Medal of Honor: Vanguard
Encyclopedia
Medal of Honor: Vanguard is the tenth installment in the Medal of Honor series
of World War II
first-person shooter
s. It was developed by Electronic Arts
' Los Angeles studio
with Budcat Creations
and released for the PlayStation 2
and Wii
on March 26, 2007, in the United States
.
forces of Nazi Germany
and the Kingdom of Italy
.
The first mission, which is Operation Husky places Keegan in a C-47 aircraft somewhere off the coast of Sicily
Suddenly, the plane explodes, and Keegan is thrown out. He manages to deploy his parachute and make it to the ground, where he fights through a town against Italian
forces. Once through the town, they make their way around the coast to a bunker somewhere in Sicily, and shoot their way in, defeating the German forces inside. For this level, you are armed with a Thompson submachine gun
, you may pick up weapons such as the MP40
and the M1 Garand rifle.
In the second mission, Operation Neptune
, Keegan is transferred to the 17th Airborne Division glider unit for the invasion of Normandy
. The glider crashes, and Keegan and one other soldier are the only surviving soldiers. They fight their way to another group, where they proceed to blow up key bridges across the Normandy landscape. Afterwards, Keegan crosses a swamp, cuts down paratroopers and destroys a halftrack. Keegan proceeds to destroy one other bridge and makes his way to the chateau where the Germans are headquartered. They fight their way through, only to discover it's a trap and they're fenced in by four Panzer Mk. V tank
. After defeating the tanks, they discover that their Sergeant has been killed, and Keegan becomes their Sergeant. This is the first level where you can use the MP44 gun.
The third mission is Operation Market Garden
. During the operation, Keegan's squad fights their way through the countryside until they reach the Dutch
town of Nijmegen, where they encounter heavy fire from MG42 machine gun
emplacements throughout the town. The mission ends when Keegan destroys a Tiger tank
in the town square.
The fourth and final mission in the game is Operation Varsity
. The mission starts when Keegan lands in the bank of the Rhine River, where they take heavy fire from Wehrmacht
forces. They make their way to a German farm, where they fight off terrible attacks before continuing on to a German trench system. After neutralizing the trenches and the bunkers surrounding them, Keegan makes his way through a factory held by German snipers. The final battle of the game takes place outside of the factory.
to a M1 Garand rifle and a drum magazine
for a Thompson submachine gun
, although these upgrades are only available on certain levels.
At the start of each of the operations, players parachute
onto a battle
field (with the exception of a glider
insertion at the start of the Invasion of Normandy) and can roughly designate where they land. Players who land at certain points in a level will be able to pick up weapon upgrades and ammunition. Missions can be played out in different ways depending on where the player lands and which weapons he or she obtains.
Content-wise, both versions of the game are the same. However, the Wii version implements the Wii Remote
to accomplish such movements as crouching, jumping, making quick turns, weapon strikes, reloading, and shooting. These actions are accomplished with a standard video game interface (buttons and joysticks) on the PS2 version and are also an option on the Wii.
to support more than two players.) This is currently the last Medal of Honor game to feature split screen mode.
There are five modes:
gave Vanguard for the Wii a 7 out of 10, while the PS2 version received a 7.2 out of 10. GameSpot
gave the game a 5.5 out of 10 for both the Wii and PS2 versions. Most criticism for the game focused the poor graphics engine
, lack of online play
, and poor enemy intelligence
. Also criticized was the fact that many of the game elements were already featured in the series or by other WWII shooters (with the exception of the parachute drop). Aaron Thomas of GameSpot stated that "There's really no reason to pick it up on the PlayStation 2, and thanks to a higher price tag for the Wii version, there's very little reason to buy it for the Wii, either". United Kingdom
-based Website
Mansized scored Vanguard a mere 2/5, claiming "Vanguard is a pretty shocking game".
Medal of Honor (series)
Medal of Honor is the name of a series of first-person shooter games set in World War II, with an October 2010 reboot based on the conflicts of present day Afghanistan. The first game was developed by DreamWorks Interactive and published by Electronic Arts in 1999 for the PlayStation game console...
of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
first-person shooter
First-person shooter
First-person shooter is a video game genre that centers the gameplay on gun and projectile weapon-based combat through first-person perspective; i.e., the player experiences the action through the eyes of a protagonist. Generally speaking, the first-person shooter shares common traits with other...
s. It was developed by Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts, Inc. is a major American developer, marketer, publisher and distributor of video games. Founded and incorporated on May 28, 1982 by Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer games industry and was notable for promoting the designers and programmers...
