Medal of Honor Airborne Review (PC)

Medal of Honor Airborne hooks up the parachutes and gives players a shot at glory by dropping them into historic WWII scenarios such as Operation Market Garden. The campaign takes place in Italy and Germany, with gamers jumping out of planes and landing anywhere they choose, a feature that not only adds replay value, but also redefines how people will design first person shooters for years to come.

Airborne brings excitement back to WWII shooters, thanks to a fully dynamic world. Areas marked with green smoke represent designated safe areas, but players can start anywhere they want, and the level changes accordingly. Enemies will try to hunt down players who find themselves alone in the middle of a red zone, but landing on a rooftop could provide a perfect sniper's nest. The game even awards points for daring landings like on a church bell tower or inside enemy trenches.

The game has three types of landings: a basic flared landing, a greased one (where the player lands while running) and botched (cause players to stumble for a moment while they get themselves off the ground and unbuckle their gear). Greased landings have the added benefit of providing some momentum so that players can score punches with some extra oomf. Unfortunately, the parachuting is a bit tricky, and the tutorial (pardon the pun) flies by pretty quickly. It seems any time we landed on a slanted rooftop, no matter how soon we flared the chute, it always ended up being a botched landing. It would be nice if the game included a practice mode specifically designed for players to jump down on various types of terrain.

Once on the ground, gamers tackle their objectives in any order. There's no map screen to refer to, so players must remember what was shown in briefings and find their way around, although the compass point will always show objectives. Plus, following friendly soldiers usually leads to the right direction. In some cases, players will run ahead of the rest of the group. In those cases, they can either hole up until reinforcements arrive, or try to play the lone hero. Unlike many other shooters, WWII or otherwise, buildings in Airborne usually have multiple entry points, making for dynamic gameplay.

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