In this review, we try to survive the onslaught in the Game Boy Advance game Medal of Honor: Infiltrator. We find out how well this top down shooter plays.
This game was released in 2003.
We know quite a bit about this series at this point. First, we tried the original Medal of Honor for the Playstation. that game wound up getting a mediocre score. Next up, we gave Medal of Honor: Underground a spin. That game also got a mediocre score. After that, we tried Medal of Honor: Frontline. That game got a pretty decent score.
From there, we tried Medal of Honor: Allied Assault. That game got a pretty good score. We then moved on to try the game Medal of Honor: Allied Assault – Spearhead. That expansion got a reasonable score. From there, we tried the other expansion, Medal of Honor: Allied Assult – Breakthrough. That got a respectable score as well.
From there, we tried Medal of Honor: Rising Sun. That game got a pretty mediocre score. Finally, we tried Medal of Honor: Vanguard. That game got a passable, but mediocre score. So, after some time away from this series, we decided to give a Game Boy Advance game a play to see how well it played.
The story is fairly straight forward. You play the character Murphy. Your missions take place in World War II in various situations. Your missions can involve infiltration, sabotage, and overall survival.
Most of your missions take place on the field while you run around on foot. You’ll be given a regular weapon and an explosive weapon. Press A to fire and B to switch weapons. You’ll find yourself taking on various German infantry. Most will have a regular machine gun while some will act as grenade throwers. A few of them will even carry bazooka’s and a small subset can both fire a rifle and throw grenades.
If you take out the right enemy, you may be lucky to have that enemy drop an item. That item will either be extra ammo or a health canteen. The ammo is generally good enough for one ammo clip. The health canteen will restore a small amount of health. You’ll have to get to those pickups quickly, though, because after a small period of time, those items will vanish from the screen on their own.
There are occasional item pickups as well. This can include an extra canteen or small ammo pack which act as the same as canteens and packs dropped by enemies. The only difference is that they do not disappear after a period of time.
Additionally, there is the health box. This will restore your health to maximum. Wise use of these is definitely recommended. Also, there is the large ammo pack which will fully restore your ammunition reserves.
You’ll also encounter bunkers and house checkpoints. Run into the building in question. If you get a selection of weapons, then you’ll know you found one. The most obvious function these serve is to allow you to not only give you a chance to toggle which kind of weapon you wish to use, but also replenish your ammunition reserves. The second purpose these buildings serve is to allow players to start here with full health should players lose a life.
While not always available, players can get a total of four possible weapon combination.
The first weapon combination is a regular machine gun and grenades. The machine gun has the most ammunition, but the worst accuracy and firing range. Good to short range combat, but don’t expect the best performance. The big bonus here is getting a whopping 10 grenades which you can use to take out groups of enemies or infrastructure.
The second combination is the assault rifle and grenades. The assault rifle has somewhat better accuracy and firing range, but a smaller ammunition reserve. Meanwhile, you do get grenades again, but you can only carry 5 of them at a time. A good all round weapon combination.
The third weapon combination is the rifle and dynamite. The rifle features the best accuracy and accuracy in the game. The pitfall is that it features a small ammunition reserve. Great for long range combat that even extends just past your field of view. Just don’t expect much in the way of rapid fire. Also, make as many shots count as possible because the ammunition clips are also very small. Complimenting this combination is the dynamite. You get 10. Just set the dynamite, drop, and run to safety. Ideal for blowing up infrastructure, but extremely difficult to use in combat.
The fourth and final weapon combination is the pistol and bazooka. This is the only combination that allows you to carry two weapons at once. The pistol isn’t much of a weapon, but it’s better than nothing. It features good accuracy and decent range. Unfortunately, ammunition reserve and fire rate do leave a bit to be desired. The bazooka, however, does make up for the lack of power. While the ammunition reserve leaves a bit to be desired, the explosive impact makes it easy for taking on enemies, machine, and infrastructure. Just make sure enemies are close to walls or else risk watching the shell fly harmlessly past your enemies.
There is one additional weapon you’ll find along the way. That is the fixed machine gun nests. These nests feature possibly the best gun in the whole game: the mounted machine gun. This weapon boasts very good accuracy, excellent range (similar to the rifle), and, best of all, unlimited ammunition and no reloading! There really are only two flaws to this weapon: somewhat limited angles to shoot at and the inability to move it. Good for taking on a small rush of enemies, but something you’ll be forced to leave behind eventually. Also note that enemies can use these as well.
