Medal of Honor: Airborne
Encyclopedia
Medal of Honor: Airborne is a World War II
first-person shooter
computer game and the 11th installment of the Medal of Honor
series. It was developed by EA
Los Angeles
and was released worldwide on the PC
and Xbox 360
in September 2007. A PS2 and Wii version was set to be released but was cancelled in 2007. Instead, Medal of Honor: Vanguard
was released. A PlayStation 3
version was released November 2007. The game takes place in the European theater of World War II, and is the first in the series to focus only on paratrooper
activities.
In the single-player mode, the player takes on the role of PFC
/CPL
Boyd Travers, a fictional paratrooper
in the US 82nd Airborne Division. Missions include various insertions into Italy
, northern France
, the Netherlands
and Germany
, each one beginning with a jump behind enemy lines. Airborne also features a multiplayer mode available for online play
, where users have the choice of fighting for the Allies
and parachuting down to the battlefield, or fighting for the Axis and starting on the ground, defending the position from enemy paratroopers.
The game uses a massively improved version of Unreal Engine 3
. Airborne employs a nonlinear gameplay style whereby the player can start the game anywhere in the map by directing where they land, as opposed to previous linear FPS
games where the start point and direction is already laid out, such as Allied Assault
.
The next mission is set during the push to Rome, in an abandoned archaeological dig near Rome. Objectives here include destroying radio equipment, fuel tanks, and an ammunition dump.
The third is Operation Neptune set on Utah Beach, with the player inserting behind German lines to take out key objectives to prevent them being used against the invasion force.
The fourth is Operation Market Garden, in which the player inserts into Nijmegen and must battle his way through the destroyed town, to ultimately confront a Tiger tank at Nijmegen Bridge.
The fifth is Operation Varsity, which has the player destroying various targets, including tanks, a railway gun, and an armored train inside a German muntitions factory.
The final mission, Der Flakturm, has the player landing atop a partially destroyed flak tower (flakturm). He and his men must battle their way down, encountering heavy resistance, to place demolition charges and destroy it.
Each mission is introduced by a briefing cutscene at the beginning, and another cutscene takes place inside the aircraft, preparing to jump. Notable also is that each weapon in the game (including grenades) can be upgraded by killing enemies. More points are awarded for headshots and melee kills.
And finally, instead of facing standard enemies with randomized appearances and weapons, the player faces predetermined enemy types, ranging from the Italian Blackshirt to the SS Storm Elite. Harder enemy types are encountered as the game progresses.
The single player campaign includes six missions, each mission can be easily played in under two hours for a total of about 10-12 hrs of total game play.
-based gameplay came up and as such a free-roaming environment was needed, which became the key focus of the game. Each mission starts with a jump and the developers wanted to make the experience as nonlinear as possible, with no starting points and as such the scenario unfolding in a different way each time, as opposed to previous World War II FPS games where there is a set starting and end point.
The development team even had an actual historical advisor, who is an enthusiast on the Airborne forces
and weapons of World War II
, attempting to ensure historical accuracy and authenticity. Each sound was recorded from hundreds of real WWII-era artefacts including real weapons, tanks, and one of the last remaining airworthy C-47
s.
Airborne was developed in close consultation with the Medal of Honor community, via forums and summits. Certain community leaders who run Airborne fan-sites were invited to a multiplayer preview summit in July 2007, and many problems were identified that would hamper the game's popularity within the MOH community, the most important ones being lack of a dedicated server and issues with mouse lag and low frame rate
. As a result of the summit, the most critical issues were able to be fixed in time for the game's release, and the other issues in time for the first patch
.
A single-player demo
was released on August 23, 2007, featuring the first half of Operation Husky. As of 2011, this was the last Medal of Honor title based in the WWII era.
