Medal of Honor: Underground
Encyclopedia
Medal of Honor: Underground is a videogame that is the prequel to the World War II
hit Medal of Honor
. In Underground, the player takes the role of Manon Batiste (Based on Helene Deschamps Adams
), a French
woman who appeared in the first game as an advisor. The plot of the game begins before the original Medal of Honor, when Manon fights for the French Resistance
before America entered the war. As the plot progresses, Manon is recruited to the OSS
and takes on covert missions in occupied Europe
and Africa
. Missions include the sabotage of a V-1 flying bomb
factory and rescuing prisoners of war. Levels include, occupied Greece
, North Africa
, Monte Cassino
and Germany
. The first and last levels are set in Paris
, at the beginning and end of the Nazi
occupation.
Medal of Honor: Underground was initially released for the PlayStation video game console on October 23, 2000. In 2002, the game was re-released in Europe as part of the compilation Medal of Honor / Medal of Honor: Underground. It later was re-released a second time on the North American PlayStation Network for the PlayStation 3
and PlayStation Portable
as a 474 MB file for $5.99 on June 11, 2009. It was developed by DreamWorks Interactive
(currently known as EA Los Angeles) and was published by Electronic Arts
. The game is known as Medal of Honor: Resistance in France. Prima
released a strategy guide for the game in 2000 featuring the same cover art as the original PlayStation release.
, Manon is a "young member of the French Resistance introduced as Jimmy Patterson's 'control' in the original Medal of Honor. Set prior to the start of the original Medal of Honor game, Underground follows Manon's journey from a naive member of one of France's first resistance movements to that of a seasoned veteran recruited by the OSS who ultimately becomes a key figure in the Allied invasion at Normandy." The "final mission" has Manon return to Paris to assist in its liberation from German occupation.
, a real life member of the OSS
, the forerunner of CIA
.
Michael Giacchino
explains that for "Manon, I wanted a theme that could convey one emotion at a particular moment, and then a completely different emotion the next without having to rely on two completely different themes. As a result, Manon's two main themes are very similar and yet very different. One version of the theme stays the course in a major tone, conveying a feel of great national purpose against the Nazi menace, and the secondary theme dips into a minor 6th chord which describes Manon's more intimate and emotional feelings as an individual and a woman who is pitted against the fascist war machine. Both of these themes are bookended with what liner notes author Paul Tonks has aptly named 'the resolve theme'.
This theme was meant to represent the moments where Manon is called upon to steel her nerves and gather the courage to continue on with the fight....Manon travels to places that are not quite so militaristic as Jimmy Patterson. Her journey was a bit more 'scenic'." Critic Ian Lace said of her theme: "One has to suppose that the main character of this new game, Manon, inspired by the exploits of Hélène Déschamps is French. Michael Giacchino has created a theme for her that in its first few notes irresistibly makes me want to anticipate the old pop song, 'Arrivederci Roma' which I found disconcerting because she is French and so much of the action, particularly at the beginning and end, takes place in Paris."
Producer Scott Langteau offers that "Underground had an entirely different feel than the original MOH, and yet the gameplay was entirely familiar. That's what we tried to do, anyway. In Underground, it was personal. The game's front end was gritty and less militarily organized; it was rustic and roughly hewn. The same can be said for the game. Manon used petrol bombs and also used her femininity to gain access to restricted areas. We used the freedom of telling her backstory- she was in the French Resistance, then joined the OSS-to give the game its own flair and widely varied missions that took us all over Europe: Greece, Italy, etc."
game released on November 25, 2002. It is a first-person shooter
based on the PlayStation version. The game was developed by Rebellion Developments
and published by Destination Software
. Underground for the GBA features up to 4 players using the Game Boy link cable and lex levels. The game is played in a three dimensional environment. The game's objectives usually revolve around finding certain papers. There is no save system however, each level has a code to play again in the future which can be viewed by pausing the game.
praises the gamemakers for taking "a character from the original game named Manon Batiste and" placing "her in the lead role so that her full story can be told. This setting is a welcome change, as Underground provides a meaningful historical context that's rare in most video games today." William Abner similarly describes the game as "a refreshing change of pace because you played Manon Batiste, a woman enlisted in the French Resistance." RealPoor ranks her among the 12 Best Female Characters in Video Games, declaring that we "know Manon as a French resistance woman who appeared as an advisor in the first MoH game. In the sequel for PlayStation called Medal of Honor: Underground, she is the main character who takes on covert missions in occupied Europe and Africa."
