Medal of Honor: Allied Assault Breakthrough

By Kristan Reed Published 14 July, 2003

Mission pack No.2 for the definitive WWII shooter.

It's getting a bit old in the tooth now, but Medal of Honor: Allied Assault still stands tall among the best PC first person shooters. No wonder, then, that EA - the master of the mission pack - has another one up its sleeve for a September release.

Developed by Santa Cruz-based TKO Software, Breakthrough is again set in the thick of World War II circa 1943/4 and boasts almost twice the playing time of the rather disappointing Spearhead expansion pack, with 11 single player missions taking in the fight for Kasserine Pass, then onto Messina (Sicily), Monte Cassino and the battle of Monte Battaglia. Meanwhile, nine multiplayer maps make it into the package encompassing the streets of Messina and Anzio Beach.

Shoot Nazis in the face. For hours.

'Medal of Honor: Allied Assault Breakthrough' Screenshot 1

We had a blast at both during our whistle stop tour of EA's vast product portfolio at Camp EA, and although the game is still at a pre-alpha stage it gave us a taste of what to expect when it ships in around two months time. Perhaps the most heartening aspect of this new episode is that it will last players a decent amount of time, with around 12 to 15 hours gameplay promised for the average campaigner. After the way-too-short Spearhead, this can only be a good thing for fans of the series.

Typically with all of EA's pre-release code, it's in a far slicker state than what most other publishers would consider 'pre-alpha', and all that appeared to need addressing were some balancing issues, which product manager Dave Rosen was only too happy to admit. In every respect it once again looks like a top quality FPS, although it's naturally beginning to show its age these days next to the likes of Valve and Id's new goodies.

Flicking through the game's first couple of missions it's clear that the heavily scripted formula that made Allied Assault such a compelling game has been fully retained, and you'll start off riding on the back of a Jeep driving through a night time sortie in North Africa on the way to the battle of Kasserine Pass. In a level with more than a passing nod to the Omaha beach level in Allied Assault, you find yourself guiding US Army Sergeant John Baker through an insanely hectic battlefield scenario, with German bullets whizzing past you, deafening explosions, near misses and all the confusion of red desert dust whipping up.

Tense nervous gameplay

'Medal of Honor: Allied Assault Breakthrough' Screenshot 2

It's a predictably nervy, tense affair, and sets the scene perfectly, and before long you're driving around in a tank trying to break through enemy lines. The next level was another night-time affair, with a relentless assault of enemies appearing out of the darkness, with typically scripted events like the arrival of a jeepful of enemy re-enforcements to lend more drama to what is otherwise a case of more of the same. Aficionados won't be disappointed.

Multiplayer-wise, the most interesting addition is the new Liberation mode. When you or a team-mate gets fragged in Liberation, you end up as a POW, and it’s up to your buddies to break you out of jail [a lot like Quake II's Jailbreak mod, then -Ed]. If you all end up in choky, it's game over. The Tug-Of-War and Objective modes make a comeback, while players get the choice of playing with US, British, Italian and German skins in all the multiplayer modes.

As ever, an authentic selection of weapons are there for the taking, including the British portable mortar, called the PIAT. Various other new weapons make an entrance such as the Italian SMG, the Moschetto Automatico Beretta MOD .38A, while players can also call in artillery and air strikes. Groovy.

Gagging for more?

Breakthrough isn't pretending to be anything more than an exercise in giving the people what they want, so anyone gagging for a new campaign for a cracking, albeit ageing FPS will get good value for money when this arrives in a couple of months.

Picture of Kristan.

About Kristan Reed

Kristan is a former editor of Eurogamer, dad, Stone Roses bore and Norwich City supporter who sometimes mutters optimistically about Team Silent getting back together.

Read more articles from Kristan by visiting the Kristan Reed archive page.

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Comments (15) Latest comment 9 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • ssuellid #1 9 years ago

    The mulitplayer bits sound tempting.

  • FWB #2 9 years ago

    The infantry combat still slaps BF1942 senseless.

  • Killerbee #3 9 years ago

    I didn't bother with Spearhead, but this sounds quite good - 12 to 15 hours for an expansion pack is certainly pretty decent.

    I wonder if there'll be the same sort of system problems that were reported with Spearhead, namely that it for some reason seemed to be a lot more resource hungry than the original Allied Assault game.

    Look forward to a full EG review. :)

  • binky #4 9 years ago

    must.......reinstall........MOH!!!!

  • Sp3nn1e #5 9 years ago

    Does sound very enjoyable, but I wonder for how long when Call of Duty is released Oct/Nov time.

  • statix101 #6 9 years ago

    Still the best multiplayer game is MOHAA.Just the right pace for tactical as well as run and shoot.
    Just hope that this expansion pack is better programmed than Spearhead,as that one really did suffer from slowdown on my PC,where as the original ran very smooth...

    Hah!..i've seen french school girls shoot better!!!!!!!

  • krieg #7 9 years ago

    If this is anything like frontline, the AI will ruin the game

  • krieg #8 9 years ago

    just get soldier 9's realism mod for bf1942, great piece of work, or XWII (basically same thing, a little bit more but it messed up your music), u can find these and other great realisim mods or realistic vehicles, battlegroup42 at www.battlefield1 942files.com

  • FWB #9 9 years ago

    The problem with the WW2Experience mod is that compared to the others out there its a joke. The Omaha map is awful (and considering they're going for realism, they shouldbe ashamed), the gun textures look shite and there's now no variation between the classes.

    I can't play the latest incarnation online (no servers - I wonder why) so I have no idea whether the realism element is alright. There are some nice subtle changes, but, TBH, I'd hardly call it a mod.

  • krieg #10 9 years ago

    i liked it for the most part, the mod that is, hey FWB, if u found a better realism mod which it sounds like u have, if u could fill me in i would really appreciate it, thanks again man

  • krieg #11 9 years ago

    sorry i always ask u for stuff though, just u always know where all the good WWII stuff is at

  • FWB #12 9 years ago

    Sadly I don't. It is the only "realism" mod that I've come across. Forgotten Hope might change things a bit, but I wouldn't count on it. But if WW2Experience works for you, fair enough. Like I said, I can't play it MP because I can't find any servers, so perhaps that's where I'm missing it.

    Their Omaha Beach map still royally sucks though. :) Mind you, the Barbarossa map is actually quite nice. Really looks like the Russian steppes (although that's not very hard to design), and is great for tank battles.

  • krieg #13 9 years ago

    yeah, the only cool thing about the omaha is the exploding packs, but i hope forgotten hope is all it is hyped up to be, xwwii is fun for the one hit kill and rifle

  • FWB #14 9 years ago

    xwwii is fun for the one hit kill and rifle

    Indeed, but on the downside you can't model reduced damage based on distance, thus firing one shot from 1/2 mile away will still get you an instant kill.

    The weapon recoils are great though. The SMGs really take some effort to keep level.
    Edited by 1 at 28/08/03 @ 11:20

  • krieg #15 9 years ago

    yeah but its better than the game without the mod