Another feature is the ability to ride a tank part way through. These weapons feature its own health and a tank cannon with unlimited ammunition. Great for taking out gun emplacements and buildings. As an added bonus, you can run over regular enemies, killing them off without firing a shot. The pitfall is that it requires a lot of room to manoeuvre and it can be annoying to aim.
In each mission, you’ll be given a set of objectives. These objectives are subdivided into two lists: mission objectives and sub-mission objectives. The mission objectives are required for completion of the level. Completing these will earn you a gold medal. Sub-objective missions are optional. Completing them in the level will earn you an additional silver medal. Getting all golds unlocks survival mode. Getting all golds and silvers unlocks Max-GI mode.
While most of the game features you moving around on foot, you’ll also encounter a few missions that places you in a first person perspective machine gun nest. These missions generally are little more than shooting galleries. The goal is to survive the onslaught and run the timer down to zero. Survive and you’ll move on to the next mission.
The machine gun nest gives you unlimited ammo. Just keep in mind that you’ll have a hard time aiming when firing. It can be difficult enough to aim without firing as it is. Shoot health packs to restore health. The B button will allow you to toss one of your 10 grenades. Good for tanks and other armoured vehicles out there. The faster you kill your enemies, the less likely they’ll be able to take up a position and open fire on you.
In all, there are 5 missions in total. Each mission features a small set of smaller missions for you to complete. Beat all 5 missions and beat the game.
From the get go, it is clear that the developers tried to take the console and PC versions of the game and cram it into the handheld console. It is complete with the original sounds and general menu systems featured in other Medal of Honor games. So, if you have played other games in the series, a fair bit about this game will definitely become familiar to you in a hurry.
The weapon system, however, is particularly odd. Being limited to four pairs of weapons along with the inability to mix and match definitely gives the game a more limited feel. In other games of the series, you could at least carry a few weapons along with the trusty grenades. In this game, you have a much more limited ability to pick and choose weapons that suits the situation.
Another limitation is the limited angles. While some of this is alleviated by the ability to hold down R and strafe, it would probably have been better if this game features an auto-aim ability. This would reduce the aiming “blind spots” that are constantly plaguing you.
While the length is a bit shorter than other games in the series, there is still a fair bit for players to dig in to.
Another oddity is the lack of difficulty control. An ability to choose between easy, medium, and hard, is a very well established standard in games at this stage. Seeing it missing here is definitely strange. As a result, you are stuck with whatever the game throws at you.
As for the difficulty itself, you really have to choose your weapons carefully. Picking the short range machine gun in an open field will make for a near impossible situation for you to survive. As a result, you’ll definitely need to think carefully on which weapon you need to choose before heading out onto the field. Even then, you need a reasonable plan that will allow you to evade enemy fire and take out some pretty tough opponents. In the end, the game winds up being difficult, but possible.
Generally speaking, this is a game with its share of flaws, but does remain to be a fairly playable game. The lack of difficulty selection combined with somewhat limited controls can be annoying at times, but doesn’t necessarily make the game impossible. The tank controls and the machine gun nest missions can prove to be a bit annoying at times as well. In addition, the extremely limited ability to choose weapons is also odd. Still, the length is reasonable and the game does play reasonably well overall despite the flaws. So, it’s a decent game to play.
Graphically, this game doesn’t necessarily feature very many faults. The animation sequences are decent enough. The different textures of different areas work pretty reasonable well. Also, the explosions throughout the game work pretty well. The graphics may not knock you out of your seat, but there’s nothing necessarily wrong with them either for a handheld game of the era.
As for audio, the music takes elements from the other games and translates them into the handheld console. The theme song is probably the most successful translation while the in-game level music is reasonably well done. The various sound effects work decently enough as well. A positive is definitely the voice samples. While there isn’t a huge variety, it’s a decent enough sprinkling where you won’t get tired of them either. So, a decent effort all around here.
Overall, this is an alright game. It’s nothing I would jump up and down and get excited over, but at the same time, you could do a whole lot worse with this game. The game does suffer from a few more minor flaws such as aiming blind spots, control issues with vehicles, and a very limited weapon selection. The lack of difficult options is odd, though the game will, at the very least, give players a chance as long as they are smart about their weapon choices and movement. Still, it has reasonable length and is definitely playable despite the flaws. The graphics are pretty reasonable and the sound is decent. So, a reasonable game all around.
Overall
Furthest point in game:
Beat the game and got 7 silver medals.
Survival mode:
Time: 3:17
Kills: 42
General gameplay: 18/25
Replay value: 7/10
Graphics: 7/10
Audio: 3/5
Overall rating: 70%
Drew Wilson on Twitter: @icecube85 and Facebook.