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...
hit Medal of Honor
Medal of Honor (video game)
Medal of Honor is the first title in the long-running Medal of Honor series of video games. It was released for the PlayStation in November 1999...
. In Underground, the player takes the role of Manon Batiste (Based on Helene Deschamps Adams
Hélène Deschamps Adams
Hélène Marguerite Deschamps Adams was a real life member of the OSS, the forerunner of CIA.-Early life:...
), a French
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...
woman who appeared in the first game as an advisor. The plot of the game begins before the original Medal of Honor, when Manon fights for the French Resistance
French Resistance
The French Resistance is the name used to denote the collection of French resistance movements that fought against the Nazi German occupation of France and against the collaborationist Vichy régime during World War II...
before America entered the war. As the plot progresses, Manon is recruited to the OSS
Office of Strategic Services
The Office of Strategic Services was a United States intelligence agency formed during World War II. It was the wartime intelligence agency, and it was a predecessor of the Central Intelligence Agency...
and takes on covert missions in occupied Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
. Missions include the sabotage of a V-1 flying bomb
V-1 flying bomb
The V-1 flying bomb, also known as the Buzz Bomb or Doodlebug, was an early pulse-jet-powered predecessor of the cruise missile....
factory and rescuing prisoners of war. Levels include, occupied Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
, North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
, Monte Cassino
Monte Cassino
Monte Cassino is a rocky hill about southeast of Rome, Italy, c. to the west of the town of Cassino and altitude. St. Benedict of Nursia established his first monastery, the source of the Benedictine Order, here around 529. It was the site of Battle of Monte Cassino in 1944...
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...
. The first and last levels are set in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, at the beginning and end of the Nazi
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
occupation.
Medal of Honor: Underground was initially released for the PlayStation video game console on October 23, 2000. In 2002, the game was re-released in Europe as part of the compilation Medal of Honor / Medal of Honor: Underground. It later was re-released a second time on the North American PlayStation Network for the 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 PlayStation Portable
PlayStation Portable
The is a handheld game console manufactured and marketed by Sony Corporation Development of the console was announced during E3 2003, and it was unveiled on , 2004, at a Sony press conference before E3 2004...
as a 474 MB file for $5.99 on June 11, 2009. It was developed by DreamWorks Interactive
EA Los Angeles
EA Los Angeles is a video game developer founded originally in 1995 as DreamWorks Interactive LLC, a subsidiary of DreamWorks SKG....
(currently known as EA Los Angeles) and was published by Electronic Arts
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...
. The game is known as Medal of Honor: Resistance in France. Prima
Prima
Prima may refer to:*Prima , a human rights news agency in Moscow*Prima , a locomotive type by Alstom*Prima , an Autobot leader in Transformers*Prima TV, a Romanian television channel...
released a strategy guide for the game in 2000 featuring the same cover art as the original PlayStation release.
Gameplay
After completing the game, the player can play a non-canon bonus level, named "Panzerknacker Unleashed", in which the player plays as Lt. Jimmy Patterson, who has been sent to a castle after the Allied Forces received a distress signal from there. Many strange enemies are fought at the castle, including dancing dogs which are armed with machine guns and drive half-tracks, knights carrying battle axes, rotten zombified soldiers and several large nutcrackers, called Panzerknacker. The objective of all of the three missions available in this level is to build your own Panzerknacker, who assists you in the final mission.Plot
Patrick Klepek explains how "Gamers who played Medal of Honor will remember Manon, part of the French Resistance, who was an enormous help toward his efforts. Still set in the era of World War II, the year is 1940 and the German armies have overrun Manon's town. Attempting to survive with her brother and the few people still around in her town, Manon's best companion, her brother, is tragically killed during a routine raid to retrieve weapon supplies. Manon then sets out to meet up with her brother's contacts in order to fight against the Nazis. It will take all her strength and perseverance in order to move up the ranks in the OSS so that she can head back home and help in the liberation of her nation." According to GameProGamePro
GamePro Media was a United States gaming media company publishing online and print content on the video game industry, video game hardware, and video game software developed for a video game console , a computer, and/or a mobile device . GamePro Media properties include GamePro magazine and...
