- Reviewed on: Gameboy Advance
- The Good: Solid all around game, with fun gameplay, good graphics and sound.
- The Bad: The aiming system could be better.
- The Verdict: Although it's not a first-person shooter, Infiltrator lives up to the Medal of Honor brand as a fun game.
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REVIEW:
If there's one thing I've learned over the past few years, it's that you can count on the Medal of Honor franchise for quality games. It was with such sentiment in mind that I cracked open Infiltrator for the Gameboy Advance, and yet again, Medal of Honor delivers.
The series has, since its first title on the original Playstation, become one of the premiere first-person shooter console franchises. But truth be told, I had yet to play a first-person shooter on the GBA and was curious as to how it would turn out. I pictured something really rudimentary, like the very first Castle Wolfenstein or Doom - the GBA is a powerful little device, but I wondered if it had the juice for the fast 3-D rendering that FPS games demand.
Well, it looks like EA had the same fears, and instead opted to scrap the FPS perspective in favour of a three-quarters top-down view. The result is a game that plays a lot like an improved version of some classic arcade games, such as Commando or Ikari Warriors, yet still retains the Medal of Honor feel.
Like the console titles, the levels in Infiltrator are objective-based missions. Players may have to find secret documents, or blow up a munitions dump, or - as the game's title suggests - infiltrate an enemy base. The 3/4 top-down view works nicely with this setup, and whereas games such as Commando and Ikari Warriors featured straight bottom-to-top screen scrolling, Infiltrator actually features some decent-sized levels that also scroll side to side. The result is a set of environments that are quite sizable, especially when you take into account that some buildings can be entered and explored. In fact, some buildings are actually self-contained sub-levels themselves.
The action in Infiltrator can be challenging. The player usually has two weapons to choose from: a primary gun and a secondary explosive device in most cases. This can be a combination of machine gun and grenades, or a shotgun and C2 explosives, and the weapons can periodically be swapped inside certain buildings.
Players have the option of shooting in the direction they're pointing, or they can hold down the R button to shoot in one direction and move in another. It's often hard to get accurate shots off using this setup, but using the weapons strategically can make up for the shortfall - using a rifle instead of a machine gun, for example, can give players a range advantage over enemies, thus compensating for the lack of accuracy.
Like its console cousins, Infiltrator spices up the action periodically with several nice touches. One is the inclusion of tripod-mounted machine guns, which players can use to wipe out hordes of oncoming enemies, while another allows players to drive a tank. The game is also broken up with a handful of rail-mounted shooting sequences, where players man a turret on a gunboat and take out enemies onshore, or do so from the back of a speeding jeep. These levels keep things interesting and are a good break from the regular action.
The in-game graphics are pretty good, if not spectacular. One very surprising graphical treat is the inclusion of authentic black-and-white World War II footage in between levels. While this is standard fare in console games, its inclusion here is surprising - once again, the GBA's power is astonishing.
Medal of Honor's sound has always been its hallmark, and has indeed won all sorts of industry awards. And while Infiltrator will certainly never measure up against its console cousins, the game's top-notch sound does push the GBA to its limits. The machine guns sound cool, as do the screaming enemies. The background military-themed music also sets the tone nicely.
In the end, Medal of Honor Infiltrator does a good job representing the successful franchise on the GBA. It's a fun game that is solid all around, and a worthwhile pickup for fans of action titles.