. The game's core development was started with EA's acquired Renderware
engine, but it made the switch to the Unreal 3 engine in early 2006 which delayed the game by over a year. The engine was specifically designed for DirectX 9 and 10
PC
s, PlayStation 3
and the Xbox 360
, and supports many rendering techniques utilized within the graphics capabilities of Airborne, including HDRR
, per-pixel lighting
and dynamic shadows.
system to deal with the many ways the player can interact with or approach the computer-controlled allied and enemy soldiers (NPCs
), and for them to react to the situation accordingly. With "Affordance A.I.", the characters have an awareness of enemy approach patterns, and also features of the terrain
and urban infrastructure that provide a tactical advantage, such as cover, high ground and open doorways. This allows AI characters to take intelligent combat actions based on their surroundings, as opposed to the scripted movements of previous linear
FPS games. However, as players played through the levels, many said that the A.I began a scripted sequence of reactions; e.g., being in the same positions every time and/or using the same advantages even when the player takes the enemy on from a completely different angle. These scripted reactions left many gamers somewhat unimpressed by the supposed "Human A.I".
Airborne uses two systems to guide the physical and emotional reactions of the AI characters to what is happening around them. "E-cap" (emotion capture) is used to create more human-like emotions on the characters' faces by blend an awareness of their surroundings and other NPCs, for example an AI soldier that started to move forward would jump back for cover if an ally next to him was shot.
. An update to this patch, version 1.1ds, was released on October 30, 2007, fixing several problems with dedicated server functionality.
A second patch was released on December 13, 2007. The patch adds support for 24 players, edits various maps and adds two new ones, and balances the multiplayer weapons, bringing the total size of the patch to 1.3GB.
A third patch was released on March 7, 2008. This one adds new features and two new maps to the game and also edits various existing features. The updates' size is 1.1GB because of the 2 new maps and because all maps were edited to include Objective mode. The dedicated server released on the same time as patch 1.3 was a new build because patching the existing server is as big as a new one. It is also stated that a Linux version of the dedicated is being worked on and will be released soon.
Medal of Honor: Airborne was released July 31, 2007. It features the in-game tracks and musical scores of the game, all of which were composed by the award-winning Michael Giacchino
, who also composed scores for some of the previous Medal of Honor games, including the main theme for the whole series. The Airborne soundtrack has been said to be based on the Medal of Honor themes of the past, but "brings a dark uncertainty that communicates the ominous journey of the first US Airborne combat troops".
awarded Airborne a rating of 7.9/10, saying that "Airborne, while not perfect, is definitely the best game in the franchise to come along in quite a while". GameSpot
awarded the game 7.0/10, saying "the single-player campaign doesn't get cooking until the last two levels, but those two levels combined with solid multiplayer make it worth enlisting in Airborne." Press Start Online stated that Airborne was "a Medal of Honor game that's not only good, it demonstrates a level of imagination and innovation that's becoming increasingly rare in the genre". As of November 1, 2007, Airborne has received a GameRankings average of 78% for the PC version, 75% for the Xbox 360 versionand PS3 version.
PlayStation the Official Magazine gave it a 3.5/5, stating "Medal of Honor: Airborne is outrageously beautiful and among the best looking titles on the PS3." Most reviewers praised the music from the games that Medal of Honor, with IGN stating in particular that the title music, which was said to bring back some classic memories from Allied Assault and the starting music for Operation Market Garden for Campaign.
End user ratings were generally positive, noting the same pitfalls as reviewers (such as the miniscule campaign length). GameSpot
's user review average is a 7.7 and 6.9 on metacritic
.
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
first-person shooter
First-person shooter
First-person shooter is a video game genre that centers the gameplay on gun and projectile weapon-based combat through first-person perspective; i.e., the player experiences the action through the eyes of a protagonist. Generally speaking, the first-person shooter shares common traits with other...
computer game and the 11th installment of the Medal of Honor
Medal of Honor (series)
Medal of Honor is the name of a series of first-person shooter games set in World War II, with an October 2010 reboot based on the conflicts of present day Afghanistan. The first game was developed by DreamWorks Interactive and published by Electronic Arts in 1999 for the PlayStation game console...
series. It was developed by EA
Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts, Inc. is a major American developer, marketer, publisher and distributor of video games. Founded and incorporated on May 28, 1982 by Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer games industry and was notable for promoting the designers and programmers...
