Also available on PlayStation Portable Releasing in the latter half of 2007, Medal of Honor Heroes 2 was the second Medal of Honor game developed for the Wii following Medal of Honor: Vanguard. Set during the Battle of Cherbourg immediately following the D-Day invasions of Operation Overlord, you play as an OSS operative on a mission to investigate secret German projects in the area. The narrative is pretty standard stuff for Medal of Honor, but the gameplay is a ton of fun, and that's really what matters here. For the most part, the gameplay is extremely similar to Medal of Honor: Vanguard, but there are some key differences that put Heroes 2 a cut above in my opinion. First and foremost, the unnecessarily gimmicky motion gestures are gone. Do you REALLY need a motion gesture to jump or crouch? I'm totally cool with motion gestures for melee attacks and reloading, but Vanguard was just excessive with it. It also gives you a few more customization options for the controls with a WELCOME sensitivity setting. Overall, it plays like Vanguard, but the little changes here and there really give Heroes 2 a much more refined feel. Visually, however, there aren't a lot of changes. It looks like it has a little more polish overall than Vanguard did, but aside from some slightly more detailed textures, it's pretty much on par. Critics scored Heroes 2 about the same as they did Vanguard for the most part, but Heroes 2 added a lot as far as gameplay is concerned. First and foremost, it went from Vanguard's 0 player online mode to an impressive 32 player online play. That would be a pretty large game in your average first person shooter today let alone more than a decade ago on a console infamous for its "seriously what was Nintendo even thinking?" online framework. More important to me personally was the addition of "Arcade Mode." This allows you play through the single player as an on rails shooter rather than a tradition first person shooter. Not only does this make the Wii version of Heroes 2 stand out among the Medal of Honor franchise but it takes advantage of the Wii's greatest strength - the Wiimote. I've said since the console was first revealed back in my middle school days that the Wii is the supreme home console for rail shooters, and Heroes 2 proves my point. That game mode, while not appealing to some, doesn't get nearly enough credit. Medal of Honor Heroes 2 still doesn't really exemplify what a great Wii FPS game can be, but it's without a doubt a much more competent endeavor than Medal of Honor: Vanguard was. Pretty much every aspect of the game is an improvement over Vanguard in some degree, and while that varies from the marginally improved visuals to the dramatically improved gameplay options and modes, everything has been improved at least a little. It maintains a general sense of mediocrity, but that doesn't mean that it's not a fun time for those of us who love shooters on the Wii. It's definitely a better game than Vanguard, and if you only get one of the two for your Wii, this is absolutely the Medal of Honor game to go with. My Rating - B |
I'm a teacher.And I like to play video games. I like to collect video games. I like to talk about video games, and I like to write about video games. During the day, I teach high school history; during the night, I spend my spare time gaming. Then I write about it. Archives
March 2024
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