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Metareview: Medal of Honor: Warfighter
Thanks to the internet, you don't have to take just take our word that Medal of Honor: Warfighter is a "design-by-committee approximation of 'AAA military shooter." Game Informer (50/100): "The uninspired single-player campaign, uneven multiplayer execution, and rampant presence of glitches undermine Medal of Honor: Warfighter's efforts to join the Tier 1 of military shooters. If Danger Close keeps executing this poorly, this once-loved series may be dangerously close to being put in a casket." OXM (50/100): "You'll also roll your eyes at cloying cutscenes that never bother to introduce a worthwhile villain, and are instead crammed with insulting caricatures of unhappy military wives. We'll acknowledge it takes a rare breed to succeed in the special forces, but the personifications of dutiful male devotion are too one-dimensional to be human, much less heroic." Destructoid (50/100): "Charmless, cynical, and uninspired, Warfighter encapsulates everything wrong with the annual big budget shooter industry. It's really not an awful game, it's just insipid and shallow, a title that exists solely to exist, and squeeze whatever profit remains to be had from serving the same flavorless porridge to the same unadventurous customers. It will make its money, and keep the FPS factories in business for another year." Polygon (45/100): "While the multiplayer's obtuse design decisions are preferable to the campaign's lack of artificial intelligence, decent mechanics, or interesting level design, it's still difficult to find much reason to recommend Medal of Honor Warfighter over the shooters it wants so desperately to resemble. In an attempt to build a bridge across Battlefield 3 and Call of Duty, Danger Close has once again fallen into the hole between them." DarkStation (40/100): "Here's the aggravating truth: Warfighter is bad. Even given the fact that it's functional and competently designed at its base, the game in no way provides a nutritive and compelling addition to the genre it wants so badly to rule. Its core premise, to provide players an "authentic" special forces warfighter experience, never comes within striking distance due to hazy plot development and abrupt, inorganic pacing."
Medal of Honor: Warfighter day-one patch notes
EA has released a day-one patch for Medal of Honor: Warfighter, and it appears to be a doozy, fixing or tweaking everything from visuals to the user interface to weapon performance. The PS3 and PC patch are "already staged," while the Xbox patch is "on its way."Some changes seem to be fairly standard, adjusting weapon speed and damage and the like. Others seem to fix more fundamental issues, such as making sure players can't join private parties without first being invited, or ensuring that the team voice chat channel can't be heard by the opposing team.A handful of single-player issues have been rectified as well, though it's difficult to say how significant the issues were without a frame of reference. Among the changes are making the default difficulty normal instead of easy, fixing certain instances of unresponsive controls, improving single-player stability and fixing "progression stoppers."The Warfighter blog notes that the patch is designed to "ensure that your experience when the game ships is outstanding." However significant the changes are, it's apparent that EA found them important enough to hold back press review copies until the patch was deployed. Joystiq's review will be up as soon as possible.You can read the full patch notes here.
PSA: Joystiq's review of Medal of Honor: Warfighter coming soon
As the video game industry's annual holiday rush gets into full swing, it's Joystiq's prerogative to bring you reviews of all the latest games in as timely a manner as possible. Hopefully, these reviews help you to decide what's worth playing in this busy (and expensive!) season.To that end, we wanted to let our readers know that Joystiq's review of Medal of Honor: Warfighter will not be published today. EA has planned a day-one patch for Warfighter and has thus decided not to make review copies of the game available to media outlets until today, the day of its retail release.We should get our hands on the final version of the game today, and will publish our review as soon as we've had adequate time to construct a proper critique. In the meantime, you probably have enough new games to keep you busy as it is, and we appreciate your patience. If you decide to pick up Warfighter anyway, we'll see you online!
