While Medal of Honor Vanguard isn't "bad" on technical level and is a mostly "functional game", it's hard to overlook the fact that the game is just typical of so many WW2 run and gun shooters that were so prevelant at the time.
On the Wii, the game might've been novel since there were many good FPS games on the system at the time, but on the PS2 which is the version I played on an emulator, it's hard to shake the feeling of, "been there, done that" regarding this whole game. There were already a good number of Medal of Honor, even Call of Duty games on the PS2 before this and that's not even including the plethora of other WW2 run and gun shooters at the time.
So while MoH Vanguard is at the very least polished and you can get some fun out of it, the short length plays a big role as to why I finished the game at all, there isn't much of anything this game does that previous MoH games and especially CoD from CoD2 onwards hasn't already done. In fact, I'd say just play CoD2 on PC and Xbox 360 over playing this game since everything Vanguard does, CoD2 already did, in fact you can also play Big Red One and get the same experience too.
When I compare it to CoD2 or just CoD in general, what do I mean? You got the scripted moments, you got the super linear levels where you have the compass guiding you where to go, the scripted roller coaster feel of the campaign where the level won't progress unless you do a specific objective, the two weapon limit, the regen health and the ability to crouch and go prone. The objectives are similar too, plant explosives, destroy a tank using a rocket launcher, capture and hold certain points, clear out certain areas, obtain documents that are marked on the map, everything you have done in a CoD campaign especially a WW2 CoD campaign, you have done here.
I'm not not even sure what is different with this game, you have a worse control scheme where prone and crouch are separate button presses, sprinting doesn't work as well since the stick click requirement to activate the sprint animation is much more rigid, and you can aim down sights like in CoD but you can't move while doing it only lean. In the off chance that Vanguard does something different CoD, it's down worse and not for the better. There are weapon upgrades but these are hard to find and the only useful one I found was for the M1 Garand.
MoH Vaguard even shares the same issues is that the enemy infantry you fight starts to become samey and they can all be beaten by abusing the MP40 and machine guns are generally the best options even at long range. The tanks can all be beaten by taking cover and firing a rocket at them. So many of the encounters start to feel samey especially if you played CoD game before.
That and hitscan weapons plus regen health means you are going to spend a lot of time hiding behind cover on anything difficulty above easy mode but this has always been an issue with a game in this style.
Overall, while this game and I hate to use the term is "generic". I do say it's worth checking out because it can pretty much beaten in afternoon, outside of the penultimate and final missions, you can breeze through the game, if you are bored one day and happen to own this game or just want something super quick to finish, MoH Vanguard is worth trying out, it certainly doesn't reach the series' lowest point of the series like Warfighter did, at least this game is a somewhat competent CoD clone. Just don't expect it to change your perspective on WW2 run and gun shooters.
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