Medal of Honor (series)

Medal of Honor franchise
Logo used from 2004 to 2008.
Genres	First-person shooter
Developers	EA Los Angeles EA Digital Illusions CE DreamWorks Interactive 2015 Inc. Rebellion Developments Netherock Ltd. TKO Software Budcat Creations EA Canada
Publishers	Electronic Arts
Creators	Steven Spielberg[1]
Composers	Michael Giacchino Christopher Lennertz Ramin Djawadi
Platforms	PlayStation Game Boy Advance Linux Windows Mac OS X PlayStation 2 Nintendo GameCube Xbox PlayStation Portable Wii Xbox 360 PlayStation 3
First release	Medal of Honor November 11, 1999
Latest release	Medal of Honor October 12, 2010
Official website	http://www.medalofhonor.com/

Medal of Honor (MoH) is the name of a series of first-person shooter games set in World War II, with an October 2010 reboot based on the conflicts of present day Afghanistan. The first game was developed by DreamWorks Interactive (now known as Danger Close) and published by Electronic Arts in 1999 for the PlayStation game console. Medal of Honor spawned a series of follow-up games including multiple expansions spanning various console platforms and the PC and Mac.

Plot

The Medal of Honor series puts the player in the boots of an Allied combatant during World War II, with the exception of the recent game which lets players take part in the modern Afghanistan conflict (at times as a Combat Applications Group (Delta Force) operator, Ranger or DEVGRU operator), with weaponry appropriate to each 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 (e.g., inspiration from modern films like Saving Private Ryan, The Thin Red Line and Enemy at the Gates and the television mini-series Band of Brothers).

Gameplay

The gameplay originally focuses on the OSS (Office of Strategic Services), an American espionage organization during World War II, 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 newest Medal of Honor contains realistic figures, surroundings, and effects giving it a modern FPS look.

Games in the series

PC releases

• Medal of Honor: Allied Assault (Lt. Mike Powell) - (Linux, Windows 2000 / 95 / 98 / Me / NT / XP, Mac OS) - 2002
  • Medal of Honor: Allied Assault - Spearhead (Sgt. Jack Barnes) - (Linux, Windows, Mac OS)
  • Medal of Honor: Allied Assault - Breakthrough (Sgt. John Baker) - (Linux, Windows, Mac OS)
• Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault (Pvt/Pfc/Lcpl/Cpl/Sgt. Tommy Conlin) - (Windows) - 2004
• Medal of Honor: Airborne (Pfc/Cpl. Boyd Travers) - (Windows Vista, XP) - 2007
• Medal of Honor (Spc. Dante Adams, Cpt. Brad "Hawk" Hawkins, "Rabbit", "Deuce") - (Windows) - 2010

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; (PlayStation 3) - 2010
• 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 (Spc. Dante Adams, Cpt. Brad "Hawk" Hawkins, "Rabbit", "Deuce") - (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3) - 2010
• Medal of Honor 2 - 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

Medal of Honor Collection

Medal of Honor Collection is a set of three games: Medal of Honor: Frontline, Medal of Honor: Rising Sun and Medal of Honor: European Assault on the PlayStation 2 and Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault and Medal of Honor: Airborne for Microsoft Windows. It was released on March 6, 2007.

Medal of Honor 10th Anniversary Bundle

Medal of Honor 10th Anniversary Bundle is a bundle of three games for the PC: Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, with its respective expansion packs, Medal of Honor: Spearhead and Medal of Honor: Breakthrough, Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault Director's Edition, and Medal of Honor: Airborne. It was released on September 22, 2008.

Cancelled games

In the history of the Medal of Honor series, two games are known to have been cancelled: Medal of Honor: Fighter Command, a flight-sim-esque game that was to be released for the PlayStation 2,^[2] and Medal of Honor: Rising Sun 2, the sequel to Medal of Honor: Rising Sun.

Awards

Guinness World Records awarded the Medal of Honor series with a world record for "Best-selling FPS franchise" in the Guinness World Records: Gamer's Edition 2008.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• Medal of Honor Original Soundtrack Recording

References

1. ^ Game Credits for Medal of Honor: Allied Assault
2. ^ http://www.gamespot.com/news/2693131.html

External links

• Medal of honor homepage
• Medal of Honor at the Internet Movie Database
• Medal of Honor series at MobyGames
• Total Medal of Honor
• Planet Medal of Honor