Medal of Honor: Heroes 2 Member Review for the Wii

                Another year brings another Medal of Honor Game and 2007’s last Medal of Honor comes in the form of Heroes 2, the sequel to Heroes on the PSP. This time around, it’s also on the Wii and that’s the one I will talk about. There’s great controls and fun 16 person online but there’s also the usual dumb AI.

STORY

                The story this time around is you are an American soldier (like always) and you have landed on France’s northern coast. You are tasked to help stop the Axis’s secret plans so the Allies don’t have to worry about another threat. The story is nothing special but it is a WWII and there isn’t much to expect nowadays. There are 8 different missions to complete at places like a port, monastery or sewers. You can fight through these missions in two ways: campaign (normal, FPS mode) and arcade (an on-rails mode where you don’t control your movement) but you must beat the campaign missions to unlock more arcade missions. There are also 3 difficulties: Green (beginner), Veteran (medium) and Hero (Hard). Throughout all the missions there are two kinds of objectives: mandatory primary objectives and non-mandatory secondary missions. Completing just the primary objectives gets you a bronze medal while completing secondary objectives too can get you a silver or gold medal.

DESIGN

                Heroes 2 is a basic WWII shooter. You’ve got you various guns, including a Karabiner, pistol, Thompson, Springfield and various others. Each has their own shot rate, ammo capacity, reloading time and other variables. There are also grenades but there are only two kinds. Unfortunately, none of them are very appealing since you’ve them in so many other games already. I guess I can also talk about the multiplayer. It has only online multiplayer, no offline, and there are only 3 different matches: deathmatch, team deathmatch and infiltration (capture the flag). Luckily, the online is supported by EA’s own server so there are no friend codes!! All the levels you can play in are from the campaign, modified a bit for multiplayer. You can create your own game with many aspects to choose from, including which guns are allowed and which control method is allowed (more on that later). One major complaint is the AI in the game. Your allies and the Germans are really stupid and will walk into the enemies’ fire. They will take cover sometimes but it isn’t always the best cover. It is incredibly addictive to play, despite the lack of game modes to play on.

GAMEPLAY

In Heroes 2, there are two control options: the normal Remote in right hand and nunchuk in left and the Wii Zapper (I use the Wii Zapper setup). You should go to the options menu to change the control setup to the Wii Zapper if you are going to use that setup. I don’t really want to go deep into the controls because there is so many but I will explain a bit. The Zapper setup is simplified for you since the buttons on the Remote are harder to reach. Some sites/magazine has stated that Heroes 2 has the best FPS controls on the Wii so far, even better than Corruption, but I will have to disagree. The pointing controls work most of the time (sometime they will go haywire) but it is still high up there. In Green Mode, you have the option of locking on to your enemies by pushing the A or Z button (depending on your control setup).  In Multiplayer only, you are able to sprint for a short period of time. All the controls might take a bit getting used to but you will be satisfied once you nail them

PRESENTATION

Heroes 2 isn’t exactly the best looking game on the Wii. The character and gun models look great but the environments are bland and boring with a lot of gray everywhere. Trees are OK but bushes are pixilated and 2D-ish. The sound on the other hand is good. The sounds of the guns match their real-life counterparts and the voices are good. In multiplayer, you are able to say pre-determined stuff including need backup, affirmative, negative and enemy spotted. .If you are the Allies, the words are spoken in English but if you are Axis, they are spoken in German but if you say enemy spotted twice in a row for example, what you say in German will be different then what you said the first time, which is a little weird.

All in all, Medal of Honor: Heroes 2 is a pretty average game. It isn’t the prettiest looking game but the online is probably the best on the Wii and the controls are pretty good. If you are fed up with WWII shooters, don’t buy it but if you are looking for a fun, online game on the Wii, this is the game for you.

Story- B-

Design- B

Gameplay- A-

Presentation- B

OVERALL