, Manon is a "young member of the French Resistance introduced as Jimmy Patterson's 'control' in the original Medal of Honor. Set prior to the start of the original Medal of Honor game, Underground follows Manon's journey from a naive member of one of France's first resistance movements to that of a seasoned veteran recruited by the OSS who ultimately becomes a key figure in the Allied invasion at Normandy." The "final mission" has Manon return to Paris to assist in its liberation from German occupation.
Development
Main character Manon Batiste is based on Hélène Deschamps AdamsHélène Deschamps Adams
Hélène Marguerite Deschamps Adams was a real life member of the OSS, the forerunner of CIA.-Early life:...
, a real life member of the OSS
Office of Strategic Services
The Office of Strategic Services was a United States intelligence agency formed during World War II. It was the wartime intelligence agency, and it was a predecessor of the Central Intelligence Agency...
, the forerunner of CIA
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
.
Michael Giacchino
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...
explains that for "Manon, I wanted a theme that could convey one emotion at a particular moment, and then a completely different emotion the next without having to rely on two completely different themes. As a result, Manon's two main themes are very similar and yet very different. One version of the theme stays the course in a major tone, conveying a feel of great national purpose against the Nazi menace, and the secondary theme dips into a minor 6th chord which describes Manon's more intimate and emotional feelings as an individual and a woman who is pitted against the fascist war machine. Both of these themes are bookended with what liner notes author Paul Tonks has aptly named 'the resolve theme'.
This theme was meant to represent the moments where Manon is called upon to steel her nerves and gather the courage to continue on with the fight....Manon travels to places that are not quite so militaristic as Jimmy Patterson. Her journey was a bit more 'scenic'." Critic Ian Lace said of her theme: "One has to suppose that the main character of this new game, Manon, inspired by the exploits of Hélène Déschamps is French. Michael Giacchino has created a theme for her that in its first few notes irresistibly makes me want to anticipate the old pop song, 'Arrivederci Roma' which I found disconcerting because she is French and so much of the action, particularly at the beginning and end, takes place in Paris."
Producer Scott Langteau offers that "Underground had an entirely different feel than the original MOH, and yet the gameplay was entirely familiar. That's what we tried to do, anyway. In Underground, it was personal. The game's front end was gritty and less militarily organized; it was rustic and roughly hewn. The same can be said for the game. Manon used petrol bombs and also used her femininity to gain access to restricted areas. We used the freedom of telling her backstory- she was in the French Resistance, then joined the OSS-to give the game its own flair and widely varied missions that took us all over Europe: Greece, Italy, etc."
Game Boy Advance version
Medal of Honor: Underground is also a Game Boy AdvanceGame Boy Advance
The is a 32-bit handheld video game console developed, manufactured, and marketed by Nintendo. It is the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001; in North America on June 11, 2001; in Australia and Europe on June 22, 2001; and in the People's Republic of China...
game released on November 25, 2002. It is a 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...
based on the PlayStation version. The game was developed by Rebellion Developments
Rebellion Developments
Rebellion is a British computer games company, based in Oxford, who are most famous for the first Aliens vs. Predator computer game. It has published comic books since 2000 and launched its own book imprint, Abaddon Books, in 2006.-History:...
and published by Destination Software
Destination Software
Destination Software, Inc. was a developer and publisher of interactive entertainment software. The company is currently developing products for Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, Wii, PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system and PSP portable entertainment system. Headquartered in Sewell, N.J.,...
. Underground for the GBA features up to 4 players using the Game Boy link cable and lex levels. The game is played in a three dimensional environment. The game's objectives usually revolve around finding certain papers. There is no save system however, each level has a code to play again in the future which can be viewed by pausing the game.
Reception
GameSpotGameSpot
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...
praises the gamemakers for taking "a character from the original game named Manon Batiste and" placing "her in the lead role so that her full story can be told. This setting is a welcome change, as Underground provides a meaningful historical context that's rare in most video games today." William Abner similarly describes the game as "a refreshing change of pace because you played Manon Batiste, a woman enlisted in the French Resistance." RealPoor ranks her among the 12 Best Female Characters in Video Games, declaring that we "know Manon as a French resistance woman who appeared as an advisor in the first MoH game. In the sequel for PlayStation called Medal of Honor: Underground, she is the main character who takes on covert missions in occupied Europe and Africa."