| | | |  - First-person shooter set in World War II Pacific battlefields
- Survive a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor and then move onto Guadalcanal and other key locations of the war
- State-of-the-art visuals and sound provide an immersive fighting experience
- Rely on medics to keep you on your feet during exhaustive battles
- Single- and multiplayer modes
|  | | | |
| | | |  Product Description:
Medal of Honor Pacific Assault puts you in the boots of a WWII soldier in the Pacific Theater of Operations. As Marine Private Tommy Conlin, you must survive the devastating attack on Pearl Harbor and then join the Allied crusade to defeat imperial Japan's bloody conquest of the Pacific. | | | | |
Average Rating : 
Rating :  - Great game with a few problems
I've always been a military history buff, partly fueled by my own peacetime Army service. I've always found myself drawn towards the WW2-genre of FPS games, partly because of the great respect I have for those men who served, but also because it's such a different period of history from when I served. Different uniforms, different equipment, etc. I think deep down I also feel like that was the last war where pretty much everyone was on the same side, and the lines between good and evil were very clearly drawn, and they did what they needed to do in order to have victory.
I have to admit that I was getting a little tired of feeling like I was blowing up the SAME German 88's in the SAME French village with the SAME Tommy gun, so when Pacific Assault came out I was really excited. My favourite war movie is The Thin Red Line, and I hoped this would follow that somewhat. I wasn't disappointed. So to save a little time for the impatient types, here's my pro/con listing:
Pros:
-Great story, excellent characters. You really feel like you're a part of something (a team, perhaps?), more so than other WW2 games where you feel like you're amidst nameless robots. You also see your team evolve. Example, at the beginning of the game, Jimmy the corpsman throws up every time he patches up a bad wound (if you let yourself get near death). By the end of Guadalcanal, he's working like a pro, and has covered up the red cross with green paint, as many Marines did in real life to discourage Japanese snipers looking for a target.
-Excellent weapon detail and variety. For example, in the first jungle mission, you'll find yourself armed with an M1903 Springfield rifle and a .45 revolver, which fits for early-war Marines. As for the weapons themselves, it seems like care was taken to make the details accurate.
-Great environments. You see A LOT of jungle, but there's enough variety to keep it from getting too monotonous. Plus, you never know which clump of bushes could be hiding a Japanese with a bayonet waiting to skewer you.
-Great replay value. You win medals based on how many hidden objectives you achieve, and also for beating the game on each of the four difficulty levels. So there's incentive to play again and see if you can get all of the medals and patches.
-Multiplayer. I'm not a huge online gamer...I'm more in it for the story. But there is a multiplayer available if you're looking for it. I played a few rounds...it wasn't anything special, except that the environments are different. It was fun, but not any more so than, say, Call of Duty or other Medal of Honor games.
Cons:
-Ridiculous load times. It's been said before, so I don't need to get into it. But they suck.
-Heavy graphics. I play it on a laptop with the resolution turned to 800x600 and most of the extras turned off (and shaders on 1.1, which I found to make a huge difference), and it runs fine most of the time. Sometimes it can get a little laggy, but usually it's adequate. I've found that if you're playing and it starts to freeze up, looking down can help a little. Not all the way, but enough to see ahead of you and down.
-Mouse controls for airplanes. The last part of the Guadalcanal mission will require you to fly a Dauntless dive bomber. You'd think that would be cool (and it can be), but not with a mouse. It can be frustrating at best, difficult at worst to dogfight with a mouse. Once you know what targets to go for, it's not so bad. (I think it kind of makes up of that fact with the seemingly unlimited range and ammo supply of your machine guns).
-Short scope of vision. The game takes you through Pearl Harbor, Makin Atoll, Guadalcanal, and Tarawa. I know the game can only be so long, but it would have been nice to at least see the war's end. Maybe in Pacific Assault II....
In my opinion, this is an excellent game that is marred by a few technical problems. Of all my WW2 shooter games, this is the one I keep coming back to. But after playing this a few times, my respect for the Marine Corps has gone through the roof. I've always respected them, but I had a hard time getting past the Marine bravado. This game really helped me to take a deeper look at and interest in the Marines and their contribution to America's history.
 | |
PC Games 
