dominant military, economic and social (most popular sports ie basketball, yankees) power on earth.

      and yes i was in the military and would take the m16/4 any day over the clumsey inaccurate AK any day. i too will take 2 5.56 mm over 1 7.62mm.
      kinetic energy of the m16/4 is greater due to higher velocity.

      but yeh, cool story bro

      • Rev

        The Soviet Union dissolved itself.
        A Cold War cannot be won because it is no real war. US was on the moon first, SU was in space first.

        US military is NOT the worlds ‘s best army. It is the most active. China nowadays has more soldiers, better training and equal equipment.

        Economy: same; biggest but not best.

        Social: America will never have the cultural richess of Europa/Asia. That is no insult, that is stating fact simply because America is way younger.

  • Everett93

    the game has a good gameplay base but it has a shit load of bugs that if they aren’t fixed its going to ruin the game. alot of ppl have been saying it plays like battle field, trust me it doesn’t it plays more like COD than anything. Here are some bugs that need to be fixed when u die there’s a second delay before ur body falls to the ground and the screen also goes blank right before it, every time it happens i think my game has lagged out. also my PS3 has froze 4 times since i have been playing the beta. Oh yeah there r also game design flaws such as u can’t pick up a weapon thats on the ground (or atleast i dont know how). here are some thing the developers should change about the gameplay imo. Each team has weapons that r unique to that team i know that might be more realistic but its a damn game let us play with any weapon. Also there are weapon classes but no class gives a unique ability or anything that will make u want that class so u find urself using the same class over and over, so i think it would be better if the game had a load out like COD (it wont happen though). So there u go all in all the game has alot of potential. But it is my opinion that if some of these bugs aren’t fixed before the release the game will a rough launch. And might not turn out to be this game thats going to save us from MW2 after all

    • nonphixion79

      yep. ive expierienced the same problems you just described. and im tired of it freezing up on me. i dont like having to manually shut down my ps3 you know. we should be able to pick up weapons and have some claymores. ohh and where the heck is the helicopters?? damn that was a bummer. overall i like the game. it looks like it runs at 30fps .and i also noticed the grenades have a short fuse. but i give it a 8 out of 10 so far . hope theres an update for it soon.

      • http://ripten.com nick lanehart

        cod modern warfare is an idiot because of the claymores. they are NOT motion sensored, they use a detonaters or a pin so you can attach a wire to it to use as a booby trap if someone opens a door or a trip wire, which is sad cause everyone thinks its plant and forget. know the truth, and im not calling anyone and idiot because you’ve been decieved by the gaming community, but now u know how it works.

  • Rod Farva

    yeah, you need to look up the definition of the word “racist.”

    • Bryce Wilson

      “Racism is the belief that race is a primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race”

      Which is exactly what my point says.

  • farva

    Best thing to do is remember it’s a Beta. not a finished demo or anything. things can be changed down the line.

    With that said, i have not yet played it. i will on monday when it goes live on PC for those who pre-ordered it. I love MoH and everything they’ve done in the past. I hope they don’t let me down like CoD did.

  • http://www.ripten.com Bryce Wilson

    For everyone taking stabs at the “racist” part, read this;

    “Racism is the belief that race is a primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race”

    It honestly, and from my point of view, seems a bit suspect when stronger guns do less damage than their weaker counterparts. And I am not talking in an equal 100m gunfight, even up close they aren’t balanced.

  • Mike

    Claiming the games weapon inbalance is potentially eluding to racism is just lol. Your reference to a definition or not. Utter lol.

    • norma

      what an intelligent response. ;)

  • Joe

    I think ‘biased’ is a better word to use than racist. There is weapon bias for the US weapons over the Taliban’s. Or alternatively, just call it weapon/rifle imbalance favoring the US team. Now if the game implied that the weapon imbalance is due to Taliban culture or genetic intellectual or physical capacity, then it might be racist.

  • manksi

    you did forget to mention that the taliban always lose and that it always freezes when playing as the taliban which results in teammates dissipating and giving the us a big advantage over your small amounts of players. Also the taliban always freeze and crashes your console and needs to be completely rebooted, this happens when you get a killstreak, defuse a bomb or look at your score they seriously need to patch it but except from not mentioning this a good review

  • Just Pointing Out

    Both the US and Taliban starting sniper rifles fire a 7.62mm round, so they are essentially the same power. But I did notice the AK being a little underpowered. It could be chalked up to many current AK’s not being chambered in 7.62, but they are listed as “AK47″ so this isn’t the case. The compact version most likely fires the 5.45

  • Jon

    “That being said, the game can do with improvement and hopefully when it goes live in two days, DICE will get onto it and fix a bunch of problems that I have mentioned, as well as other problems that thousands of players will be likely to find.”

    Dice has not fixed the numerous problems that the PC BF Bad Company 2 community have been complaining about since its release earlier this year. I enjoyed BC2 when I first got it but all of the problems I have encountered made me stop playing it. I wouldn’t trust Dice to fix squat.

