Medal of Honor(1999) Review

Pretty solid FPS game on PS1, the game knew it couldn't keep up with PC fps games so it made a control scheme and enemy encounter design centered around that. Enemies will miss you a lot and will take a while to fire, giving you enough time to fire and aim your shots. Guns and enemy damage animations are also very well done and are satisfying. Enemies also move around enough but aren't too fast to the point where you will be missing shots a lot. The enemies can be quite dynamic as well, they will take cover, go prone, kick grenades, and will run away when shot. The level design and objectives also make going through what are otherwise linear levels a lot more engaging. The stealth sections are well done too, it's nothing too complex but they get the job done and break up the pace. And while I do complain about the lack of checkpoints in these games, I do feel this game in before rocket launcher enemies show up to be reasononable be since more if not all levels can be beaten in under 10 minutes. The missions briefings are also very well voiced and are pretty engaging to listen to and has some good voice acting for the time.

So what are the negatives? The aiming can be cumbersome when too many adversaries are on screen and it's easy to get overwhelmed by gunfire when lining up shots, enemies can also randomly ambush you from behind and the slow controls makes dealing with them an grating since they can depelete your health very quickly. The lack of a grenade indicator can also be maddening since you can accidently get killed by one. Also, the rocket launcher enemies can be very tiresome to deal with since they kill you in one hit and they tend to show up when more than one enemy is around, these guys would be a pain in the ass without emulator save states.

Overall, for a first game in a long running series Medal of Honor feels accomplished enough, and I can see why this game has a cult following. I can also see where stuff like Return to Castle Wolfenstein got it's inspiration in terms of level design.