Overall, I liked this game. It was a real change from the old Medal of Honor games and has the potential to turn this franchise around. There have been 11 versions of the Medal of Honor game since the first was rolled out Nov. 11, 1999, in North America. Only four of the games were on the PC; the others were on the PlayStation, PlayStation II, Xbox, Game Cube, PSP, Wii and Game Boy Advance. One of the PC versions, Medal of Honor Allied Assault, had two expansions: Spearhead and Breakthrough.

To play this first-person shooter, you follow three jumps in the training and six missions within major operations of World War II with Boyd Travers, a private in first the 82nd Airborne and later the 17th Airborne, as he fights from Italy to Holland to France and finally Germany. The six operations are Husky, Avalanche, Overlord (Neptune), Market Garden, Varsity and a fictional Der Flakturm.

Multiplayer is limited to 12 participants on six maps. Three of the maps are from Husky, Avalanche and Neptune. The other three maps are from MOH Allied Assault, and include the Destroyed Village, Remagen and The Hunt. There are three modes of play: airborne team match, regular team match and capture three neutral flags. The airborne versus the regular team match has respawns either parachuting in or appearing on the ground respawn points, respectively. Other multiplayer content and maps should appear on the Internet for download soon.

One of my favorite features of the game is the open environment. There is no linear progression to the missions, and there are multiple ways of completing them. You have complete freedom to perform the objectives of the game, in any order. Each mission has multiple objectives, so that the gameplay is basically open-ended.

I also liked the respawn control. The old standard of infinite respawn is replaced with "advance and clear the area." Once an area is cleared, your group will leave behind a contingent to hold the area against respawn. Once you have advanced sufficiently and cleared the area of all Nazi resistance, the respawn in that mission objective area is effectively stopped. Even the unrealistic Nazi superhero warriors (Nazi Storm Elite), who take three to four well-placed head shots to die, can be cleared.

You can set the difficulty to casual, normal or expert. You are awarded up to five stars for each mission completed on each difficulty level. Once you have earned five stars on a difficulty level, you are awarded medals: Bronze Star for casual, Silver Star for normal and Distinguished Service Cross for expert. I would like to point out that there is nothing casual about the casual level; however, there are adequate in-game cheats for the really casual player who needs "god mode," or infinite ammo.

I loved the quotations at the beginning of each campaign/mission, which were used to provide alternate names for the missions. These quotations and mission titles set the tone for the operations/missions. I find that historical detail is a welcome addition to any project; although, I was torn between my desire to relive history and the improved gameplay that the superhero characters gave to the game.

Enemies, from Tropical Heer Infantry to the Nazi Storm Elite, were rated on a combat difficulty scale of one (lowest) to 10 (highest). Each mission can use up to 14 different weapons that can either be found on the battlefield or equipped from the menu. Achieving the Soldier's Medal unlocks all weapons. I found the Gewenr 43 to be a particularly useful main weapon for sniping as well as regular fighting; the Sturmgewenr 44 was a good secondary weapon.

Some weapons, like the Panzerschreck, are obtained only by picking them up in missions and cannot be equipped from the beginning of the mission. Other weapons, like the Nazi Storm Elite's Maschinengewehr 42, can be seen only on the enemy and cannot be picked up or used by the player. Weapon selection is important when considering the enemies in the mission, since your allies and enemies will be dropping weapons and ammunition that you can use to stay in the fight. The Panzerschreck can be a lot of fun, blowing up the enemy who fly through the air in typical rag-doll physics. I am not sure why this is so funny. My son and I were laughing hysterically, blowing up the enemy with the weapon.

There are three types of grenades that you can carry: fragmentation grenade, German stick grenade and the high explosive gammon grenade. Gammon grenades are needed to blow up tanks and can be used to substitute for C-4 explosives in blowing up demolition objectives found in each mission.

The weapons show the color blue for the amount of experience needed to achieve the next level in weapon proficiency. Each level of weapon proficiency brings upgrades to the weapons and speeds the reload in firing rate of the weapon. There are three major upgrades to each weapon. The upgrades improve ammunition capacity, accuracy and recoil suppression.

A brand-new feature is the improved artificial intelligence, which involves awareness of cover, enemy approach and E-cap emotion capture. The enemy and the allies both have the new AI. Non-player characters (NPC) can exhibit defensive posture, nervousness and hysterical behavior. One interesting thing is that if you shoot someone next to an NPC, the NPC will drop back for better cover. The NPCs move around all the time, making getting a bead on them difficult. My son and I are convinced that the game actually tells the enemy NPC when you are aiming at them from a sniping position so that they move out of sight.

The musical score by Michael Giaccino uses some of the original Medal of Honor music from the first game in the series, with a "dark unreality" added in for effect. The music is excellent and really helps set the tone. Other sound effects and voice acting are first-rate.