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Medal of Honor is widely regarded as the
premiere World War II shooter series, largely thanks to the way it blends
exciting Nazi-killing action with a heartfelt look at the triumphs of America's
"greatest generation." Unfortunately, the latest installment,
Pacific Assault, sacrifices much of the blasting for more story
– a mistake that costs it dearly.
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 Like the name implies, Pacific Assault changes
theaters from the been-there-done-that beaches of Normandy
to the coasts of Japan.
Instead of storming the German front on D-Day, Pacific Assault kicks off with
the air raid at Pearl Harbor. It's
every bit as emotional an experience, but like most of the game, this opening
sequence is more about style than substance – whereas the D-Day landing was a
fully interactive experience, Pacific Assault's landmark battle is reduced to
nothing more than a glorified rail shooter.
Another pain is just how much of the game finds you without a weapon.
During the first few levels, you are just about always defenseless.
Instead of shooting enemy commandos, you'll trudge through smoke-filled ship
passages in an attempt to hit the right switches that will allow you to
escape the flaming vessel. Not fun. You can't win the very first
level – it's meant to be lost, leading into a training stage in the form of a
flashback. Do these choices help to immerse players in the world of
WWII Pacific operations? Certainly. Are they fun? That's
debatable.
When it finally does get down to the gunplay, Pacific Assault manages to
bring a few new twists to the wartime proceedings. Instead of picking
up health packs, you can use a medic to heal you once you've been
incapacitated. Your allies no longer are useless buffoons and can now
be controlled with a simple squad order interface. On the whole though,
this is the same old shoot-to-kill stuff that's been put out for years.
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 Though this is undoubtedly the best looking
Medal of Honor game thus far, Pacific Assault is no match for the genre
heavyweights of today. Even on a high-end system, the game often
suffers from hiccups and slowdown when the action gets intense. On the
plus side, the audio is just as great as it's ever been in a war shooter,
thanks to grade-A voiceovers and a stirring score worthy of a feature
film.
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In the end, that sentence may very well be the core of Pacific Assault's
shortcomings – the game is very slickly produced, but it's almost as if in
the course of applying all that polish, the creators forgot that this was a
game, not a movie. As a result, it'll tug at your emotions more than
your trigger finger. Let the buyer beware.
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