Los Angeles
EA Los Angeles
EA Los Angeles is a video game developer founded originally in 1995 as DreamWorks Interactive LLC, a subsidiary of DreamWorks SKG....
and was released worldwide on the PC
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
and Xbox 360
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
in September 2007. A PS2 and Wii version was set to be released but was cancelled in 2007. Instead, Medal of Honor: Vanguard
Medal of Honor: Vanguard
Medal of Honor: Vanguard is the tenth installment in the Medal of Honor series of World War II first-person shooters. It was developed by Electronic Arts' Los Angeles studio with Budcat Creations and released for the PlayStation 2 and Wii on March 26, 2007, in the United States.-Plot:Players take...
was released. A PlayStation 3
PlayStation 3
The is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
version was released November 2007. The game takes place in the European theater of World War II, and is the first in the series to focus only on paratrooper
Paratrooper
Paratroopers are soldiers trained in parachuting and generally operate as part of an airborne force.Paratroopers are used for tactical advantage as they can be inserted into the battlefield from the air, thereby allowing them to be positioned in areas not accessible by land...
activities.
In the single-player mode, the player takes on the role of PFC
Private First Class
Private First Class is a military rank held by junior enlisted persons.- Singapore :The rank of Private First Class in the Singapore Armed Forces lies between the ranks of Private and Lance-Corporal . It is usually held by conscript soldiers midway through their national service term...
/CPL
Corporal
Corporal is a rank in use in some form by most militaries and by some police forces or other uniformed organizations. It is usually equivalent to NATO Rank Code OR-4....
Boyd Travers, a fictional paratrooper
Paratrooper
Paratroopers are soldiers trained in parachuting and generally operate as part of an airborne force.Paratroopers are used for tactical advantage as they can be inserted into the battlefield from the air, thereby allowing them to be positioned in areas not accessible by land...
in the US 82nd Airborne Division. Missions include various insertions into Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, northern France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
and Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, each one beginning with a jump behind enemy lines. Airborne also features a multiplayer mode available for online play
Online game
An online game is a game played over some form of computer network. This almost always means the Internet or equivalent technology, but games have always used whatever technology was current: modems before the Internet, and hard wired terminals before modems...
, where users have the choice of fighting for the Allies
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
and parachuting down to the battlefield, or fighting for the Axis and starting on the ground, defending the position from enemy paratroopers.
The game uses a massively improved version of Unreal Engine 3
Unreal Engine 3
Unreal Engine 3 is a computer game engine developed by Epic Games. It is the third generation of Unreal Engine, designed for DirectX 9/10/11 personal computers , the Xbox 360, the PlayStation 3, the PlayStation Vita, the Wii U, Android and OpenGL-based operating systems such as iOS and Mac OS X...
. Airborne employs a nonlinear gameplay style whereby the player can start the game anywhere in the map by directing where they land, as opposed to previous linear FPS
First-person shooter
First-person shooter is a video game genre that centers the gameplay on gun and projectile weapon-based combat through first-person perspective; i.e., the player experiences the action through the eyes of a protagonist. Generally speaking, the first-person shooter shares common traits with other...
games where the start point and direction is already laid out, such as Allied Assault
Medal of Honor: Allied Assault
Medal of Honor: Allied Assault is a first-person shooter computer game developed by 2015, Inc. and created by Steven Spielberg. It is the 3rd installment of the Medal of Honor series...
.
Plot
The story begins with a brief training level, set in North Africa, but then takes you to the first mission: "Operation Husky", set in the Italian village of Adanti. Objectives include killing three German officers and assaulting a machine gun in the fortified Town Hall.The next mission is set during the push to Rome, in an abandoned archaeological dig near Rome. Objectives here include destroying radio equipment, fuel tanks, and an ammunition dump.
The third is Operation Neptune set on Utah Beach, with the player inserting behind German lines to take out key objectives to prevent them being used against the invasion force.
The fourth is Operation Market Garden, in which the player inserts into Nijmegen and must battle his way through the destroyed town, to ultimately confront a Tiger tank at Nijmegen Bridge.
The fifth is Operation Varsity, which has the player destroying various targets, including tanks, a railway gun, and an armored train inside a German muntitions factory.
The final mission, Der Flakturm, has the player landing atop a partially destroyed flak tower (flakturm). He and his men must battle their way down, encountering heavy resistance, to place demolition charges and destroy it.
Each mission is introduced by a briefing cutscene at the beginning, and another cutscene takes place inside the aircraft, preparing to jump. Notable also is that each weapon in the game (including grenades) can be upgraded by killing enemies. More points are awarded for headshots and melee kills.
