I have fond memories of the Medal of Honor series. To this day, I still miss the exciting missions that the likes of Frontline and Rising Sun provided. I was chuffed at how EA decided to reboot the franchise with DICE leading the development of the game’s multiplayer component. The beta stage of the multiplayer is a very fun and immersive experience, despite some irritating problems.

The beta is bundled with two game modes: “Team Assault” and “Team Mission”, each with their own respective maps. Team Assault plays very much like Team Deathmatch, with both sides competing to achieve the most kills. The design of Kabul City Ruins suits the mode with a variety of set pieces and wrecked pieces of cover that reflect the bombed streets of Kabul City perfectly. Traversing the streets of the city can be a fairly intense experience, as there are several areas on the map that makes flanking and ambushing seem like a cinch.  Despite the insane pace of the combat, I encountered no lag problems with the game.

The second mode, Team Mission, plays very much like Bad Company 2’s Rush mode. One side is tasked with assaulting five enemy bases, while the other side has to hold off the attackers. Helmand Valley has a vaster landscape than Kabul City, which can help the defenders easily set up several sniping and defensive positions. These include mountable turrets, bunkers and elevated positions.  Unlike Team Assault, both sides have the option to spawn on the frontlines with your comrades to get right into the fight. However, I have encountered several cases of spawn killing due to a weak variety of spawn points within the team’s base.

So far, players can choose from three customizable classes with a variety of unlockable weapons and accessories. Unfortunately, the customization options aren’t that deep. It’s also a little bit disappointing that the beta’s score chain system is not customizable. Hopefully these features will be updated in the final product for better customization options.

The game does look and feel very similar to Bad Company due to the Frostbite Engine. However, the game seems to putting less emphasis on the destructible environments. Some cover can still be eroded away with gunfire or explosions, but it is nowhere near as chaotic as Bad Company. The game still looks and sounds beautiful, with very detailed environments and some impressive sound effects that help to immerse you with the atmosphere.

I did encounter some very frustrating problems while I was playing. I found hit detection to be extremely spotty, particularly when I was in close combat. I also experienced several freezing issues. The most frequent are when the game freezes for around a second when you are killed. This can be fairly distracting if you are trying to pinpoint where your killer was. My Xbox also crashed on several occasions during play.

Overall:

Medal of Honor’s multiplayer seems to be a very entertaining experience so far. At the moment, I am hoping for a wider variety of more unique features for the final product. The infuriating hit detection and freezing issues will also have to be dealt with in the final stages of the game’s development. Regardless, the beta does succeed in delivering a more fast-paced take on online modern warfare and I am eager to see more of the multiplayer.