Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond is set to take the series back to its WW2 roots, with the Oculus-exclusive project now confirmed to be helmed by the series’ original director. Peter Hirschmann, who wrote and directed the original 1999 game, is returning to help Respawn Entertainment deliver the next game in the Medal of Honor series. A trailer for the game was also revealed.
In an Oculus blog post attached to the article, Hirschmann confirmed that the goal of the next game aligns with other projects in the series. Above and Beyond’s director states that he and the Respawn team will make the game “as true as we can to the experiences of people that fought through” World War 2, promising a story “inspired by what they went through.” Respawn has been on a roll lately, with the incredibly successful releases of Apex Legends and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order showing the studio’s potential, and by extension, the potential of Above and Beyond.
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The game is set to follow an OSS member, a group that was the start of the modern CIA seen featured in games like Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War. The trailer’s description details some of the objectives players will have in Above and Beyond’s campaign, including “sabotaging Nazi bases” and “aiding the French resistance.” The game will be set in war-torn Europe and will feature land, air, and sea gameplay as well.
As for the trailer itself, it does showcase some of the “ordinary people” and “citizen soldiers” that Hirschmann described within the blog post. The trailer showcases tank gameplay in addition to numerous shootouts with weapons from the era. A bunch of different weather conditions are shown as well, with a desert and snowy area joining the expected WW2 locales of destroyed cities and countrysides. Focusing on a secret agent opens a lot of potential for gameplay variety, so it will be interesting to see what kinds of mission players will embark on in Above and Beyond. Based on this trailer, Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond is giving off some serious Battlefield War Stories vibes.
Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond joins games like the upcoming sequel Half Life: Alyx as a VR experience with a deep, full length story for fans to enjoy. This game and a few others have clearly marked a major transition for the VR genre, as the technology is becoming more refined with each passing year and allowing for far deeper games on the platform. While it would be nice to see the game release for PlayStation VR as well, the trailer shows that it is making use of all the power of the Oculus Rift. It certainly looks better than the original Medal of Honor’s visuals, as the classic game doesn’t hold up very well nowadays.
With the series’ original director returning and an incredibly talented studio in Respawn Entertainment developing the game, Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond is starting to look very promising. While it may not be the Medal of Honor game fans initially expected, today’s trailer shows that it is still something worth keeping an eye on.
Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond will release for the Oculus Rift this holiday.
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Source: Oculus
