Medal of Honor: Allied Assault Preview

As you near the coast on Normandy in your amphibious vehicle, you only suspect of the danger that awaits you and your companions there. Moments later, all hell breaks loose, and the grenades start falling all around even before the transporter reaches the shore. The ramp goes down and you see your poor fellow-soldiers in the first ranks getting blown to smithereens by a grenade, and you run towards the anti-tank barricades as you seek cover from the machineguns. The air is filled with artillery shots, explosions and screams of the wounded (Ahh, this is just like Day of Defeat - Ed).

This scene will surely remind you of the Spielberg's "Saving Private Ryan", with a slight difference - you won't see that much blood and gore here. This parallel was unavoidable, as the aforementioned movie formed the vision of D-Day in modern audience.

All true history-freaks and WWII fans will be glad to know that the developers took the time to consult the retired marine-captain Dale Dye. For those of you who do not know this name, captain Dye is one of the highly regarded military advisors in the entertainment industry. His field of expertise will greatly enhance the verisimilitude in depicting historical events.

Apart from that, EA is in an official partnership with the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, which takes care of the integrity of the Medal of Honor as one of the highest prizes which can be given to worthy soldiers within the game.

The last but not the least important feature in this game is the assortment of weapons and military technology present in the game. Each of the weapons will have its realistic upsides and downsides, and the programmers work really hard to balance all their properties. For instance, the German hand grenade can be thrown at a greater range than the "pineapple" bomb, but it is also less destructive; the long-range rifles will have longer loading times than ordinary ones, etc.

With all the good sides of this project we had a chance to see, Medal of Honor: Allied Assault seems worth the wait. EA announced that the PC version of MoH might appear on the market by the end of October 2001.