Parents' Guide to Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond

While virtual reality gaming has come a long way in recent years, moving past the days of being a gimmicky fad and into the realm of top tier gaming, this title's issues keep it from getting any medals. Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond is EA's attempt to bring a true console experience to VR while returning to its WWII roots, trying to breathe new life into the franchise. On the surface, it seems like it would hit the mark. The game requires some heavy-duty computer hardware to power its virtual WWII environments. The controls are intuitive enough to feel natural, recreating the feel of firing off some period accurate firearms. There's both a substantially meaty single-player campaign and a fast-paced multiplayer component. And to drive it all home, there's the unique documentary style interviews with real-life WWII veterans recounting their personal tales and adding an extra emotion punch to the experience. But while all the pieces seem to be there, they unfortunately never quite fit together just right.

For starters, while the high system requirements help to make the game look sharp and detailed, the character animations look stiff and awkward when they move. They're less like people and more like wooden mannequins. Other visual hiccups pop up from time to time, but usually they're little more than the occasional odd distraction. One frustrating thing about the gameplay is the enemy's uncanny accuracy. While you might have trouble lining up the perfect shot to take out a sniper in the distance, they seem to have no problems picking you off at range. And even though the multiplayer is fun, finding a full group of people to play with is a rarity. In most cases, the game fills empty slots with AI bots which are either completely clueless or ace sharpshooters. Either way, it's a far cry from fighting against live opponents. All told, Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond is a decent WWII shooter that stops short of being either above or beyond other VR shooters.