Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault Review

The Pacific Campaign in World War II was a difficult, dangerous and tough job. Japan, in a few short months, took thousands of miles of sea and land in swift bloody campaigns. The combat soldiers in this theatre fought some of the most intense and difficult in history. The island assaults were combat at its most raw and personal, soldiers fighting and killing, only a few yards (or meters if you like) apart, and often hand to hand. Such an in your face war was made for a first person shooter, and with MoH, Pacific assault, that is exactly what you get.

The game is set up as a series of missions, that you must fight your way through. You play as Tommy Conlin, a young marine who is bred for combat, and you will get plenty of it. As Conlin, you, and your combat squad, will take on the Japanese army in a no holds barred fight to the finish. Of course, you won't go in bare handed, you will weild an M1911 pistol, the famous Thompson sub machine gun, the standard Garand M1 rifle, and many other weapons, but your best weapon is your awareness and reaction to the seemingly endless attackers who appear, often almost out of nowhere.

Since this game is meant to simulate the WWII experience, the campaign covers the war from Gaudalcanal through Okinawa. Each campaign plays a little differently, as the islands look different, and your uniform and equipment also change as the war progresses, so it adds variety. The terrain maps are quite beautiful to look at, but make it difficult to spot the Japanese at times. You will have to find and kill them though, no matter where they hide, either in bunkers, caves, or in the jungle.

Staying alive is, of course, your primary objective, and regaining health is handled a little differently in this game. Instead of the norm, finding power-ups of one sort or another, the only way to recover in this game is to have a corpsman work on you. The medics will fix you up, and you heal between campaign battles, but that is it, so avoid taking to much damage, or you will earn that six feet at Arlington.

As the campaign progresses, it will, of course, become progressively harder. The Japanese will use airpower, as well as gun emplacements, artillery, and other nasty surprises to kill off you and your squad. Staying alive, and fighting effectively are quite a challenge. The game designers did allow saving at any point, so if you feel like its getting to hot, make sure to save, just in case. Of course, a true combat vet would never resort to such tricks, but a good gamer might!

The game is well layed out, your health, ammo, weapon and other equipment are all displayed, but they don't get in the way of combat. The visuals of the game are outstanding, and the game offers some optional campaigns, where you can earn medals and other ranks, as well as test out some other combat techniques. The play of the game is standard FPS, with some slight terrain variation. The AI is aggressive, and your allies will actually help you in battle, which is always welcome. The game also includes multi player, and this can be quite interesting, or it could get you killed.

As sequels go, MoH Pacific assault is quite good, it has everything one would expect from WWII combat. Tense missions, difficult enemies, and effective weapons, all that is missing is you, to control your marine in the crucible of combat. If you like shooters, by all means, pick this one up, the Corps is always looking for a few good men.