Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond

VR Doesn't Quite Come Naturally To Above And Beyond, But It's Still An Impressive Medal Of Honor Reboot

“War is awful. The cost of war is terrible,” Hirschmann says. I’ve never served, but I have family who have and I don’t disagree. “World War II was a seminal event that affects the world we live in today, and the echoes are louder than they’ve ever been. Knowing history is crucial.” 8/10

Moreover, there are some staggering omissions of accessibility I feel this game really ought to address in addition to what it already offers. That said, I also feel that when it comes everything Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond offers, Respawn Entertainment has gone out of their way to show us that not only does the Medal of Honor franchise still have meaningful life left in it, but there are things this game does that other games can look to as a benchmark of how to deliver a fully fleshed-out and visceral action VR experience.

Medal of Honor used to be the place to go when it came to a compelling single-player first-person shooter. EA had the market locked down for somebody who wanted a good storyline and then close-quarters multiplayer action with Medal of Honor and had the market locked down for huge open battlefields with the aptly named Battlefield series. The series dropped off, was reborn, then seemed to die again following the abysmal Medal of Honor Warfighter. Now it's time for Respawn Entertainment (Titanfall, Apex Legends & Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order) to have a go with Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond.

It’s clear that Respawn still has the chops to make a quality Medal of Honor game. There’s a lot of heart here, and an attention to detail that must be admired. With that said, it’s clear the studio had troubles accomplishing its goals in VR - and the result is a curious VR experience that’s worth experiencing, but equally is nothing like a VR system seller. It stands strides behind Alyx - but then again, so do most VR games.

Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond is a weird game in that it feels like it should have come out several years before it actually arrived. It’s stuck in time. It’s easy to appreciate the budget that went into making it look the way it does, and I hope Respawn gives it another go; but it needed so much more than a shiny veneer to survive in this current VR climate.

The action in Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond never quite rises to the lofty goals it sets for itself as a way of honoring the real soldiers of World War 2. Its single-player campaign and Survival modes are enjoyable and offer a unique way to experience famous World War 2 battles reenacted in VR, but don't do much to distinguish themselves beyond that in terms of shooter mechanics and the bullet-sponge Nazis aren’t that much fun to shoot at. Considering the absolutely wild system requirements there is a staggering cost of entry to this ride, and while it’s a decent enough shooter, it ends up ...

I’m going to be honest here and say right off the bat that I’m extremely disappointed with Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond. Quality, high-budgeted VR titles are few and far between, and with how amazing Respawn has been lately I was hoping this was going to be another Half-Life: Alyx. A fancy and immersive VR game set in WWII is something that I’d be very much into. Unfortunately, this title continues to shoot itself in the foot every time its about to offer something worthwhile.

An inconsistent, sometimes boring, virtual reality World War 2 adventure.

Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond has a good foundation for its WWII action, but poor pacing and a poorer story hold it back.