Review: Medal of Honor: Vanguard (PS2)

What's two hundred years old, wears a Star-Spangled suit, and single-handedly saved Europe from Nazi Germany? Why, Uncle Sam of course. Or at least that would be the response from whatever dolt was in charge of Vanguard, the latest in EA's string of increasingly irrelevant WWII shooters. Despite or perhaps due to their US Medal Of Honor Society authorisation, they have rarely strayed far from the jingoistic nonsense of the worst Second World War movies. Between the agonisingly earnest cut-scenes and the entirely American and pseudo-German cast, there's little room left for any acknowledgement of the rest of Europe's involvement in the conflict this time round, besides a sarcastic quip in the closing act about Britain finally "helping out", and it's not the only thing that's distasteful.

By current standards Vanguard is archaic. Slowdown and jaggies would be considered forgivable, but during the menus? Progressive Scan, Dolby Surround and Widescreen support may be far from universal, but you would at least expect to be able to centre the screen, or adjust the configuration of the keys. Wouldn't most people expect something more than a botless, four-player split screen mode for multiplayer in 2007? Sadly, no. Even the howlingly average Killzone can claim more bullet-points, and coming from Electronic Arts (masters of filling the back of a DVD case with reasons to stump up £30) it's simply lax.

At least its predecessors managed to indulge players' Boy's Own spirit, sticking in truck-rides and dogs that took your grenades back to you- the series' newfound earnestness has blocked off of its few remaining avenues of entertainment. The headline parachute jumps provide much-needed excitement at the start of several campaigns, but there's very little to distract from the steely-dull, meat grinder dirge of duck-and-cover combat. A few considered additions - iron-sight precision aiming and the ability to lean sneakily around cover, for instance - make it at the very least tolerable. Shamefully most of the standout features are simply the best bits from other games, obligatory two-weapon limit, melee attack and short-range sprint included.

However there are rare moments that someone was awake during development; an ingenious snipers' duel spicing up the closing act, and genuinely stirring run-ins with Panzers leaving an indelible dent. At its best, when the score becomes atmospheric rather than intrusive (your squad boldly covering your back rather than getting in the way) Vanguard finally catches up to its own pretensions of drama. With frantic sprinting between cover while enemy artillery leaves your virtual ears ringing and bullets wiz around your head providing familiar thrills.

The occasional entertaining blips eventually give you a reason to take the lead, effectively excusing your squad's woeful behaviour. For all the never-leave-a-man-behind shtick, the invariably hideous team of rentacorpse squadies you meet really aren't worth a damn. While the feeble story arc eventually places you ostensibly as their sergeant, from mission one the only one responsible for providing progress is yourself, and how many fellow troopers follow is entirely irrelevant. Were it not for the fact they were invulnerable to friendly fire, you'd probably kill most of them anyway, either from wandering absently into your sights or as revenge for shoving you out of cover once too often. Perhaps it would've been wiser simply to leave them out of the equation entirely.

An unlikely bonus is that your inept buddies don't speed up your progress, which is wise given how little game there is in the first place. At a mere four campaigns and at most four missions per campaign, there's at most five hours of single-player entertainment available. Bonus medals are doled out for those with the obsessive streak required to earn them, but given Vanguard's linear, scripted nature that amounts to little more than a few hours of rote learning. Nor is there any real reward for receiving them, merely disguising the lack of content a little longer.

Vanguard slips up on a bewilderingly large number of basic levels and there's little evidence of the EA's multi-million-dollar development budget, never mind the attention-to-detail one would expect from a major release from a smaller publisher. Five years earlier or at budget price, there would some justification for buying this. With a next-gen sequel due within the year and Call of Duty 3 providing a comprehensively better experience, why bother wasting your time and money?

Rating: 4 / 10

Words by Colin Whiteside