Ever since EA announced a reboot of the Medal of Honor-series, I’ve been eagerly anticipating its release. And while we’re a few months away from actually playing the final code of the game, EA and DICE have given a select group of people the opportunity to have a taste of the game’s multiplayer mode.
This past few days, after having dealt with the incredibly painful and awkward Betakey Redemption-process, I’ve encountered more bugs and glitches than I ever had before in a Beta. Granted, it’s still alpha-code, but after my PS3 froze six times in a row while getting a Scorechain, I got a bit irritated. But here’s the thing; I didn’t feel like giving up. I wanted to go on. The game is very fun to play, even in its current state, with all the bugs and glitches. And I guess that means something.
“But what’s this Scorechain you just mentioned?”, you might ask. Well, EA always said they wanted Medal of Honor to be a direct competitor to Activision’s multimillion-selling Call of Duty/Modern Warfare series, and in the process of developing this game, they’ve been paying very close attention to it. Like in Modern Warfare 2, you get points for killing people which will then initiate a ‘chain’. If the score gets high enough, you’ll receive a reward that can be used to your advantage.
The great thing about the system that Medal of Honor utilizes though, is that you fill the Scorechain not only with killpoints, but also with assist-kills and defensive points. This way, the game is much more balanced and doesn’t turn into one big campfest, which is often the case in Modern Warfare 2. 
Everytime you receive such an item for initiating a Scorechain, you can choose between an offensive and a defensive action, such as a Mortar Strike or a UAV. Using the UAV will not get you kills, but you will receive XP for it and at the same time you’ll be helping out your buddies, as the UAV’s data will not only be transferred to you, but to every player in your team.
In Medal of Honor’s Multiplayer-mode, there are three classes to choose from, which you can level up seperately: The Rifleman, The Specialist and The Sniper. As you progress and score points/XP, you unlock stuff to use in your kit, such as new weapons, new sights, extra ammunition and so on. In the current build, there aren’t many things to unlock yet, though I expect the full game to feature much more content.
In the Beta, there are two gametypes to choose from: ‘Team Assault’ and ‘Mission’. ‘Team Assault’ is basically Team Deathmatch, so I can’t really tell you anything interesting about it. The pacing is great though, and the available map is well designed and offers some nice vertical gameplay. ‘Mission’ features more diversity though and is much like Battlefield: Bad Company 2’s ‘Rush’ mode. One team attacks, while the other team defends. There are several objectives to complete, such as planting explosives and taking control of a checkpoint, but because the map is much smaller than the maps found in BF:BC2, there isn’t much room for flanking, which doesn’t leave much surprise for the defending team.
While you can respawn instantly in the Team Assault-mode, you have to wait a few seconds before you can enter the battle again in the Mission-mode. You can choose to respawn in the back, out of harm’s way, or at the front, near your teammates. This quickly becomes frustrating for the defending team though, because it’s rather unbalanced. In BF:BC2, for instance, you can only spawn near one of your squadmates, if he or she is alive. Otherwise, you’ve got to walk, fly or drive all the way back, which gives the defending team some time to breath.
But in Medal of Honor’s Mission-mode, you can spawn with any of your teammates. And as there’s always someone alive that’s near the target, the defending team has a hard time keeping up. This is a serious design-flaw and something DICE really needs to look into.
So, while you’re ranking up, all of your collected points/XP go into your ‘main score’. In Medal of Honor, this is called your ‘skill level’. I don’t know why, because just killing other players doesn’t really come down to skill if you ask me. It would be nice to see a true representation of ‘skill level’ in a game for once. Next to the main ‘level up’-module (which is just based on your total playtime and the total score you’ve obtained) that we’ve all become so familiair with, it would be great to have another icon/title attached to your player card which is based on things like accuracy and Kill/Death-ratio. But hey, things can still change. And I really hope they do, to be honest.
If you’ve played Battlefield: Bad Company 2 recently, or every other game made by DICE for that matter, some things feel very familiair. And that’s one of the main gripes I have with this game. It looks and plays a lot like BF:BC2. Sure, there’s much less destruction going on, the maps are smaller, the gameplay is quicker, the controls are changed (it’s basically exactly the same as Modern Warfare 2’s control-scheme) and the weapons handle differently. But at the same time it’s more of the same. So why would you buy Medal of Honor? For the singleplayer? Perhaps. But is it worth the money for its Multiplayer?
I personally think it’s too early to tell, especially considering that the code I’ve been playing is far from finished and already dated. The build DICE had up and running during E3 didn’t suffer from random freezes, had far less bugs and allowed people to pick up the weapons from killed players. Something that can’t be done in the build I’ve been playing. This only proves how quick things can change and how much work still needs to be done. And eventhough there were many things that didn’t work, or didn’t work the way I’d like them to work, I still had lots of fun playing the Beta. And it’ll only get better, as DICE will be releasing a patch soon to fix the random freezes.
Eager to try out the Beta yourself? The Beta is available when you pre-order Medal of Honor. Beta Redemption Keys are available at participating retailers as a reward for pre-ordering the game. Once you have a Beta Redemption Key, just go here to redeem it for a code for the platform of your choice. When you’re in, be sure to hit me up at PSN (PSN ID: Caemgen)!