' Los Angeles studio
EA Los Angeles
EA Los Angeles is a video game developer founded originally in 1995 as DreamWorks Interactive LLC, a subsidiary of DreamWorks SKG....
with Budcat Creations
Budcat Creations
Budcat Creations was a video game developer based in Iowa City, Iowa, United States and was a wholly owned subsidiary of Activision, though they formerly had partnerships with Electronic Arts and Majesco. They were largely responsible for porting titles to non-target consoles...
and released for the PlayStation 2
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...
and Wii
Wii
The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...
on March 26, 2007, in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Plot
Players take on the role of Sgt. Frank Keegan, a member of the 82nd Airborne Division, and 17th Airborne Division fighting the AxisAxis Powers
The Axis powers , also known as the Axis alliance, Axis nations, Axis countries, or just the Axis, was an alignment of great powers during the mid-20th century that fought World War II against the Allies. It began in 1936 with treaties of friendship between Germany and Italy and between Germany and...
forces of Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
and the Kingdom of Italy
Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946)
The Kingdom of Italy was a state forged in 1861 by the unification of Italy under the influence of the Kingdom of Sardinia, which was its legal predecessor state...
.
The first mission, which is Operation Husky places Keegan in a C-47 aircraft somewhere off the coast of Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
Suddenly, the plane explodes, and Keegan is thrown out. He manages to deploy his parachute and make it to the ground, where he fights through a town against Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
forces. Once through the town, they make their way around the coast to a bunker somewhere in Sicily, and shoot their way in, defeating the German forces inside. For this level, you are armed with a Thompson submachine gun
Thompson submachine gun
The Thompson is an American submachine gun, invented by John T. Thompson in 1919, that became infamous during the Prohibition era. It was a common sight in the media of the time, being used by both law enforcement officers and criminals...
, you may pick up weapons such as the MP40
MP40
The MP 38 and MP 40 , often called Schmeisser, were submachine guns developed in Nazi Germany and used extensively by paratroopers, tank crews, platoon and squad leaders, and other troops during World War II.-Development:The MP 40 descended from its predecessor, the MP 38, which was in turn based...
and the M1 Garand rifle.
In the second mission, Operation Neptune
Operation Neptune
The Normandy landings, codenamed Operation Neptune, were the landing operations of the Allied invasion of Normandy, in Operation Overlord, during World War II. The landings commenced on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 , beginning at 6:30 AM British Double Summer Time...
, Keegan is transferred to the 17th Airborne Division glider unit for the invasion of Normandy
Normandy
Normandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is in France.The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two régions:...
. The glider crashes, and Keegan and one other soldier are the only surviving soldiers. They fight their way to another group, where they proceed to blow up key bridges across the Normandy landscape. Afterwards, Keegan crosses a swamp, cuts down paratroopers and destroys a halftrack. Keegan proceeds to destroy one other bridge and makes his way to the chateau where the Germans are headquartered. They fight their way through, only to discover it's a trap and they're fenced in by four Panzer Mk. V tank
Panther tank
Panther is the common name of a medium tank fielded by Nazi Germany in World War II that served from mid-1943 to the end of the European war in 1945. It was intended as a counter to the T-34, and to replace the Panzer III and Panzer IV; while never replacing the latter, it served alongside it as...
. After defeating the tanks, they discover that their Sergeant has been killed, and Keegan becomes their Sergeant. This is the first level where you can use the MP44 gun.
The third mission is Operation Market Garden
Operation Market Garden
Operation Market Garden was an unsuccessful Allied military operation, fought in the Netherlands and Germany in the Second World War. It was the largest airborne operation up to that time....
. During the operation, Keegan's squad fights their way through the countryside until they reach the Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
town of Nijmegen, where they encounter heavy fire from MG42 machine gun
MG42
The MG 42 is a 7.9mm universal machine gun that was developed in Nazi Germany and entered service with the Wehrmacht in 1942...
emplacements throughout the town. The mission ends when Keegan destroys a Tiger tank
Tiger I
Tiger I is the common name of a German heavy tank developed in 1942 and used in World War II. The final official German designation was Panzerkampfwagen Tiger Ausf. E, often shortened to Tiger. It was an answer to the unexpectedly formidable Soviet armour encountered in the initial months of...
in the town square.
The fourth and final mission in the game is Operation Varsity
Operation Varsity
Operation Varsity was a successful joint American–British airborne operation that took place toward the end of World War II...