Medal of Honor: Warfighter trailer tours Zero Dark Thirty maps
Zero Dark Thirty is a movie based on the mission to capture or kill Osama Bin Laden – a perfect tie-in to a game about hunting down terrorists such as Medal of Honor: Warfighter. EA will deploy a $9.99 multiplayer map pack in honor of the film, part of the proceeds of which will go to charity through EA's Project Honor program – all pre-orders will get the additional maps free of charge.The program was initiated with the goal of "raising awareness and generating charitable contributions for fallen warriors from the Special Operations Community." The Zero Dark Thirty map pack includes two multiplayer locales based on real locations where Osama Bin Laden was suspected of hiding in Pakistan: the Darra Gun Market and Chitral Compound. Feel free to gather intel on each in the video above.%Gallery-164844%
Latest Medal of Honor: Warfighter trailer covers special operations
Medal of Honor: Warfighter's ongoing trailer series reaches its eighth installment with this episode, in which the rumbling, computer-disguised voices of former soldiers involved in Tier 1 Operations. The veterans expound upon how technological advancements, such as wide-field night-vision goggles, have changed the battlefield.
Getting friendly in Medal of Honor: Warfighter's multiplayer mode
The US government may tell us all it's an army of one, but Danger Close games is making a good case for the buddy system. At the heart of Medal of Honor: Warfighter is an interesting co-op dynamic, where two players are paired together into a fire team.There are six different classes in total that can pair up to form interesting compliments to each other; however, from the first moments of Medal of Honor: Warfighter multiplayer, Danger Close oddly chose to have one class unlocked. It takes a few hours before you have them all unlocked, as I experienced during a recent private multiplayer event. (You can sample the multiplayer now in an exclusive Xbox Live beta.)The initial barriers to other classes is a very odd design decision, meant to ease you into the experience. For someone like myself who has played tons of shooters and is well-versed in class-based multiplayer, it was an unnecessary stopgap and only served to invalidate the single best feature in multiplayer: fire teams.%Gallery-168105%
Medal of Honor Warfighter beta begins in early October
EA will hold a Medal of Honor Warfighter multiplayer beta in early October on Xbox 360. Beyond testing out the game, participants will also receive 60 minutes of double XP when the full game launches. The beta features a new multiplayer mode called "HotSpot," in which players play king of the hill on a Sarajevo Stadium map in Bosnia.If three million people download the beta, EA will unlock a Linkin Park "Castle of Glass" music video early, instead of the intended five days after the beta commences. Free will dictates how humanity feels about that.EA recently announced (on Sept. 10, no less) that those who purchase the game early will also receive some hunt for Osama Bin Laden-inspired DLC. The game itself will launch October 23.
Medal of Honor: Warfighter trailer shows off single-player campaign
It's easy to forget sometimes that there can be a lot more to a first person shooter than its MMO-flavored competitive online multiplayer. For instance, Medal of Honor: Warfighter apparently lets you crawl through a flooded Philippinian wasteland, just like a real soldier once did. Thrilling!
One shot, one kill: Medal of Honor: Warfighter takes us to sniper school
While the years of training that go into becoming an elite sniper are impressive, we'd be lying if we didn't say the coolest thing in this Medal of Honor: Warfighter video is how these guys can alter the sound of their voices. How do they make themselves sound like robots? So neat!
Learn the story behind the bullets in latest Medal of Honor: Warfighter trailer
There's more to Medal of Honor: Warfighter's premise than "spot bad guys and shoot them first," apparently. The latest trailer, above, gives a taste of that narrative arc ... and mixes it with lots of shooting and explosions. A little something for everyone, then!
DICE vows continued support for Battlefield 3 in light of Battlefield 4 announcement
EA officially revealed Battlefield 4 today as a project being developed at the company's Sweden-based DICE studio. Beyond that, however, no one's saying a peep about the game. Lest you forget, three more DLC packs are planned for DICE's last game, Battlefield 3, and that apparently means DICE isn't ready to talk Battlefield 4 just yet."There is no further Battlefield 4 news at this point," reads a post from DICE on the Battlefield 4 subpage. "With the Back to Karkand and Close Quarters expansion packs already out, Armored Kill around the corner, and End Game and Aftermath still on the horizon, we're looking forward to many more hours of gameplay with you, and can't wait to see the stories you will tell through Battlelog and player created videos."With Medal of Honor's 2010 reboot, EA set out to match its competition's annual shooter, Call of Duty. EA's Los Angeles-based Danger Close studio is in charge of EA's Medal of Honor franchise, apparently trading off years with DICE and the Battlefield franchise. The two franchises currently share DICE's Frostbite 2.0 game engine, and Danger Close's next MoH employs DICE's Battlelog system as well. Thus far, EA has yet to best Activision's Call of Duty powerhouse (in terms of sales and critical reception) with its two shooter franchises.