This is a guest article written by reader Kevin Middelbos. His views may not represent those of TheSixthAxis.
Shakugan
I don’t have BFBC2, so it looks like i might get it. By the way MoH beta freezes PS3 ;[
Marfje123
Is there any other way than pre-ordering on getting it? I don’t have a credit card, i’m 17.. just 1 year too young O.o and all retailers that participate in this ask for CC’s.
Was looking forward to getting it but seeing as i had bfbc2 on my Xbox360 and sold the console, this is bad news lol.
zide
If you have a old BF:BC2 -beta-key or Command and Conquer 4 beta key, they work also. Just head up to http://www.medalofhonor.com/beta and type in your code.
Bilbo_bobbins
really? old BFBC2 code works? Have to try that tonight then. Cheers for that
Marfje123
Thanks for the response, i typed in my VIP code, but it said already used. i have the sheet right next to me here.. what can i do? :(
DuffyBox
@Marfje123 A beta key, not a VIP code.
bioniczain
If u liv in England at my local game when u pre order u pay on the day so thats how I got the beta and didn’t hav to pay ;)
Marfje123
BFBC2 beta keys were 12 digit long, not 16…
scubastevie
is there no other way to get into the beta since the nearest store to me that i could get a code from is about half an hour drive away :(
MrSpeedyGonzales
If you go on Game.co.uk you can pre-order it there and they email you a beta code.
teflon
I think it’s absolutely shocking that some of these crash bugs got through. How on earth can their testers not have spotted that you crash when getting a score chain, or sometimes just when you kill someone?
I mean, they’re the two most obvious crashes I’ve ever seen.
I know this is a beta, but even in a beta, this kind of crash bug should be the first thing that’s patched out in the first 10 beta builds.
Caemgen
I agree. This is possibly the worst Beta I’ve ever played when it comes to bugs and glitches.
Another weird thing is that the Voice Chat (VoIP) was turnedd OFF by default. Spoke to a DICE dev about this though, and it will be turned on with the next patch.
Bilbo_bobbins
when is the next patch?
Caemgen
I don’t know for sure, but I guess it’ll be up soon, as the Beta will be playable for EVERYONE that pre-ordered starting today… and I’m sure they don’t want to leave such a large croud with a bad taste in their mouths.
DuffyBox
Maybe the testers just weren’t good enough to get any kills? :)
Bilbo_bobbins
sounds pretty interesting, the vids look good from E3 I think. Didn’t realise you could get the beta from pre-order so I have just done it :)
Moakesice
I dont have my code yet :( but do want to play this
gurglesletch
Same here but i might have to wait a few days because i pre-ordered it yesterday.
gurglesletch
I got it today =)
MrSpeedyGonzales
I was playing the beta yesterday and I thought it was really good fun, I agree with everyone about the glitches they are very annoying.
One thing I did find very odd was that even though skill level has nothing to do with skill I couldn’t join a fried because they had a higher skill level than me!?
Caemgen
Yeah, that’s another issue I’m having with this game. I forgot to mention it in my preview though.
This is not a smart move from DICE, though I appreciate that they want players to battle against people that have similar skill when joining a ranked game, it shouldn’t limit the social side of the game.
The moment people can’t play with their friends whenever they feel like it, they will just stop playing and turn to other games, where they CAN join their friends regardless of skill-level. I know I would.
ScottW-1976
If they have any sense they’ll offer both options so people can make the choice.
The problem with games that are based on playing against people of similar rank is that some a******s will always have an account they use so that they can run around killing noobs.
benny boy
Would you say it feels more like BF:BC2 or MW2 when you are playing it?
Caemgen
It’s somewhere in the middle.
Bilbo_bobbins
that sounds good, but if it’s not close to one or the other it could fall flat on it’s face and not make anyone happy. I doubt many hardcore MW fans would like it if it’s in the middle as it’ wont be twitchy.
ScottW-1976
I’m hoping for a combination of the best bits/ideas from both games brought together.
TBH MOH is always going to have a job on its hands winning over the hardcore COD:MW fans as it isn’t COD:MW!, they’re a pretty obsessive bunch (I know a few).
iAvernus
Seeing the trailer and some gameplay, I would say it has a little of both. I’m MW2 all the way, but when this comes out, I’ll be playing this ALL the time. I’m tired of all the camping, the name calling, the OMA noobtubing. I can’t wait for this. Wish I could pre order it though…my shit country gets new games months after it’s released. Imagine I just got Red Dead Redemption last week! =(
minerwilly
Im firmly in the Battlefield camp since 1942 and dint mind the odd little bit of CoD (the first 2 single player campaigns on PC where sensational) .
The moment I heard DICE where involved I was interested and got straight on the beta on Saturday afternoon ,I have to say I have been enjoying it a lot when its not freezing up the PS3 and I can see this being a big hit and i totally agree that it sits in right between CoD and BF and this is no bad thing . Its certainly a tenfold increase in terms of the multiplayer from the last MoH . I think EA have a hit in the making here .
Mick939
Mine constantly craves thus I’ve given up
Winkle
Can you go prone in this game? As BFBC2 didn’t allow that.
Shakugan
Nopes :(