Medal of Honor Allied Assault: Breakthrough
Platform: PC
Developer: Electronic Arts
Publisher: EALA/TKO
The Medal of Honor videogame series has been kicking ass on every platform, but it shines on the PC. Breakthrough is an expansion for the popular multiplayer and single player game known as Medal of Honor Allied Assault. This game is based around World War II just like in all of the other games but instead of fighting solely the Germans in this expansion you are fighting the Italians also. The game starts out with a level in Africa. For those of you who have not heard but the United States (but mainly the British) did go to war in Africa during WWII. Then from their in expands on to Stalin's turf.
The game play is very similar to the other Medal of Honor games with one major exception; you get to play with some vehicles in this one. Even though the vehicles are very difficult to drive and even harder to aim; it would be just one giant blood bath without them.
There are other types of stationary weapons you get to use also. In Allied Assault you got to use the .60 caliber machine gun which does make a come back, but you also get to use mortars, antiaircraft guns, and numerous other stationary weapons. They are a nice addition, but in some areas they just do not seem to make much sense to use.
There are also new handheld weapons to play with. The authenticity of each weapon is so accurate that you do not need to take a history class about WWII to become an expert on weapons of that time.
The only complaint I have about the new weaponry is the introduction of mines. It is quite a bit of fun to see someone launch up into the sky but when you have to walk through a field full of these things the game starts to get very tricky.
There is also an array of Italian weapons and German weapons you pick up along your path through Africa and Italy. They all have their different advantages and disadvantages but I must admit the Italian pistol is very accurate and reloads like a dream.
The eleven levels themselves are exciting and take you through different types of first person game play. There are missions where you will just attack and fight on a large battlefield, but there are also missions that take you sneaking around boats and fortresses for sabotage.
The introduction movies and character introductions are completely amazing and enthralling. They follow the same format as in Allied Assault with President Roosevelt giving speeches and showing real life footage of WWII while Roosevelt speaks. I personally enjoy these for it truly gives you a sense of what our grandparents and great grandparents were doing around our age instead of attending college.
The real question is multiplayer. I did try this expansion in multiplayer mode a couple of times to see how much different it was or how much better is. The multiplayer level that upset me the most was the one where weapons are scattered all over the terrain with a mounted machine gun in the middle. You start with nothing but your fists and have to fight to get the weapons, but it eventually turns into a fight to see who gets to the mounted machine gun first. It requires no skills whatsoever once you reach that machine gun.
The multiplayer levels are intense and vary in size from very large and open to very small and intricate. My personal favorite level to play multiplayer has to be Omaha Beach. Yes, I said that right you can play Omaha Beach in multiplayer. It is just so intense and like the actual D-Day but on a video game. When you get large and equal teams nothing even comes close to this level, it is just a large battle of carnage.
All in all, this game is great. It is an excellent expansion to an already stellar display of videogame genius. They got the concept right in the first Medal of Honor and why would you change something that is very interesting and also somewhat educational. This game does require a previous copy of Medal of Honor Allied Assault to play. Both Allied Assault and Breakthrough are highly recommended. Until next time, happy hunting of Axis Soldiers in another World War II adventure.
Reach the reporter at mhinshaw@asu.edu.