  • Andrew

    While an AK-47 has a bigger round it is also slow. It does pack a punch but the M16 round is smaller and faster. When an M16 round hits you it will bounce around in the inside of your body causing massive damage. The AK is outdated and can’t use smaller rounds. AK-74 can or the AK-100 series. As for the sniper rifles i take it that its the same scenerio. Bigger bullet for the taliban and smaller for the US. Same thing as with the M16 and AK. The thing Ak’s hold over M16 is better accuracy when firing fully automatic. And a bigger clip.

    • Brady

      5.56 rounds are known for just going straight throught people….thats why the damage is minimal compared to the ak47.

  • Abshire

    Playing Devils Advocate for a min, lets look at the issue with the 7.62×39 rounds doing less damage than the 5.56mm. The simple answer is body armor. The American body armor can stop over 3 rounds shot from an AK-47 in the same SPOT, and the Kevlar Helmets can actually stop a round from a 7.62×54 (Round the Nagant and Draganov fire, as well as the PKM). Thats not to say that a head shot wont knock you on your rear, but with body armor it should take more hits to score a kill on a Soldier than an insurgent who wears no armor at all. Im not sure if that was their intent but that could be a stab at realism. To play as the taliban you cant fight a direct fight and expect to win…it dosent work in RL stands to reason it wouldnt work in a game with realistic settings….my 2 cents.

    • Alex

      Hey. NO logic on the internet, Abshire!
      It’s better to scream game imbalance than change tactics :).

    • http://ripten.com nick lanehart

      agreed great comment

  • Wes Clemons

    I own both an ar15, which is the civilian version of m16, and an AK. The M16 muzzle velocity helps it out alot its a fast bullet. Also some might not know the 5.56 round behaves much differently once in the body tissue than 7.62. 7.62 is more likely to go straight through while the 5.56 will richochet and splinter when it hits bone. If i had to make the choice of which i would rather to get hit by at 30 yards it would be the 7.62. The M16 is alot more manueverable and accurate when kept clean.

  • ctdummy

    I played the beta on PS3 and was sorely disappointed even for a beta. The mechanics felt very sluggish at times and the graphics were very vanilla. The environments weren’t impressive nor was the interaction with them. I would compare it to an old PS2 FPS, and while that may seem harsh it truly felt like I was playing an outdated game. I had read good things about the storyline in the game which is why I chose to join the beta. I honestly can’t believe this is another EA DICE game after playing Bad Company 2. It doesn’t feel like it can compete on the same level which is just sad coming from the same developer. While it may be worth suffering through the poor graphics and mechanics, it isn’t worth my $60 — I’ll wait for hollywood to screw up the story.

  • Steve

    Hi everybody but please Do i need internet connection to play the Medal of Honor 2010 Beta ????????????

  • http://ripten.com nick lanehart

    the gameply is chaotic but the point of the game is to be realistic, warfare is chaotic, people die by random fire all the time or are caught in crossfire, which is better the cod because now you dont have to run around the bloody map looking for someone, also this helps prevent camping so choose
    camping noobs or realism.

  • Luke.

    I find it hard to decide if this is going to be THE game for me to buy.
    I use to like counterstrike because if your aim was right, you got a kill.
    (Yes, it depends what kind of weapon you use.)
    Like in MW2 you have the lag compensation so you dont need a proper aim/skill in order to get kills. Get only a kill when your ‘crosshair’ is on the opponent.
    I like the game but I hate the unbelievable unrealistic kills in there.

    Secretly I’m looking for a css remake haha, but now I’ll have to choose between an old favorite, MoH and BlackOpps. I find it hard to make a choice with only beta games

    • Bryce Wilson

      I’m loving Medal of Honor, and it’s definitely a day one purchase for meee.

  • Bill Brighton

    Wow someone should have played the beta for more time.
    The AK and M16 are equally powered in the game. They “feel different” but are essentially the same, plus the rifleman Taliban class gets 1 more grenade for the under barrelled launcher.
    Essentially though you forget a headshot is a headshot, so power doesn’t really matter. With the 30+ ribbons for coming #5+ at the end of matches, I’m not talking from a point of ignorance.
    Plus you are utterly wrong about the reward system. If you go for the defensive option, it is easier to reach the next tier in offensive/defensive rewards, whereas the rambo option leaves you with a larger gap to reach the next tier of rewards…

    • Gerard

      That comment was a long time ago. I dont ever recall writing about an award system so I can’t comment on that. Yes I did not play it fo long, the beta had too many issues that I didnt want to deal with. Some of my biggest complaints are the lag (which is now fixed because it was a beta), and the fact that the enviroments are not destructable. I know bfbc2 enviroments were TOO destructable, in that one knife could make a door explode, but there should at least be some form of enviromental destruction. Anyways, hopefully the full game will be all fixed up. Im just not happy with it feeling alot like a battlefield game.