And finally, instead of facing standard enemies with randomized appearances and weapons, the player faces predetermined enemy types, ranging from the Italian Blackshirt to the SS Storm Elite. Harder enemy types are encountered as the game progresses.
The single player campaign includes six missions, each mission can be easily played in under two hours for a total of about 10-12 hrs of total game play.
Development
Development of Airborne started in late 2004 when the game designers wanted a new game that would "really revolutionize the Medal of Honor scene". The idea of a paratrooperParatrooper
Paratroopers are soldiers trained in parachuting and generally operate as part of an airborne force.Paratroopers are used for tactical advantage as they can be inserted into the battlefield from the air, thereby allowing them to be positioned in areas not accessible by land...
-based gameplay came up and as such a free-roaming environment was needed, which became the key focus of the game. Each mission starts with a jump and the developers wanted to make the experience as nonlinear as possible, with no starting points and as such the scenario unfolding in a different way each time, as opposed to previous World War II FPS games where there is a set starting and end point.
The development team even had an actual historical advisor, who is an enthusiast on the Airborne forces
Airborne forces
Airborne forces are military units, usually light infantry, set up to be moved by aircraft and 'dropped' into battle. Thus they can be placed behind enemy lines, and have an ability to deploy almost anywhere with little warning...
and weapons of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, attempting to ensure historical accuracy and authenticity. Each sound was recorded from hundreds of real WWII-era artefacts including real weapons, tanks, and one of the last remaining airworthy C-47
C-47 Skytrain
The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota is a military transport aircraft that was developed from the Douglas DC-3 airliner. It was used extensively by the Allies during World War II and remained in front line operations through the 1950s with a few remaining in operation to this day.-Design and...
s.
Frame rate
Frame rate is the frequency at which an imaging device produces unique consecutive images called frames. The term applies equally well to computer graphics, video cameras, film cameras, and motion capture systems...
. As a result of the summit, the most critical issues were able to be fixed in time for the game's release, and the other issues in time for the first patch
Patch (computing)
A patch is a piece of software designed to fix problems with, or update a computer program or its supporting data. This includes fixing security vulnerabilities and other bugs, and improving the usability or performance...
.
A single-player demo
Game demo
A game demo is a freely distributed demonstration or preview of an upcoming or recently released video game. Demos are typically released by the game's publisher to help consumers get a feel of the game before deciding whether to buy the full version....
was released on August 23, 2007, featuring the first half of Operation Husky. As of 2011, this was the last Medal of Honor title based in the WWII era.
Game engine
Airborne uses a heavily modified Unreal 3 engineGame engine
A game engine is a system designed for the creation and development of video games. There are many game engines that are designed to work on video game consoles and personal computers...
. The game's core development was started with EA's acquired Renderware
RenderWare
RenderWare is a computer and video game middleware from British games developer Criterion Software.-Overview:RenderWare is a 3D API and graphics rendering engine used in video games, Active Worlds, and some VRML browsers...
engine, but it made the switch to the Unreal 3 engine in early 2006 which delayed the game by over a year. The engine was specifically designed for DirectX 9 and 10
DirectX
Microsoft DirectX is a collection of application programming interfaces for handling tasks related to multimedia, especially game programming and video, on Microsoft platforms. Originally, the names of these APIs all began with Direct, such as Direct3D, DirectDraw, DirectMusic, DirectPlay,...
PC
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
s, PlayStation 3
PlayStation 3
The is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
and the Xbox 360
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
, and supports many rendering techniques utilized within the graphics capabilities of Airborne, including HDRR
High dynamic range rendering
In 3D computer graphics, high dynamic range rendering , also known as high dynamic range lighting, is the rendering of computer graphics scenes by using lighting calculations done in a larger dynamic range. This allows preservation of details that may be lost due to limiting contrast ratios...
, per-pixel lighting
Per-pixel lighting
In computer graphics, per-pixel lighting is commonly used to refer to a set of methods for computing illumination at each rendered pixel of an image...
and dynamic shadows.
AI awareness
Because of the non-linear gameplay style of Airborne, the developers had to build an entirely new artificial intelligenceArtificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
system to deal with the many ways the player can interact with or approach the computer-controlled allied and enemy soldiers (NPCs
Non-player character
A non-player character , sometimes known as a non-person character or non-playable character, in a game is any fictional character not controlled by a player. In electronic games, this usually means a character controlled by the computer through artificial intelligence...
