Medal of Honor: Warfighter
Gritty, realistic military shooter definitely not for kids.
Medal of Honor: Warfighter
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A Lot or a Little?
The parents' guide to what's in this game.
What Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that Medal of Honor: Warfighter is a gritty military shooter that depicts modern warfare with unflinching visual realism. Enemies spurt blood, grunt, and sprawl in believable ways when shot, and melee combat scenes show foes getting stabbed in the torso and having their necks snapped. One early mission has players play as a terrorist carrying out training activities against wooden targets, but the rest of the time they're in the roles of honest, noble soldiers doing their best to defend the world from terrorist plots. Parents should also note that this game facilitates open voice communication with strangers.
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What’s It About?
MEDAL OF HONOR: WARFIGHTER is set in a wide range of exotic locations, all real-world terrorist hotspots. Its story, some of which is based on the exploits of actual soldiers, sees an elite team of U.S. soldiers tracking down massive quantities of explosive material intended for use in terrorist attacks. It also occasionally cuts back stateside to show the traumatic impact the life of a soldier can have on his family. Players spend the bulk of their time engaged in cinematic first-person shooter action, with brief detours that involve driving, piloting a boat, and manning guns on hovering helicopters. Once the six-hour story is finished, most players will hop online and take the fight to their friends in frenetic multiplayer battles that allow players to take on the roles of soldiers from ten different countries.
Is It Any Good?
Medal of Honor: Warfighter desperately wants to be a serious military action experience within a crowd of more Hollywood-ish competitors. It succeeds in some ways -- its depiction of the strife that soldierly life causes within families is admirable -- but fails in others, mostly to do with how it plays.
The gunslinging action is decent, but suffers issues like poor artificial intelligence (evident in both enemies and allies) and the occasional out-of-place mission, like a stealth driving sequence in which players drive from one hiding place to another in a Dubai neighborhood. Minor glitches -- enemies floating in mid-air, problems with damage properly registering -- only compound matters. It can still be entertaining, particularly for players who want a deep and distinctive multiplayer mode, but it doesn't quite sit in the same class as ultra-polished games like those in the Call of Duty and Battlefield franchises.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about online safety. What precautions should you observe in games with open voice communication? Should you be any less vigilant when playing games with open text communication?
Families can also discuss what it means to be a soldier. What are some traits that might distinguish soldiers from other people? Which of these characteristics do you think you possess? Can you be courageous, selfless, and noble without carrying a weapon and marching off to battle?
Game Details
- Platforms: PlayStation 3, Windows, Xbox 360
- Subjects: Social Studies: events, global awareness
- Skills: Collaboration: cooperation, meeting challenges together, Thinking & Reasoning: strategy
- Available online?: Not available online
- Publisher: Electronic Arts
- Release date: October 23, 2012
- Genre: First-Person Shooter
- ESRB rating: M for Blood, Intense Violence, Strong Language
- Last updated: August 26, 2016
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