MoH: Pacific Assault: Wave that Flag Proudly

Author's Rating:

Pros: Great atmosphere and sound, good graphics, the fun factor is up there.

Cons: The voice acting just ain't cuttin' it, does get repetetive.

The Bottom Line: 
Great for fans of the genre. Others might tire of it's repetetive gameplay.

Author's Review
One thing is for sure in this country; America knows how to wave its flag. During World War II, the propaganda rate was unbelievably high, as the good ol' U.S. used various entertainment outlets to "inform" its citizens of the opposing forces, boost morale, among other things. The method of forcing certain views down our throats never really ended. When our most recent war began, movies such as John Woo's Pacific war film Windtalkers was released, which also caught a lot of flak because of it's over-the-top American patriotism. The Japanese were conveyed as the "bad guys" and the Americans as the end-all-be-all of the "good guys;" you know the story. Whether it be saving a child from the line of fire or protecting a buddy by sacrificing your life for his, it seemed that commodore was not in short supply. My point here is this; it's not only done in films. EA Game's Medal of Honor series has always been pro-American rather than attempting to go the whole nine yards in terms of truth. But does that stop these games from being fun? By all means, no. That whole set up paragraph probably means nothing because it doesn’t really convey my thoughts about this game itself that well. As underrated as it is, I just felt compelled to even out the reviews a bit. EA always had a certain magic within these games, and I can safely say they haven't lost it here.

The player assumes the role of Marine Private First Class Thomas “Tommy” Conlin. The game begins in Tarawa Atoll, though that only serves as a brief opening. During this horrific battle sequence, Tommy finds himself remembering back to his days at boot camp and then being on his way to Pearl Harbor, where the game truthfully begins. The overall package is basically a reciting of the events that lead up to this point in Conlin’s mind; with you controlling it all. You fight alongside fellow Marines and friends who endure battles with you from locales such as Guadalcanal to the aforementioned Tarawa Atoll. It’s all written like a great World War II movie, and unfolds like one, as you continue.

Some may find that this particular title doesn’t offer up enough variation in gameplay. If you enjoy shooting at people (in the world of games, of course), many, many people, I don’t see any reason why you won’t like Pacific Assault. There isn’t really much to do when battles ensue besides going for cover and firing back in the general direction that the bullets come from. You can call it carnal instinct or whatever you want to, but gunning down hordes of enemy soldiers is pure fun. The atmosphere is perfect and really sets the stage for what the game presents. You get a good selection of weapons in which to dispatch of thousands upon thousands of enemy troops. Although I wouldn’t call the action run-and-gun, it is fairly intense. You still need to find sufficient cover and you’re far from being a man of steel. With your medic around to provide a limited amount of medkits during combat, you still need to remain focused and on your toes. Running into a situation blindly will simply not work here. But with all of this action also means that you better have good comprehension of the keyboard control layout. The default settings work well and are easy to become accustomed to. And if not, you can always remap it anyway.

One thing that slowly crept into my mind upon completing this game was that I didn’t have to endure any painful stealth missions. Usually First Person Shooters try to vary up the gameplay and add such elements, but it’s almost become a trademark at just how damn bad they are. Half of the time the enemy AI is superhuman, or the engine just isn’t coded properly enough to handle it. I enjoy blowing up things just as much as the next guy, and I was relieved to find that I didn’t have to dick around with any boring stealth missions. PA gave me what I wanted when I wanted it.

The graphics, as you probably expected, have been updated from the Quake III engine that powered the previous MoH PC game, Allied Assault. The new engine, which I’m not familiar with, produces some pretty impressive visuals; most noticeably the environments. The trees sway, grass is given great depth, and the jungle areas are as convincing as I’ve seen yet. The water effects are also great. Water washes ashore realistically, and when pelted by gun fire, emits a splash that looks perfect. The engine also allows for very dense outdoor locations, which is key to providing a satisfying look for this game (since most of your time will be spent outdoors). The colors are mesmerizing and the variation is quite surprising.

It’s also capable of producing good character models, too. Although they aren’t up there with the best of the best (Half-Life 2 being one in that list), they’re serviceable. Some noticeable detail is welcome, but most of the models are rather plain. The uniforms are accurate, as are the weapon models. Nothing looks bad, but nothing is really that exciting either. I’m also glad to see that the models used for the allied and enemy soldiers are quite varied. You won’t see too many doubles, which is a problem I’ve come across in a lot of games. Decals are limited aside from glasses or helmets (the helmets also fall of heads when shot). Not as impressive as the terrain, but they’re suitable and achieve what they set out to.

Sound effects, voice acting, and the score are three essentials to creating an involving war game. EA has the sound effects down to a “T.” Bullets whiz by realistically, explosions bellow loudly, etc… The sounds of war come through crystal clear. If you have a nice surround sound system, I’m sure everything would be that much better. But only with two desktop speakers and a subwoofer, I definitely caught a good percentage of it all.

Voice acting, however, is a different story. The dialogue is interesting and well-written, but the voice actors supplied for the main characters don’t sound a bit convincing. The voices are boyishly light, and sometimes laughably amateurish. I was thankful that none of the dialogue was overly hokey; otherwise the mood of the game would have suffered greatly. The enemy soldiers, on the other hand, certainly do sound the part. War cries and painful groans emit from each one of them. As convincing and hauntingly genuine as that sounds, it makes me wonder why they couldn’t get better actors to voice the main characters.

And finally, we come to what truly makes or breaks an MoH title; the music. Provided by a legitimate orchestra, the score is powerful and evocative. It enhances battle sequences while also drenching certain scenes in gloom, happiness, triumph, or doom. All the emotions I’m sure a soldier on the frontlines would feel are expressed wonderfully through music. It’s the entire sound category as a whole that really makes Pacific Assault so much fun to play.

So what exactly will you be up against? The enemy isn’t going to be easy to beat. They use cover well, carefully plan an attack, and coordinate amongst each other. Some may charge you while others may stay in one spot and pepper you with bullets. The enemy is cunning and also very good at using the terrain to their advantage. They can chuck grenades back at you or even throw a well-placed one of their own. This is one of the more difficult shooters I’ve played, due in part to tough enemy AI. Team AI is decent enough, but it also gives you the feeling that most of the killing is supposed to be done yourself. Not nearly as helpful as much as they should be, your buddies can sometimes be cumbersome. But then at other moments, and in intense action, they can really prove to be useful. But any way you split it, you better get used to that Quick Load key.

As a whole, if you’re just looking for a plain old war time shoot ‘em up, then you’ve come to the right place. Although it’s not the longest game in the world, Pacific Assault is great every second that you are playing it. If you’re looking for a shooter with a little more focus on diversity and story, then this really isn’t the game you should be playing. Most of it really sets the standard for games of this type, even though a small portion of it is somewhat sour. EA improves on their previous product in big ways here. Don’t sleep.