Medal of Honor: European Assault

A Time for Heroes. A Time for Honor

NA release: 7th June 2005
EU release: 17th June 2005
JP release: 11th August 2005
Developer: EA Los Angeles
Publisher: EA Games
NGC Magazine Score: 62%
Mods Used: Widescreen Code

I thought I knew exactly what to expect from Medal of Honor: it starts with a flashy level that uses a well known battle as a set piece, followed by lots of linear levels. But that’s not what happened in this one. The first level is actually quite small, you rescue a soldier then retreat back to your ship. The second level sets the time for the rest of the game.

The levels in European Assault feel much wider, and there seem to be more ways to approach enemies, thanks to the added space to flank. You command a squad who are handy cannon fodder – useful for sending into oncoming fire while you go round and kill the enemy (they’re not very smart so trying to do anything clever will have them running into things). There are also plenty of objectives.

To complete a mission, you typically only have to complete one or two objectives, however there are usually four or five extra ones throughout, some are people round have to save or objects you have to destroy along the way, while others are off to the side. In one early level, there’s a dock area and a submarine to sink that’s not part of the main route.

So while the main objective is still a fairly linear route, the wider areas and side missions make it feel far less so. The enemy AI is just as bad as your allies at time, which was an issue in a level where I had to defend an area and destroy tanks as one had fallen into a ditch, and dealing with tanks is already an issue due to a severe lack of ammo.

There’s a few sections in the game where you just have or kill respawning enemies over and over until you have enough explosives. It’s lucky, then, that it’s easy to spot weapons and grenades due to classic video style icons above where they are. All in all, this has a much more video gamey feel as opposed to cinematic, and it’s so much more enjoyable due to that.

Fun

It has been almost two years since Rising Sun sank, and while other WW2 FPS’s have moved forward with the speed of the blitzkrieg, MOH: EA’s promised features are underdeveloped, underused and underwhelming.
Alex Cooke, NGC Magazine #109

Remake or remaster?

A collection would be great.

Official Ways to get the game

There’s no official way to buy Medal of Honor: European Assault