Medal of Honor: European Assault
| Medal of Honor: European Assault | |
|---|---|
| File:Europeanassaultbox.jpg | |
| Developer(s) | EA Los Angeles |
| Publisher(s) | EA Games |
| Platform(s) | GameCube, Xbox, PS2 |
| Release | June 6, 2005 |
| Genre(s) | First-person shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer |
Medal of Honor: European Assault is the 8th installment in the long running Medal of Honor series. European Assault was released for PlayStation 2, GameCube, and Xbox in June 2005. The game's story was written by John Milius, the writer of Apocalypse Now.
Medal of Honor: European Assault was formerly titled Medal of Honor: Dogs of War, however, this was changed due to the French translation that apparently means "Mercenaries". The name was changed to European Assault despite the fact that part of the game is set in North Africa.
Gameplay
The gameplay of European Assault is essentially the same as of its predecessor, a first-person shooter; however, the weapons and interface have been slightly upgraded to be more player-friendly. Most notably the HUD has been upgraded to indicate primary and secondary target and show other squad members. The addition of Adrenaline Mode allows the player to go invincible and have unlimited ammo once they kill enough enemies.
Campaign
There are four overall areas the player (as Lt. William Holt) will be sent to: France, North Africa, the Soviet Union and Belgium. Each area will have a set of missions for you to complete. While some objectives will be pointed out to you from the start, exploration of the area will cause Holt to discover more missions. Each mission will consist of five elements: a primary objective, secondary objectives, killing a Nazi officer (Nemesis battle in the game), obtaining documents from the officer and escaping. If you complete all of the objectives, you will be awarded a gold medallion, but if you miss one or two, you will be awarded a silver or bronze medallion.
France
In the beginning of the game (based on Operation Chariot), Holt and the British force are heading to the vital submarine pens at St. Nazaire. They approach the German held port in a ship hoisting a German Flag. However, the ship was beginning to take fire and soon raised the British Union Flag after they lost their cover. Upon landing, Holt is told to meet an officer at another side of the dock, which is denoted by a green flare. Upon meeting the officer, Holt has to head back to the ship, thus finishing the first mission. Then Holt goes with the British on the St. Nazaire Raid, where he destroys a fuel tank and eliminates a German officer named Klaus Mueller. Holt later travels through the docks in order to destroy an electric power plant, shutting off power to the city and eliminating another German officer by the name of Horst Brenner. Early the next morning, Holt and his British comrades receive word that no reinforcements will be coming, forcing them to fight their way through two German Panzers. They must battle officer Erich Koster and his forces throughout the city to escape into the French countryside. There is a blooper. The British never used the M1 Garand.Actually yes they did in some parts of the campaign in real life.
North Africa
Lt. Holt is sent to North Africa, in the middle of Tunisia to meet with British 7th Armoured Division, also known as Desert Rats, to disrupt a German operation involving development of V-2 rockets and the new German Tiger tank. Holt's main target is a Nazi officer named Von Schrader but first has to deal with one of his men, Adabold Brecht. Optional objectives include blowing up a radar dish and destroying a panzer inside a destroyed village. After initial fighting, Holt makes his way inside a German compound and attempts to rescue captured SAS commandos and kill another of Von Schrader's men, Hans Schneider. With their help, Holt manages to get his hands on film which was recorded by Von Schrader, and ends up destroying a prototype V2 rocket.
Soviet Union
After the North African Front you are sent to the Soviet Union. The bloody battle of Stalingrad is at its peak when Holt arrives. In order to help battered Soviet forces and track down Von Schrader, US forces sent some anti-tank weapon prototypes with Holt in return for information about the elusive Nazi scientist. Holt first establishes contact with a Soviet officer named Dimitri and then meets with local partisans. With the help of the partisans, Holt manages to destroy a rail gun and helps in capturing a church as a strategic point by eliminating Walter Neumann. After that Holt, accompanied by Soviet Regular Army officers, joins the dramatic battle of Mamayev hill. After some intense fighting, Holt eliminates Franz Gruebner and acquires the top secret "Virus House" files and sends them to OSS headquarters. Holt then destroys all sensitive equipment in order to prevent Virus House information from falling into Soviet hands.
Belgium
The final mission of the game involves one of the most famous battles of WWII, the Battle of the Bulge. Holt is sent in with the 101st Airborne Division, surrounded within the Ardennes forest in Belgium. The Mission starts with an intense German offensive. Holt, with the help of paratroopers from the 101st Airborne manages to stop the initial assault by killing Folker Kappelhorf and blows up a strategically important bridge. Then Holt is sent to a Belgian village to rescue Manon Batiste, a female OSS operative and the main character of Medal of Honor: Underground (although renamed to Manon Du Champs in European Assault), who was captured by Von Schrader's most loyal man, Freder Engel. After defeating Engel, Holt frees the operative. In the final mission, Holt, accompanied with a platoon of US soldiers, makes the critical assault on Von Schrader's Virus House. With one final near-cataclysmic battle, Holt eliminates Von Schrader and destroys the prototype atom bomb he developed by dropping it into the underground bunker at the last moment and survives with some minor wounds.
Trivia
- One of the characters in the final mission is modelled after Cpt. Dale Dye, the military advisor to the Medal of Honor series and several military-themed films, such as Saving Private Ryan. Cpt. Dye also voiced Holt's OSS advisor as well as a Gunnery Sergeant in Medal of Honor: Rising Sun.