Medal of Honor series

The series logo as of 2010-present.

The Medal of Honor series is a series of first-person shooter games developed by and published by Electronic Arts and its subsets/affiliates. It is one of the most well-known shooter series, and was one of the pioneers of World War II shooter games. It was created by American film director Steven Spielberg.

Plot

The Medal of Honor series puts the player in the boots of an Allied soldier/operative during World War II, with the exception of the most recent games, Medal of Honor (2010) and Medal of Honor: Warfighter, which takes place in modern Afghanistan, and global operations respectively, with weaponry appropriate to the time period. The player fights for the United States (although groups such as the French Resistance have been represented), and the identity of the main character varies between games. The games are often characterized by linear gameplay through recognizable WWII-era areas of conflict, which is sometimes presented in a cinematic tone.

Medal of Honor (2010) follows DEVGRU squad Neptune's operations in Afghanistan during opening days of the US invasion. Player assumes the role of 'Rabbit', a Tier 1 operative from AFO Team Neptune. Later the player assumes 'Deuce', of AFO Team Wolfpack, Delta Force unit aided by the 'infamous' Wolves; Dusty, Panther and Vegas in executing certain stealth ops and surveillance missions. Along the story, the player also assume the roles of an U.S. Army Ranger and an Apache chopper gunner during some missions late in the game. The entire game deals with advancement of US forces in Afghan soil and challenges involved in establishing control over the resisting militants.

Medal of Honor: Warfighter is played mainly through the perspective of Tom 'Preacher' Walker of the first game, US Navy SEAL operative, who is assigned to newly designated Task Force Mako along with Mother and Voodoo. The game follows the Task Force Mako's effort to thwart plans of The Cleric, an operative and Sad Al Din. The player also assumes the role of 'Stump', a Navy SEAL during some missions. Preacher's disturbed relations with his family are also depicted in the story.

Gameplay

The gameplay's original focus on behind-enemy-lines intelligence gathering, or some other type of special missions, placing emphasis on using false papers and silenced pistols, but as the series and the technology has progressed, it has shifted emphasis towards front-line combat, and has now almost completely abandoned the original focus. Since the release of Medal of Honor: Rising Sun the series has focused on providing a more open-ended element to the games, allowing the player to have more options in each level and getting away from one linear path. In the later games in the series, the artificial intelligence (AI) of the enemies and fellow soldiers has been notorious for being below or above current FPS expectations. The violence, up to Medal of Honor: Rising Sun is bloodless and simple, usually consisting of elaborate animations, while the violence in Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault and onward contains the occasional sprays of blood. The more recent installments of the series feature more realistic figures, surroundings, and effects, giving it a modern FPS look.

Games

PC releases

• Medal of Honor: Allied Assault (Lt. Mike Powell) - (Linux, Windows, Mac OS) - 2002
  • Medal of Honor: Allied Assault Spearhead (Sgt. Jack Barnes) - (Linux, Windows, Mac OS) - 2002
  • Medal of Honor: Allied Assault Breakthrough (Sgt. John Baker) - (Linux, Windows, Mac OS) - 2003
• Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault (Pvt/Pfc/Cpl/Sgt. Thomas Conlin) - (Windows) - 2004
• Medal of Honor: Airborne (Pfc/Cpl. Boyd Travers) - (Windows) - 2007
• Medal of Honor - (Windows) - 2010
• Medal of Honor: Warfighter - (Windows) - 2012

Console releases

• Medal of Honor (Lt. Jimmy Patterson) - (PlayStation) - 1999
• Medal of Honor: Underground (Manon Batiste) - (PlayStation) - 2000
• Medal of Honor: Frontline (Lt. Jimmy Patterson) - (PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube) - 2002
• Medal of Honor: Rising Sun (Cpl/Sgt. Joseph Griffin) - (PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube) - 2003
• Medal of Honor: European Assault (Lt. William Holt) - (PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube) - 2005
• Medal of Honor: Vanguard (Cpl/Sgt. Frank Keegan) - (PlayStation 2, Wii) - 2007
• Medal of Honor: Airborne (Pfc/Cpl. Boyd Travers) - (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3) - 2007
• Medal of Honor: Heroes 2 (Lt. John Berg) - (Wii) - 2007
• Medal of Honor - (Rabbit, Deuce, Spc. Adams, Cpt. Hawkins) - (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3) - 2010
• Medal of Honor: Warfighter - (Preacher, Stump) - (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3) - 2012

Portable releases

• Medal of Honor: Underground (Manon Batiste) - (Game Boy Advance) - 2000
• Medal of Honor: Infiltrator (Cpl. Jake Murphy) - (Game Boy Advance) - 2003
• Medal of Honor: Heroes (Lt. Jimmy Patterson, Lt. William Holt, Sgt. John Baker) - (PlayStation Portable) - 2006
• Medal of Honor: Heroes 2 (Lt. John Berg) - (PlayStation Portable) - 2007

Miscellaneous

• Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond (Unknown) - (Oculus Rift) - 2020

Cancelled

• Medal of Honor: Fighter Command (Unknown) - (PlayStation 2) - Cancelled/on hiatus as of 2002
• Medal of Honor: Rising Sun 2 (Donnie Griffin) - (Unknown) - Cancelled as of 2006

Hiatus

The series has currently been placed into an indefinite hiatus by Electronic Arts after the poor critical and commercial performance of the most recent installment, Medal of Honor: Warfighter. The developers for the series, EA Los Angeles/Danger Close Games, has been changed to DICE Los Angeles since May 2013 and currently works on the more recent installments of the Battlefield series with regards to post-launch support and development of downloadable content for the games. It is currently unknown if DICE Los Angeles is working on a game of their own.

As of 2018, the series has not had a game released for it in about six years.

Gallery

The series logo as of 1999 to 2003

The series logo as of 2004-2008

The series logo as of 2010-present