Gearheads of War

Wow.  I just played the demo, and I was blown away.  First off, the graphics are stunning.  Not much else to say about that.  Second, the whole Airborne element adds soooo much to the game, I couldn't believe it.  The demo makes you take out 3 AA guns, and you choose in which order.  The playing field is relatively large, and it makes for a fairly non-linear experience.  Because you're parachuting in, you choose where to land.  Green smoke is where your teammates are going to land, as it marks a safe LZ.  Touch down there, and you've got teammates and time on your side.

But of course, you're not going to just take the most obvious route.  If you so desire, you can land right next to one of the AA guns.  You'll be in a hot spot, and you'll probably die (the game is pretty tough even at normal), but the option is there if you want to go balls-to-the-wall.  And then there's the sniper route.  You can choose to land on an otherwise inaccessible rooftop to pick off the enemies below.  Basically, you can choose where to go based on your style of play, which is also helped by your ability to choose your loadout before the mission.  In the demo, the options are fairly limited (the choice 1 primary gun in a selection of 3 and 1 secondary in a selection of 3 with a Colt .45 as your sidearm), but it gets the job done.

Then there's the arcadey elements.  While at times you feel really absorbed and into the war (the guns feel, sound, and look phenomenal), there are elements in the game that make it fresh and fun.  You can upgrade your weapons by getting enough kills with each one.  Kill enough enemies with your Thompson, it doesn't kick like a mule any more.  Kill enough with your M1 Garand, you're that much more accurate with it.  I haven't played another MoH game, so these could be something they put in every time, but I know that in this game they were pretty cool and fun.

The feel of the game is awesome.  The controls are different from most other games, and they definitely take some time to get used to, but in the end, they work.  Also, the lean ability is used in this game better than any other game I've played that allows you to lean.  It feels great.

So those are my impressions of the Medal of Honor: Airborne demo.  I know lots of you guys are sick of WWII shooters, but I personally can not get enough.  I say there are too few (I think the only WWII shooter I've actually played is CoD2 and 3, so that may be why I'm not sick of them yet).  I highly recommend that you download the demo.  Great graphics, fresh gameplay (even if it is WWII), and a realistic yet fun feel make this a pretty solid demo.  The full game comes out September 4th, and I know there's lots of shit going on around that time (Stranglehold and soon to be that record-breaking game), but I might have to try and make room for MoH:A.  Give it a try.