Medal of Honor: Airborne - Gamespot Q&A

[Loke]

Click here to read it all

Medal of Honor Airborne represents a transitional period for EA's extremely long-lived World War II shooter series. For one, the game moves the action to a place that Medal of Honor has never been before: the sky. Just as important, Airborne is the first game in the series to pop up on next-gen consoles, as it's currently in development on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, in addition to current systems.

[...]

GS: How are you juggling your stated intention of creating a "cinematic story-driven game with the freedom of nonlinear missions in an FPS environment"? Doesn't storytelling require a certain level of structure and linearity?

PG: We want to very clearly tell the player what he needs to do, but leave it up to the player to figure out how each task can be accomplished. We are preserving the progression-based structure of traditional linear games, but are focusing on creating encounters that are more nonlinear, with an emphasis on player choice. Each encounter in MOH Airborne has one main objective, but it will be designed to be completed in several different ways.

The choices made in the air will dramatically affect what kind of gameplay occurs once you hit the ground. The player will have full control of the parachute and will be able to drop into the encounter wherever they choose--this allows missions to play out in a new way every time.

As for the story told as a result--that will be completely unique to the player.

[...]

GS: What can you tell us about the "jump," and how it will affect your experience in the game?

PG: We're going for as seamless an experience as possible, from the airfield briefing to the plane, to the jump itself. As a player, you control everything a soldier would control--the actual exit from the plane, and the drop from that point forward. From the air, you will likely be able to see every objective in the operation, but the extent to which you can reach them will depend upon your exit point and the altitude of the jump.

Apart from that, it is entirely up to the player to read the battlefield beneath him. He can go for a tower for sniping opportunities, steer after his squad to rally quickly on the ground, land in the heart of his primary objective for a direct (and usually extremely difficult) assault, land on rooftops, crash through windows, in alleys, on top of walls, and on and on. The entire space is playable.

Geronimooo!

 

[halflifeguy]

this game look soooo sweet......but it has me thinkin that these are just pre-renders

 

[Combine Hybrid]

EA is trying their best to overtake Activision's Call of Duty, but I doubt that will happen even if Airborne is out...

 

[destrukt]

sounds awesome. the actual 'parachuting into each mission' then landing how you want and so on is fairly innovative with ww games.

 

[Parlez]

OMG! I thought that picture was real for a sec then I looked at what you wrote. Can you say I will be a my local game store pre-ordering this game!
I am trying to find a video of this game but so far no luck.

 

[VictimOfScience]

EA is trying their best to overtake Activision's Call of Duty, but I doubt that will happen even if Airborne is out...

Man, if they can implement half of what they are trying to do then this will easily be much better than Call of Duty ever was. I cannot tell you how excited I was when I read the first interview about this title in Game Informer--a must have!

 

[Shakermaker]

Well, they didn't really do their homework. According to the Q&A the game is about the 82nd Airborne division.

The patch on that dude's arm is the screaming eagle from the 101st Airborne division. The 82nd's patch looks like this:

So meh.

 

[DEATH eVADER]

this game look soooo sweet......but it has me thinkin that these are just pre-renders

Yes, they are pre-rendered....at the moment. I think they are early in the development stage to crop-up with ingame stuff

According to the Q&A the game is about the 82nd Airborne division.
The patch on that dude's arm is the screaming eagle from the 101st Airborne division. The 82nd's patch looks like this:

Unless those are very early concept renders, before they had a specific story following a specific airbourne devision

 

[jimbo118]

So meh.

idd, get on xfire biatch!!!

 

[Loke]

Those are most likely concept-art yes, but these are ingame.

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[VictimOfScience]

Those are most likely concept-art yes, but these are ingame.

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Whoa! Shot 5 looks incredible! I saw some of these in the Game Informer(US) interview I read a while back, but don't recall the others and they look amazing! Supposedly the facial animation system is something that has to be seen to be believed! This should hopefully put MoH right back at the top of the WWII FPS stack!