Rumor: Battlefield 4 outed by Medal of Honor: Warfighter pre-order promotion
As seen in the header image above, an Origin pre-order promotion for Medal of Honor: Warfighter briefly tempted customers with access to a Battlefield 4 beta before being removed from the public eye, according to neoGAF. Interesting, since Battlefield 4 doesn't really exist or anything yet, at least not in any sort of publicly official capacity.While we didn't see the advertisement on Origin with our very own eyes, it was reportedly live and functional as a promotion, if lacking specific Battlefield 4 details, according to a corroborating report from IGN. It's possible that this was an accidental admission of BF4's existence, but it's also possible that someone at EA has learned an important lesson about letting the interns near Photoshop. We've got out ears to the ground and will update with any new information.[Thanks, Steve!]
Medal of Honor: Warfighter features guns, explosions, motorboats, and ... more guns
When Medal of Honor: Warfighter arrives this October, it's gonna be heavy on the pew pew. No surprise there. But did you also realize it'll have motorboats with guns attached? We imagine it'll feature most things that are able to have gun attachments, actually. Skateboards, for instance. What?
Medal of Honor Warfighter powered by Frostbite 2.0
Medal of Honor Warfighter executive producer Greg Goodrich told Joystiq this evening that October's Danger Close game is being built using EA DICE's in-house Battlefield engine, Frostbite 2.0. This marks the second use of Frostbite 2.0 outside of its origin studio, following last year's Need for Speed: The Run.After a brief on-stage presentation of the game in action, Goodrich spoke to us about how Danger Close is attempting to distinguish the game visually, despite it being built in the same engine that powers EA's other big shooter. To us, the game didn't look dramatically different from what we've seen in DICE's work with Frostbite 2.0, via BF3."I don't think the engine dictates on what it's gonna look like," Goodrich said. "We have a wonderful art director who has a very clear vision of the type of lens he wants to tell our story through. The tech is just a canvas, and that canvas is much larger than it's ever been before."MoH Warfighter is being developed entirely in-house at Danger Close this time around, with DICE offering little more than engine support (and perhaps the occasional hearty back pat). Goodrich confirmed to us that he and his team aren't growing the same impressive beards during Warfighter's dev cycle."My wife won't let me this time," Goodrich said with a smile. "Same guys, less beard."%Gallery-149880%
Medal of Honor Warfighter features international 'Tier 1 Operators' in multiplayer
Medal of Honor: Warfighter features warfighters from around the world, EA revealed today. The multiplayer mode features elite soldiers from 12 nations, "including the Australian SASR, British SAS, German KSK and Polish GROM among others." They'll be able to compete in head-to-head multiplayer. Pre-orders of the limited edition version will get an extra operator, the US Navy Seal Tier 1 Sniper.EA also detailed the story of the single-player mode, written by real US Tier 1 Operators. Warfighter stars "Preacher," whose home life is in a shambles due to frequent deployment. "But when a deadly explosive known as PETN penetrates civilian borders and his two worlds collide, Preacher and his fellow teammates are sent in to do what they do best – solve the problem." By warfighting.EA also confirmed the October 23 release date seen in today's trailer.%Gallery-149880%
Medal of Honor Warfighter launches October 23, teaser leaks
Medal of Honor Warfighter is apparently EA's big holiday shooter this year, with a leaked European trailer indicating an October 23 launch date. The sequel to 2010's Medal of Honor is also being handled by EA's Danger Close studio, though DICE isn't picking up the multiplayer slack this time around. As October 23 is a Tuesday, it looks like that will also account for a US release date, but we've reached out to EA for clarification all the same.Update: EA released the US trailer as well now, which shows October 23 as the release date too. So there's that!
