Medal of Honor Underground (Game Boy Advance)

CNET editors' rating: 2.5 stars OK
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Overall score: 5.5 (2.5 stars)
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Product summary

Gamespot editors' review

• Reviewed by: Frank Provo
• Reviewed on: 02/03/2003
• Released on: 12/02/2002

The Medal of Honor franchise has a rich pedigree on the Sony PlayStation and PlayStation 2 consoles. Medal of Honor: Underground was the second game in the series, but it is the first to be released for the Game Boy Advance. The story takes place during World War II and drops you into the role of Manon Batiste, a female member of the French resistance. The game itself is a first-person shooter, similar to Doom or Wolfenstein 3D, where you complete missions by killing enemy soldiers and retrieving important documents. Unfortunately, while the overall design is stellar, the graphics are so poor that they diminish all aspects of the game.

Not one of the game's prettier moments. Not the worst either.

You can't see where you're going or what you're shooting at. The texture-mapped surfaces that make up the environments are blocky and have a habit of blending together, partly from a lack of color diversity and partly because the scenery often bends and warps as you move around. Since the scenery is heavily pixilated and full of visual noise, it's difficult to see enemy soldiers before they're on top of you. It doesn't help matters any that the character models are relatively small. The last major complaint about the visuals is the game's sluggish frame rate. If you have enemies behind you, it is impossible to turn and attack them before they've fired at least two or three times. The choppiness of the animation along with the warping scenery also may frequently induce feelings of motion sickness.

It's a shame that the topsy-turvy graphics make Medal of Honor: Underground so difficult to play, because it otherwise has so much going for it. Each of the eight missions is split into three or four acts. The orders you receive before each mission offer hints as to how to complete your objectives as well as an authentic recounting of the war and the many atrocities committed by the Third Reich. Not all of the objectives involve mindless killing, which is a refreshing change from most first-person shooters. A fair number of objectives involve escorting resistance members or stealing military secrets. On many occasions, you have access to a camera that allows you to pose as a propaganda journalist. If a soldier becomes suspicious, you can snap a photograph to get him off your back. In some areas, there are far too many soldiers to risk a shoot-out, so the camera allows you to seek cover and mount an attack in relative safety. The different goals within each mission really help keep the game fresh.

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