 

[halflifeguy]

they say that at the beginning of each mission you are going to be dropped in via aircarft?
what are there only 3-4 levels?
The 82nd airborne, to my knowledge, did not make any more than 5.......
so either each level is about 2 hours long each or they are making up some fictious missions

 

[Shakermaker]

they say that at the beginning of each mission you are going to be dropped in via aircarft?
what are there only 3-4 levels?
The 82nd airborne, to my knowledge, did not make any more than 5.......
so either each level is about 2 hours long each or they are making up some fictious missions

Good point. And you're right: the 82nd made two jumps in Italy, one in France, one in the Netherlands, and one in Germany during the offensive to cross the Rhine.

 

[destrukt]

uh, we know that games based on facts/actual events are never 100% or often exaggerated so it can be made into a decent game . . .

 

[Shakermaker]

uh, we know that games based on facts/actual events are never 100% or often exaggerated so it can be made into a decent game . . .

Yes, we do, but it would be nice if they at least got the basic facts straight.

 

[weskerQ8]

EA is trying their best to overtake Activision's Call of Duty, but I doubt that will happen even if Airborne is out...

i don't agree with you,

 

[bored]

tragic....

 

[VictimOfScience]

tragic....

Which part of this thread do you find tragic? The concept art? The statements ending Call of Duty's reign over WWII shooters? The liberties that might be taken by the devs concerning how many drops the 82nd really made?

I am sure it will all work out to our satisfaction. The good thing is: if you don't like it--don't play it.

 

[DrDevin]

MOH:AA Was one of my favourite games of all time.

After that the series has been steadily going down hill (and I have played every MOH game since PS1). Some are good but none have been as great as allied assault.

Now is their chance to make the series great again and I hope they succeed

 

[Loke]

Frontline is still my favourite MoH game ever, Airborne will probably change that though… I hope.

 

[MultiVaC]

It would seem sort of lame to have fictional missions. I hope there are only 5 drops just like RL, but accompanied by really long missions.

 

[VictimOfScience]

I hope there are only 5 drops just like RL, but accompanied by really long missions.

It sounds like that will be the case. In re-reading the big article in last month's Game Informer (US), they mention all 5 of the operations the 82nd was involved with by name and no others, so that leads me to believe that they will have those 5, but obviously they will have to make them seriously involved in order to make the game worthwhile. I can't wait to see what they come up with!

 

[jimbo118]

i presume not every level will involve the jump, just the initial mission one, then the rest of will be on the ground until you get to your next campaign/jump or am i wrong?

 

[VictimOfScience]

i presume not every level will involve the jump, just the initial mission one, then the rest of will be on the ground until you get to your next campaign/jump or am i wrong?

I think you are wrong or at least that's the impression I get from the article in GI. They say (iirc) that every mission will start with a jump giving you totaly freedom as to how you complete the mission. I, for one, think it is a pretty cool idea because the sort of open-endedness they are going for has never really been seen before in a game like this. (No, its not GTA style, so nobody bring that up please ). Its much more like RL in that you can approach the objectives in any way you like and do what you have to do in any manner you wish. The replay value should be up the shizzy!

 

[Lucid]

EVERY mission is going to begin with a jump?

I would think that it would get extremely repetitive that way.

 

[VictimOfScience]

EVERY mission is going to begin with a jump?

I would think that it would get extremely repetitive that way.

I don't know--I guess it depends on where you jump. Jumping onto Sicily (Operation Husky) would be much different from jumping onto Normandy (Operation Neptune). Plus if there are only 5 major missions, it might not be that bad at all (as long as the missions were long and involved).

Also note that, "On the 21st of September, 1944, PVT John Towle of C Company, 504th, single handedly broke up an enemy counter attack consisting of 100 men and two tanks. For his actions, Towle received the Medal of Honor." Sounds like a great game scenario, right? And its real!
Source.

 

[Tollbooth Willie]

They better not **** this up.... MOH: EA was short as Hell, and we need a good WW 2 game to talk about other than CoD2, which honestly I don't see what the big deal about it is. Come on, you got my trigger finger itching in Underground, so come on Airborne, baby, SCRATCH IT!