Medal of Honor Heroes 2 Review - Raises the bar for Wii FPS control

[rashad]

Another quality 3rd party title.

The launch games released, however, and we quickly saw that Nintendo's Wii would have its work cut out for it in the control refinement category. Metroid Prime 3: Corruption then raised the bar, and now Medal of Honor Heroes 2 -- a seemingly unimpressive "Wii-make" title brought over from PSP as a pocket developer's premiere console effort - again pushes the genre to its limits, as EA's latest WWII FPS has easily become the most responsive and customizable FPS experience on Wii.

Overall though, there’s no denying the pure entertainment of Medal of Honor Heroes 2. The game controls amazingly well with IR, is customizable to a ridiculous degree, includes impressive 32-player online play that runs far better than EA’s other online efforts, and even includes some casual-friendly modes with Arcade mode. The game looks beautiful, runs in 16:9 and 480p, and sets the bar extremely high for other Wii FPS titles, as it equips players with the customization necessary to suit each player’s unique tastes. Wii isn’t just about being casual-friendly, and Heroes 2 gets that. With more complex controls built in to the system, hardcore gamers will need more options and customization to make use of the technology, and Heroes 2 puts players in charge of how they want to experience first-person action on Wii. Of course, for those looking for a more casual experience, arcade mode is there, as is the “easy mode only” lock-on cursor control for quick targeting.

http://wii.ign.com/articles/833/833766p3.html

IGN score: 8.4

 

[cookiva]

Im interested in having 32 online with the Wii...

 

[Son of Sun]

Whoa

If I wasn't so extremely bored with anything regarding WWII I might actually check this out.

Maybe later on when I can get this cheaper. The idea of good wiimote controls is always intriguing - seeing as how many have entirely bollocksed it up.

 

[Shifty]

Whoa

If I wasn't so extremely bored with anything regarding WWII I might actually check this out.

Maybe later on when I can get this cheaper. The idea of good wiimote controls is always intriguing - seeing as how many have entirely bollocksed it up.

I'm not extremely bored but with the WWII shooter but I'm never hyped for them. But my brother is big into WWII and will be picking up this game. From what I've read and seen this looks like a must play (after Mario Galaxy).

Another Take
from Matt Casamassina
Yeah, I'm inclined to agree with Mark about Medal of Honor Heroes 2. I bring a different perspective to the critical table because I am normally not motivated to pick up wartime first-person shooters -- there are so many of them that I always feel like I've been there and done that before, and I have. I recently did buy Call of Duty 4 for Xbox 360, on the other hand, wholly because of its gorgeous presentation. And I added Medal of Honor Heroes 2 to my collection for an entirely different reason: it controls better than any other home console FPS ever -- and yes, as Boz noted, that includes Prime 3.

We've all become so focused on the next big leap in graphics that we sometimes forget that very few innovations have been introduced to home console-based first-person shooter control. For as good as the console version of Call of Duty 4 looks, the controls in Medal of Honor Heroes 2 absolutely spank it (the PC build is another story), and there's something to be said for that. If you're comfortable enough with the Wii remote to crank all the sensitivity settings to the maximum and drop the dead zone down to nothing, you'll be able to point and shoot with a level of speed and accuracy previously unseen on Wii or any other home system. I absolutely love it. In fact, I firmly believe that every third party making an FPS-style game for Wii should take a look at Team Fusion's success and copy it – blatantly rip it, if possible. Hey – I'm looking at you, Red Steel 2 team.

I think it speaks volumes that, for as reluctant as I am to buy another wartime shooter, I really enjoy playing Heroes 2 in spite of its setting. The controls do that much for me. If you thought Metroid Prime 3 got it right, wait until you get your hands on this one.

At the same time, no, it's definitely not a first-person shooter without blemishes – one, in fact, even relates to controls. When you scope in on enemies, you will notice that your formerly-tiny bounding box has temporarily become large again; hence, when sniping, you will have to point and drag the screen a bit, which is unfortunate. Not sure why Team Fusion didn't catch that one, but hopefully that'll be corrected with the next project. Meanwhile, in an attempt to keep the framerate smooth, the developer has (wisely, in my opinion) made some hard choices about presentation. Enemies disappear off-screen as soon as they're killed, level of detail animations are sometimes butchered and overall artificial intelligence is lacking. Honestly, though, the control and fluidity gains far outweigh the presentational losses – you're still going to have a lot of fun, plain and simple. And when you consider the 32-player online mode, which also runs very well, there's a lot of replay value to be had even after you've run through the main campaign.

If you're at all interested in wartime games or first-person shooters, give Medal of Honor Heroes 2 a try. Nintendo fans need to step up and support good third party efforts like this so that we continue to get them. And EA, put Team Fusion on an original Wii FPS designed exclusively for the system – preferably, this time, not set to the backdrop of World War II. Oh, and since I'm so making so many requests, Nintendo, can we get a headset already?

 

[SamuraiSon6]

great news, they say it tops metroid too!

very excited about a functional/practical wii game online

 

[rashad]

great news, they say it tops metroid too!

very excited about a functional/practical wii game online

Metroid Prime 3 set the bar. So any developer of a FPS shooter on the Wii has no excuse not to match or exceed that. And that's great!

 

[Shifty]

My brother rented the game. I've played Arcade and Campaign its definitely worth a look once everyone is done Mario. Control is better than Metroid!
One aspect I think is great, taking cover behind something you hit A to zoom and then move the Nunchuck in which ever direction you want to poke your gun out and its great to pick off Germans and not get shot or expose yourself too much.

 

[SamuraiSon6]

cool