So much potential .... missed!

I enjoy playing World War Two first-person Immersive games and couldn’t wait to buy Medal of Honor - above and beyond. I am fascinated with World War Two mainly because my Grandfather, Harry Cox, would tell me tales of his exploits when I was a child. He even left me his war diaries when he died almost 20 years ago.

I was disappointed with the game. Glitches on the Oculus Quest 2 don’t help either. The acting on the story mode is cheesy and wooden to the point you hate your life! It’s unbearable. You find yourself hoping these characters die, or you try to shoot them yourself. The gameplay is very dated as the ai is poor at the low levels. A historical fact I didn’t know about Germans is that they always shout out when they see you! It’s pretty helpful, and you want to kill them! The characters in the game are not Germans! 😳

The multiplayer is so poor that I don’t know why anyone would even bother! The opportunity to have missions or battles is just wholly missed. Just the fact you are more immersed in the game through VR is not enough. The physics and interaction in the game is trial and error as some objects you can interact with and others you can’t. Let’s spawn people next to each other, so they blast each other as soon as they respawn! The gun mechanics and maps are average, but the fourth time your left hand suddenly disappears, and you have German soldiers running towards you at the end of the map, it’s pretty annoying! So glitches are there, but it’s not just the glitches.

Some parts like the planes and specific maps are good, but the planning missions sections, oh my god! Is this for three-year-olds? The submarine is an exciting part where more of the technology feels used, but it’s limited and way far from the potential of the platform, the genre and the VR industry. The VR industry has dashed many false dawns and unrealised dreams because companies made shortcuts to get games out quickly without much thought to the gamer. Let’s hope this doesn’t happen with VR now; companies are responsible for delivering better experiences.

The potential for this game is endless, and I realise not everything can be down with the system’s limitations, but the potential in the game right now is so much more than what you get for your money. And the acting will seriously have you wanting to shoot yourself in the face! How anyone could think this dialogue is funny, exciting or engaging needs some help, it’s truly horrendous to listen to! I wanted to cut off my ears Van Gogh style by listening to it! Thank god for the skill level buttons that make the game a little challenging but rigid patterns you can work out rather than any intelligent ai to make the game challenging.

The actual gameplay can be fascinating if it's your first foray into the virtual reality world. Still, the graphics are elementary at best, and the AI is so predictable that playing becomes very similar to the old platform games you used to play on systems like the ZX Spectrum. When the pattern and predictability of the game are the same each time, the game loses its ability for replay and longevity. Anyone older than ten will play the campaign once or twice and typically move to the multiplayer area.

However, the multiplayer area is so poorly created that most people can't stay on there for long. The multiplayer section seems as though it was rushed and feels like it wasn't a significant consideration, which is crazy. The multiplayer areas of these games are usually where they come alive. The potential for this game was so high, yet the delivered product lacked polish and care to make it a must buy on the Quest 2.

With limited games available in this genre, I feel it will get purchased more than it deserves, and that's a shame because it could put several people off buying these games, which will improve in the future. Developers need to be held to higher standards in the Virtual World if the platforms are to realise their full potential.