Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault Demo

The 20th century was a very agitated period for humankind, with a lot of wars waging all across the world. In the second World War, most of the action took place in Europe, but America and Japan had their own skirmish in the isles of Pacific, which was just as violent and brutal. Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault presents the story of these battles, or rather, how they were perceived through the eyes of a young soldier.

The game puts you in the shoes of a private by the name of Thomas Conlin, who recalls his journey throughout Japan as he is bleeding out on the shores of Tarawa, after his plane gets gunned down. Thus, you play through Conlin's story, from the day he undertook the basic training, right until his last moments, which gives you a chance to witness the horrors of war from a first-hand perspective.

Along the way, you also get to meet the team he fought side by side with, all of which have their own personalities and background stories that you learn as you advance through the game. Naturally, not all of them make it to the end, but they do join you in every mission along the way and provide you with medical aid, heavy artillery support and, most of all, company.

To make the action feel more like a movie, there are a lot of scripted events spread throughout the story, most of which are more than enjoyable to watch and play through. On the other hand, they become very annoying if you are forced to reload a few times and they somewhat deny you the pleasure of replaying the game, since the element of surprise is lost in the first playthrough.

Naturally, all of these cutscenes and the game itself use a state-of-the-art graphic engine to handle all the effects and the high level of detail seen in the environments and the characters themselves. Moreover, a lot of effort went into the sound department as well, since there is a lot of dialog going between the team mates, as well as more than convincing environmental sounds coming from guns, airplanes and the enemies who charge at you.

In the end, Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault encompasses all the right elements needed to create the right atmosphere for you to enjoy, as well as a heart-breaking tale of young soldiers who give their live to what they believe in. Thus, although the scripted events might break up the gameplay from time to time, the overall experience is worth the small inconveniences.