If you look back at those last few paragraphs describing the Pearl Harbor missions, you'll notice nothing about picking up a gun and shooting things. That's because, at least for those first few missions, you don't. Sure, you shoot from your boat, you shoot with the anti-aircraft gun, you use an axe as a melee weapon to bust down doors inside the sinking ship, but that's it. There's obviously a lot of shooting in later missions, but it's an interesting observation; we're seeing signs that MOH:PA will be more than "walk down hallway; shoot bad guy; repeat," which is encouraging. Obviously, we're looking forward to some good run-and-gun, but we're also hoping that variety will stay constant throughout the entire game.
One interesting feature of Pacific Assault are the "pop-up facts" that appear throughout the game. If you've seen VH1's "Pop-Up Video," you get the idea: at regular moments throughout the game, interesting facts about WWII will show up at the top of the screen. Sometimes, you might pick up a weapon and get a small tip about it; other times it might be tidbits like where the phrase "the whole 9 yards" came from (it's an artillery reference). There are settings so you can have the game pause every time a tip shows, continue uninterrupted, or turn them off altogether if they get on your nerves. (Personally, it's one of my favorite things in the game so far.)
In fact, it looks like Pacific Assault will offer a lot in the way of customization. Our preview build's default settings had no on-screen information at all: no compass, no health meter, no crosshair. Don't worry: you can turn all this on pretty easily from the game's menus, along with icons over your squadmates' heads so it's easier to tell who's on your side. Playing with everything off was certainly a bigger challenge, but something that any FPS fan should experiment with at least for a little while -- it's definitely a different experience when you can't tell what direction you should be going, exactly where your gun is firing or how much health you have left.
Graphically, Pacific Assault looks stunning in motion. The new technology used by EA probably isn't as cutting edge as other games on the horizon, and it shows at times with fire effects, a few stiff animations and the occasional clipping issue. However, the environments themselves are amazing to look at, gorgeous skies, beautiful water effects, and lush jungles to fight through. The environments are complimented with a wealth of special effects that give the game a unique feel: some of the big guns cause a blurring effect when you use them, and the color briefly drains for a second every time you're wounded, often accompanied by the sound of your heart beating faster. Large explosions will knock you off your feet, blur your vision and muffle the sound for a few seconds.
The graphical splendor may come at a price, however, leading to our biggest concern with the game. When we play tested Pacific Assault at EA's offices a few months ago, the controls felt a little sluggish, often the sign of a new, unoptimized engine that's pushing a PC to its limits. Our in-house playtesting was done on the same machine we used to review DOOM3, but the game still felt a little non-responsive, which made aiming and shooting a little harder than necessary. Lowering the resolution down to 800x600 helped a little, but it still felt nowhere near as tight as games like UT 2004, Call of Duty or DOOM3. Of course, the game's still not finished, so we're hoping this will be fixed in the weeks leading up to the game's launch. Outside of that, the only real weak spot we saw was the enemy AI -- they don't seem bright by any stretch, but if the game is filled with epic scenes like the opening ones at Pearl Harbor, it may be a moot point.
From our early play tests, it looks like there's a lot of interesting stuff going on in Pacific Assault that we didn't necessarily expect a few months ago. My initial reaction back then was that it looked like MOH:AA in a new setting (not necessarily a bad thing); now it's starting to look like a game with the potential to top it. We'll be looking forward to seeing how it all turns out when Pacific Assault is released on both CD and a special DVD "Director's Edition" in early November.
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In fact, it looks like Pacific Assault will offer a lot in the way of customization. Our preview build's default settings had no on-screen information at all: no compass, no health meter, no crosshair. Don't worry: you can turn all this on pretty easily from the game's menus, along with icons over your squadmates' heads so it's easier to tell who's on your side. Playing with everything off was certainly a bigger challenge, but something that any FPS fan should experiment with at least for a little while -- it's definitely a different experience when you can't tell what direction you should be going, exactly where your gun is firing or how much health you have left.
Graphically, Pacific Assault looks stunning in motion. The new technology used by EA probably isn't as cutting edge as other games on the horizon, and it shows at times with fire effects, a few stiff animations and the occasional clipping issue. However, the environments themselves are amazing to look at, gorgeous skies, beautiful water effects, and lush jungles to fight through. The environments are complimented with a wealth of special effects that give the game a unique feel: some of the big guns cause a blurring effect when you use them, and the color briefly drains for a second every time you're wounded, often accompanied by the sound of your heart beating faster. Large explosions will knock you off your feet, blur your vision and muffle the sound for a few seconds.
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The graphical splendor may come at a price, however, leading to our biggest concern with the game. When we play tested Pacific Assault at EA's offices a few months ago, the controls felt a little sluggish, often the sign of a new, unoptimized engine that's pushing a PC to its limits. Our in-house playtesting was done on the same machine we used to review DOOM3, but the game still felt a little non-responsive, which made aiming and shooting a little harder than necessary. Lowering the resolution down to 800x600 helped a little, but it still felt nowhere near as tight as games like UT 2004, Call of Duty or DOOM3. Of course, the game's still not finished, so we're hoping this will be fixed in the weeks leading up to the game's launch. Outside of that, the only real weak spot we saw was the enemy AI -- they don't seem bright by any stretch, but if the game is filled with epic scenes like the opening ones at Pearl Harbor, it may be a moot point.
From our early play tests, it looks like there's a lot of interesting stuff going on in Pacific Assault that we didn't necessarily expect a few months ago. My initial reaction back then was that it looked like MOH:AA in a new setting (not necessarily a bad thing); now it's starting to look like a game with the potential to top it. We'll be looking forward to seeing how it all turns out when Pacific Assault is released on both CD and a special DVD "Director's Edition" in early November.
Essential Links
- Preview: Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault (05/13/04)
- Preview: Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault (07/20/04)
- Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault demo
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