), and for them to react to the situation accordingly. With "Affordance A.I.", the characters have an awareness of enemy approach patterns, and also features of the terrain
Terrain
Terrain, or land relief, is the vertical and horizontal dimension of land surface. When relief is described underwater, the term bathymetry is used...
and urban infrastructure that provide a tactical advantage, such as cover, high ground and open doorways. This allows AI characters to take intelligent combat actions based on their surroundings, as opposed to the scripted movements of previous linear
Linear
In mathematics, a linear map or function f is a function which satisfies the following two properties:* Additivity : f = f + f...
FPS games. However, as players played through the levels, many said that the A.I began a scripted sequence of reactions; e.g., being in the same positions every time and/or using the same advantages even when the player takes the enemy on from a completely different angle. These scripted reactions left many gamers somewhat unimpressed by the supposed "Human A.I".
Airborne uses two systems to guide the physical and emotional reactions of the AI characters to what is happening around them. "E-cap" (emotion capture) is used to create more human-like emotions on the characters' faces by blend an awareness of their surroundings and other NPCs, for example an AI soldier that started to move forward would jump back for cover if an ally next to him was shot.
Patches
A version 1.1 patch was released by EA on October 5, 2007. This patch enables players to join dedicated servers, as well as fixing various gameplay and multiplayer issues such as the damage dealt by anti-tank weapons such as the PanzerschreckPanzerschreck
Panzerschreck was the popular name for the Raketenpanzerbüchse , an 88 mm calibre reusable anti-tank rocket launcher developed by Nazi Germany in World War II. Another popular nickname was Ofenrohr ....
. An update to this patch, version 1.1ds, was released on October 30, 2007, fixing several problems with dedicated server functionality.
A second patch was released on December 13, 2007. The patch adds support for 24 players, edits various maps and adds two new ones, and balances the multiplayer weapons, bringing the total size of the patch to 1.3GB.
A third patch was released on March 7, 2008. This one adds new features and two new maps to the game and also edits various existing features. The updates' size is 1.1GB because of the 2 new maps and because all maps were edited to include Objective mode. The dedicated server released on the same time as patch 1.3 was a new build because patching the existing server is as big as a new one. It is also stated that a Linux version of the dedicated is being worked on and will be released soon.
Audio
Michael Giacchino
Michael Giacchino is an American composer who has composed scores for movies, television series and video games. Some of his most notable works include the scores to television series such as Lost, Alias and Fringe, games such as the Medal of Honor and Call of Duty series, and films such as...
, who also composed scores for some of the previous Medal of Honor games, including the main theme for the whole series. The Airborne soundtrack has been said to be based on the Medal of Honor themes of the past, but "brings a dark uncertainty that communicates the ominous journey of the first US Airborne combat troops".
Reception
Upon reviewing the game, IGNIGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
awarded Airborne a rating of 7.9/10, saying that "Airborne, while not perfect, is definitely the best game in the franchise to come along in quite a while". GameSpot
GameSpot
GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
awarded the game 7.0/10, saying "the single-player campaign doesn't get cooking until the last two levels, but those two levels combined with solid multiplayer make it worth enlisting in Airborne." Press Start Online stated that Airborne was "a Medal of Honor game that's not only good, it demonstrates a level of imagination and innovation that's becoming increasingly rare in the genre". As of November 1, 2007, Airborne has received a GameRankings average of 78% for the PC version, 75% for the Xbox 360 versionand PS3 version.
PlayStation the Official Magazine gave it a 3.5/5, stating "Medal of Honor: Airborne is outrageously beautiful and among the best looking titles on the PS3." Most reviewers praised the music from the games that Medal of Honor, with IGN stating in particular that the title music, which was said to bring back some classic memories from Allied Assault and the starting music for Operation Market Garden for Campaign.
End user ratings were generally positive, noting the same pitfalls as reviewers (such as the miniscule campaign length). GameSpot
GameSpot
GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
's user review average is a 7.7 and 6.9 on metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
.
External links
- Official Website at EA.comElectronic ArtsElectronic Arts, Inc. is a major American developer, marketer, publisher and distributor of video games. Founded and incorporated on May 28, 1982 by Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer games industry and was notable for promoting the designers and programmers...