June 12, 2012 by Vinnie Leduc
A couple months ago, EA’s new trailer wowed us with a first look at Medal of Honor: Warfighter‘s gameplay, which is armed with the Frostbite 2 engine, the same one that ultimately made Battlefield 3 the visual victor over Modern Warfare 3 when we honored the former as our pick for Best Looking Game of 2011. The sequel to EA’s Medal of Honor reboot once again looked great in another explosive and thrilling campaign trailer released earlier at this year’s E3. Later at the expo, we got a chance to check out developer DICE’s Frostbite 2 engine in full effect when we got our hands on a multiplayer demo of Medal of Honor: Warfighter.
The multiplayer, which is being developed by Danger Close Games, lets you choose from a baker’s dozen of Tier-1 special forces units from different nations. Each unit is unique with different guns, loadouts, perks, and goodies. The main selling point that Danger Close is revolving multiplayer around is the use of intrasquad fire teams. Billed as an attestation to real-life military couplings in which a pair of partners act and react as one unit, fire team members are encouraged to communicate with each other and stick together. By doing so, gamers won’t only survive and thrive better, but also gain more power in team-specific ways.
When one of the pair dies, his respawn is dependent on his partner. For example, if you die but your partner gets some payback and kills the enemy that smoked you, you instantly respawn next to your partner. Otherwise, you can respawn behind him if he’s far away enough from the action, but if he’s pinned down and you can’t wait, then you have the option to fall back and respawn in safety.
The match we got to play was a type called Sector Control, in which two sides (each made up of smaller two-man fire teams) battle to hold control of three objective areas, similar to Domination in Modern Warfare 3. The neat and authentic addition and emphasis of fire teams to multiplayer is neat and authentic, and considering how fluid and balanced the game was (we won, of course), I wouldn’t be surprised if EA’s Warfighter not only carved out its own loyal community like Battlefield 3 did, but actually put up a decent fight against Activision’s juggernaut franchise. Plus, that Frostbite 2 engine looked much sweeter in motion.
We’ll see for sure when Medal of Honor: Warfighter releases on October 23, 2012, for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC.
