Medal Of Honor: Airborne Xbox 360

Released on 07/09/2007

• Medal of Honor: Airborne Preview

  Take Mark to the clouds above...

  The March release of Medal of Honor: Vanguard marked the Medal of Honor series’ return to the limelight on PS2 and Wii systems – but this is going to be the be one for the guys at EA. Medal of Honor: Airborne sees the honorific WWII first-person shooter return to PC and debut on Xbox 360 this August (with a PS3 version due in October) in the Medal of Honor brand’s biggest new release yet.

  Like Vanguard, Airborne is based on the heroic campaigns of the intrepid 82nd Airborne Division, this time putting players behind the eyes of Private Boyd Travers. However, Medal of Honor: Airborne takes the idea of Vanguard’s novel-but-short pre-mission parachute drops and builds the entire game on this premise. Floating down from thousand of feet, Airborne will give players not seconds, but minutes to survey their terrain from above and land literally anywhere in the level, which should mean a different game experience every time they play.

  Open-ended gameplay

  The Airborne dynamic has seen EA take a different approach to level design with this latest Medal of Honor than previous games in the series – and indeed, different to any other WWII shooter out there. And because Airborne players can choose their own starting point by touching down where they like, it provides a truly open-ended experience.

  Levels in Airborne aren’t your usual linear, scripted affairs, but instead take on a siege mentality as you drop into action and fight your way to your objective. Steering your descent should prove tricky, but, brilliantly, mastering this will be worth it.

  Medal of Honor: Airborne promises to offer a visceral, innovative and polished shake-up to the WWII shooter.

  Hitting the ground with your allied Airborne troops, for instance, allows for a spot of squad-based action, whereas landing on your own throws up a completely different, you-against-the-masses approach. Likewise, landing atop a tower will provide a height advantage to let you snipe on lower-down foes – however, Airborne’s most advantageous start positions are a frequently risky proposition, surrounded by the most densely packed Nazi hotspots on each map. Land in these and you’ll know about it!

  Medal of Honor: Aiborne ScreenshotAnd that’s because Medal of Honor: Aiborne’s violent, ballistic WWII gunplay is delivered with considerable technical ability. Running on a modified form of the same Unreal 3 Engine that brought us Gears of War, Airborne is an impressive graphical proposition and immersive WWII experience. Indeed, if enemy A.I. stands up to close scrutiny (and we’re hearing nothing but good thing on that front) then Medal of Honor: Airborne could be as convincing a depiction of WWII as yet seen in a game.

  Approachable and playable

  Realism aside, Medal of Honor has always been an approachable, instantly playable series, and Airborne will be no different, offering a very familiar FPS recharging health system and the usual slew of WWII firearms. Interestingly, however, EA have applied its own unique spin to both in Airborne. Health is split into four pills, and these will regenerate if not fully depleted by enemy fire, while you’ll need a health pickup to replenish a completely empty one.

  Weapons, meanwhile, can be fully upgraded depending on frequency of use and your prowess with them, allowing a degree of customisation that spans the entirety of the game. Add to that the series’ eponymous achievement Medals to earn and an online multiplayer mode (which EA are keeping under wraps for now), and Airborne looks a very well-rounded FPS package.

  In fact, we’d go as far as to say that Medal of Honor: Airborne promises to offer a visceral, innovative and polished shake-up to the WWII shooter. And given the overworked nature of that particular genre, that’s definitely saying something.

  Preview by: Mark Scott
  Preview Published: 26.07.07

  Published: 26/07/2007

• Medal of Honor due this October

  EA has announced a European release date for its new Medal of Honor game. The shooter will be hitting store shelves much earlier than expected, and you'll be able to pick it up on 15th October.

  That means it's going to be a good few months for FPS fans: last Friday, Activision announced that Black Ops, the latest instalment in its Call of Duty franchise, will be coming out on 9th November.

  The latest Medal of Honor game reboots the classic series, while shifting the timeline from the traditional Second World War setting and into modern day Afghanistan. Splitting the storyline between US Ranger units and a handful of Tier 1 operators - the military's elite of the elite - it promises a fascinating glimpse of a little-known aspect of modern conflict. If that's not enough to get you excited, there's always the little fact that the multiplayer is being handled by DICE, the team behind the Battlefield series.

  Of course, if you find yourself looking for conflict a little less Earth-bound this Autumn, there will always be Halo: Reach to cheer up any Xbox 360 owners too.

  Medal of Honor will be available for the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.

• Medal of Honor: Warfighter incoming in October

  Ready for another battle of the shooters? Following last years scuffle between Modern Warfare 3 and Battlefield 3, EA has confirmed online rumours that a new entry in the Medal of Honor series will arrive this October, ready to go toe-to-toe with whatever Call of Duty game Treyarch is cooking up for Activision.

  Warfighter will be developed entirely by developer Danger Close, which put together the single player portion of 2010's series reboot, simply called Medal of Honor. Battlefield developers DICE supplied the multiplayer for that title, but will not be involved with Warfighter. The game will still use the same Frostbite 2 engine, however.

  In confirming the news, EA released an official piece of art, showing a special ops soldier in desert camouflage. The series began life as a Steven Spielberg produced World War 2 shooter, before being brought into modern day Afghanistan for the reboot. EA has yet to confirm any details about setting or story for this latest entry.

  Medal of Honor: Warfighter will be unleashed in October for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC.

• Co-op play and "hardcore" mode for Medal of Honor: Warfighter

  A few more fact-bullets have been fired from the Medal of Honor gun, hitting the news target bang in the chest.

  In an interview with the US Official Xbox Magazine, developer Danger Close has revealed that the game will feature co-op gameplay, though not whether that will mean a co-operative campaign or separate standalone missions in the style of Call of Duty's Spec Ops mode. It also described a one-hit-kill hardcore mode, for those who want maximum reality.

  Warfighter, presumably titled so as not to be confused with the pacifist game Warhugger, will continue to follow the exploits of Tier 1 operatives in a series of foreign engagements. Isabela City in the Philippines is the only location confirmed so far. Characters such as Preacher, Voodoo and Mother will all return.

  The game will be developed entirely on the DICE's Frostbite 2 engine, previously only used for the multiplayer portion of the 2010 game. This will apparently allow the single player story to include such environmental features as swaying chandeliers, splinters of wood and papers that scatter when you open fire on a desk, just in case there's a terrorist in the drawers.

  Medal of Honor: Warfighter is due this October for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC.

As a valued customer we now offer you the facility to sign up to email price alerts. Please enter the price you want to be, or below, and if drops to that level we will let you know...