Medal of Honor: Warfighter avoiding Osama Bin Laden mission
Medal of Honor: Warfighter, which uses the experiences of Tier One Operatives for its missions and plot, will avoid the conclusion of terrorist Osama Bin Laden's life in its story."That's not our story to tell," producer Greg Goodrich told OXM US. "That's 'family business' to [the Tier 1 Operatives]. ... It's been an interesting exercise learning what's okay and what's not okay [to portray in the game]." And who at EA is going to argue with a guy who can kill with a paperclip?The Medal of Honor reboot also avoided possible offense two years ago by changing "Taliban" to "Opposing Force" for the multiplayer portion of the game."The objection was, kind of from an older generation that doesn't understand games, that the sound bite was 'Play as the Taliban and kill US soldiers,'" Danger Close marketing director Craig Owens told us at the time. "There still is, it seems, a group that's still a little bit leery of a game taking place around an active conflict."
Report: Medal of Honor: Warfighter is Danger Close's next game, hits in October [updated]
EA's been teasing the next Medal of Honor for some time now, so it's not a huge surprise to hear more about it on Twitter. Game Informer's Jim Reilly spent the past half hour sharing some info, saying the game is called "Medal of Honor: Warfighter," is arriving this coming October, and runs in DICE's Frostbite 2.0 engine.The info is apparently coming from a copy of OXM, which arrived a bit ahead of EA's intended marketing push, it would seem. Reilly also says the game's multiplayer will be handled in-house by EA Danger Close now, rather than DICE as was the case with 2010's Medal of Honor reboot.Update: The Medal of Honor blog offered a teaser image of the game, confirmed the title, and teased more details in the coming weeks. Boom! See the full image on the other side of the break.
Report: GAME outs new Need for Speed, reaffirms Medal of Honor sequel
Someone at British brick-and-mortar franchise Game seems to have confirmed our expectant attitude towards EA's Need for Speed franchise. The British retail outlet's Twitter account documented a trip to EA for a presentation, and casually noted plans for a new Need for Speed ("Need for Speed 13!"), not to mention a word on the as-yet-unseen Medal of Honor sequel. As Eurogamer reports, the tweet is no longer available, though other volleys from the account confirm the retailer's presence at an EA presentation. EA has spoken about a Medal of Honor sequel in the past, though this is the first we've heard of it in quite some time. It's said to be developed by EA's Danger Close studio, and we're not sure if Battlefield studio EA DICE will be once more tasked with handling the multiplayer component. Meanwhile, following the pattern of annual Need for Speed releases, it's likely that Burnout studio Criterion will be tasked with the thirteenth (!!) entry in the series. We've reached out to EA for comment, but aren't expecting much more than some light under its breath cursing. Update: In response to this report, an EA rep told Joystiq, "We do not comment on rumor or speculation." [Image credit: GAME]
Danger Close working on Medal of Honor sequel
HEY, EA, ARE YOU MAKING -- "Yes, Danger Close is currently working on the next Medal of Honor." Well, that was easy. In a blog post (entitled "In case you were wondering ...") Medal of Honor executive producer Greg Goodrich claims that the next game in EA's other military shooter franchise will benefit from fan feedback elicited by last year's scruffy reboot. "Since our launch last October, we've studied, listened and absorbed much of your feedback and are very excited to be marching forward on the next title," Goodrich writes. It's not known whether Battlefield developer DICE will handle the multiplayer component again -- the team already canceled several of its projects in order to focus on the upcoming Battlefield 3. EA has shipped more than 5 million copies of Medal of Honor since it launched in October 2010. The publisher will undoubtedly be looking to recreate and augment that success, especially with Activision further bolstering its Call of Duty output.
