Split-Screen :: The Game-Geek’s Daily Read

By Ravi Sinha

With EA going all out to promote sequels for Army of Two, Need for Speed, Dead Space, Star Wars and Mass Effect (not to mention new titles like Dragon Age: Origins and Dante’s Inferno), the absence of one major franchise this year – Medal of Honor – hasn’t raising many eye-brows. A time existed when MoH from 2015 Inc. was the default war-shooter of choice. Until the talent of 2015 ditched EA, Call of Duty came out and EA tried turning MoH it into another cash-cow (ah, the publisher’s earlier power-trips. So ugly yet beautiful in retrospect). It’s no secret that despite going through numerous developers, Medal of Honor has been one step behind CoD for ages. Having started development (as listed in Environment Artist at Electronic Arts LA, Jericho Green’s credits) and utilizing the hip “modern war” theme (as earlier leaked news show), is this just another case of EA trying to play catch-up to their oldest and most formidable FPS foe?

The new Medal of Honor has been tentatively named “Operation Anaconda” after the joint offensive against the Taliban and Al Qaeda in the 2002 Afghanistan war. The game will feature some of the now-standard features of most modern war games like drone attacks, urban CQB, numerous customizable weapons, etc.

EA Los Angeles also wants to paint a contemporary portrait of war horror this time around. “The intensity of this game, the realism of the image(s)…you will relive the terrible scenario of an operation that can leave you gasping for air.”

Six Days in Fallujah, developed by Atomic Games (and recently dumped by Konami), is also bent on creating a similar atmosphere from the latest conflicts in the past 8 years, specifically the Second Battle of Fallujah of the 2004 Iraq war. How that gets propped up and sniped (all puns intended) for insulting sensibilities while this passes under the radar is ironic. However, for any number of reasons, EA LA has wisely avoided publicizing this aspect of the game much. Let’s see the response when they formally announce it.

Modern war games like Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter and SOCOM have come and gone much before Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. But most every shooter since CoD4′s release, in single- and multi-player aspects, has been pitted against and compared to it, from Halo 3 and Gears of War 2 to Resistance 2 and Killzone 2. That’s the level of impact it’s had on release. Of course, Call of Duty revisited WWII again with World at War and some how made that fresh, so it’s doubtful Medal of Honor would also abandon it’s roots so completely.

Either trying stealing the spotlight or making a genuine move forward, Medal of Honor: Operation Anaconda is in a long list of franchises that face redemption or failure with their renovations.