. The mission starts when Keegan lands in the bank of the Rhine River, where they take heavy fire from Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
forces. They make their way to a German farm, where they fight off terrible attacks before continuing on to a German trench system. After neutralizing the trenches and the bunkers surrounding them, Keegan makes his way through a factory held by German snipers. The final battle of the game takes place outside of the factory.
Gameplay
Players are able to customize their weapons, such as adding a telescopic sightTelescopic sight
A telescopic sight, commonly called a scope, is a sighting device that is based on an optical refracting telescope. They are equipped with some form of graphic image pattern mounted in an optically appropriate position in their optical system to give an accurate aiming point...
to a M1 Garand rifle and a drum magazine
Drum magazine
A drum magazine is a type of firearms magazine that is cylindrical in shape, similar to a drum. Instead of rounds being stored flat, as in a more common box magazine, rounds in a drum magazine are stored in a spiral around the center of the magazine, facing the direction of the barrel.There are...
for a Thompson submachine gun
Thompson submachine gun
The Thompson is an American submachine gun, invented by John T. Thompson in 1919, that became infamous during the Prohibition era. It was a common sight in the media of the time, being used by both law enforcement officers and criminals...
, although these upgrades are only available on certain levels.
At the start of each of the operations, players parachute
Parachuting
Parachuting, also known as skydiving, is the action of exiting an aircraft and returning to earth with the aid of a parachute. It may or may not involve a certain amount of free-fall, a time during which the parachute has not been deployed and the body gradually accelerates to terminal...
onto a battle
Battle
Generally, a battle is a conceptual component in the hierarchy of combat in warfare between two or more armed forces, or combatants. In a battle, each combatant will seek to defeat the others, with defeat determined by the conditions of a military campaign...
field (with the exception of a glider
Military glider
Military gliders have been used by the military of various countries for carrying troops and heavy equipment to a combat zone, mainly during the Second World War. These engineless aircraft were towed into the air and most of the way to their target by military transport planes, e.g...
insertion at the start of the Invasion of Normandy) and can roughly designate where they land. Players who land at certain points in a level will be able to pick up weapon upgrades and ammunition. Missions can be played out in different ways depending on where the player lands and which weapons he or she obtains.
Content-wise, both versions of the game are the same. However, the Wii version implements the Wii Remote
Wii Remote
The , also known as the Wiimote, is the primary controller for Nintendo's Wii console. A main feature of the Wii Remote is its motion sensing capability, which allows the user to interact with and manipulate items on screen via gesture recognition and pointing through the use of accelerometer and...
to accomplish such movements as crouching, jumping, making quick turns, weapon strikes, reloading, and shooting. These actions are accomplished with a standard video game interface (buttons and joysticks) on the PS2 version and are also an option on the Wii.
Multiplayer
Multiplayer has been included in the game in the form of a 2-4 player split-screen mode with both the Wii and PS2 versions. (The PS2 version requires a multitapMultitap
A multitap is a video game console peripheral that increases the number of controller ports available to the player, allowing additional controllers to be used in play...
to support more than two players.) This is currently the last Medal of Honor game to feature split screen mode.
There are five modes:
- Deathmatch
- Team Deathmatch
- Capture the Flag
- King of the Hill
- Scavenger Hunt
Reception
Overall Vanguard received "average or mixed" reviews. IGNIGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
gave Vanguard for the Wii a 7 out of 10, while the PS2 version received a 7.2 out of 10. GameSpot
GameSpot
GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
gave the game a 5.5 out of 10 for both the Wii and PS2 versions. Most criticism for the game focused the poor graphics engine
Game engine
A game engine is a system designed for the creation and development of video games. There are many game engines that are designed to work on video game consoles and personal computers...
, lack of online play
Online game
An online game is a game played over some form of computer network. This almost always means the Internet or equivalent technology, but games have always used whatever technology was current: modems before the Internet, and hard wired terminals before modems...
, and poor enemy intelligence
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
. Also criticized was the fact that many of the game elements were already featured in the series or by other WWII shooters (with the exception of the parachute drop). Aaron Thomas of GameSpot stated that "There's really no reason to pick it up on the PlayStation 2, and thanks to a higher price tag for the Wii version, there's very little reason to buy it for the Wii, either". United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
-based Website
Website
A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...
Mansized scored Vanguard a mere 2/5, claiming "Vanguard is a pretty shocking game".