Medal of Honor - Infiltrator (GBA)

It's 17th August 2019 in here, 74th anniversary of my beloved country. That mean i will review another game with militaristic theme and 'lone wolf soldier' protagonist. So i play Medal of Honor - Infiltrator (2003) on Gameboy Advance. 

 

That's the typical Medal Of Honor title right there. Meanwhile that guy either running away because he must immediately report on explosion on castle over there or he's the culprit that he must run for his live. As you know that (most) Medal of Honor games take period on World War 2. If you're curious what's the condition of our ancestor during that time. Well, they're conquered by Japanese after some Hollander (previous imperialist) surrender to them and run with tail between legs.     

 

Here's the main menu. Unlike Medal of Honor that i've played, it consists of distinctive menu list instead of whole office room with map board acts as 'new game' or file holder acts as 'save/load' and so on. In here, we have: 1) Campaign, is the main missions of the game 2) Multi-player, to play the game with your GBA-buddy (but i don't know how it works in emulator) 3) Option, is for your usual setting 4) Extras, contains extra game mode, credits, and Nintendo gamecube link (which i don't know what on earth it does) 5) Quick Start, to play any mission that you have played so far in Campaign for quick game without black & white movie scene and background mission. My plan is simple: play some missions on new game, some from quick start, and continue where i left off. I should mention that i played this game before but i abandoned it because i'm ignorant sod.

 

On to 1st mission, there's some movie about landing via amphibious ship. This is no Operation Overlord but the mission is still important at least that's what the background briefing said.

 

After the movie, i got presented with this objective list. Main objective: secure everything. Might as well as write "Kill any enemy you encounter" there.

 

Naturally if you're about to storm a beach, you'll be transported by amphibious ship and i'm happy with that because i very like this vessel. We got machine gunned and bombarded from off screen. But we can land safely.

 

R.I.P amphibious ship (and my 3 comrades). D:

Besides me, there's 2 other guy who survives but they run so fast that we can't work together. So i'm on my own.    

I though all of Medal of Honor are First Person Shooter but this one isn't. I'm not complaining. On contrary, i have soft spot for game with top-down perspective like Mutant Penguin, Team Buddies, or Lost World. The control is simple yet solid. Directional pad to move. 'A' button to shoot in your facing direction. 'B' button to change your weapon. 'L' button to reload. 'R' button to lock your facing direction and if you combine with moving, allow you to sidestep/strafe.      

 

In this bunker, you can change your weapon set which only consist of 2 weapon: firearm and explosive. Initially, i'm armed with Thompson SMG and hand grenades but for now i will change it into M-1 Garand rifle and Dynamite because i like bolt-action rifle. My shooting style is well aimed single shoots rather than spraying bullets as many as possible. Kind of like semi-sniper, you see. Moreover, i forgot to hold the shoot button to autofire while using the SMG so i can't kill enemies more efficiently in result i took too many damage. My health from 99 to 4 because of that.   

 

Not far from the bunker, there's Nazi soldier with MG42 machine gun. Although it's not shielded, i can't shoot him because my bullets are blocked by the machinegun itself! So you have to lure him into pointing his machinegun where he's exposed to your shoot or you can shoot that red barrel as it's written in shooter game code that "red barrel should explode when it's sufficiently shot". Unsurprisingly, i'm dead immediately in this moment. But don't worry, i still have 1 more live (represented by helmet on bottom left HUD)

 

There's branching part here. If you go right, you go to progress the main mission. If you go left, there's ammunition cache that you must destroy in order to fulfill sub-objective and small canteen to restore your health. If you destroy the ammo supply, enemies will spawn and you get a chance to welcome them with MG42. Heavy_specialcompleted07.wav 

Good thing, i carry dynamite. It's easier to use for destroying gate or ammo boxes. Just simply activate it and drop it near the things. Whereas grenade, you have to throw it near them.

Oh, look! A medical tent. According to Geneva Convention, medic staffs there should heal me even though i'm their enemy. Not really. There's just some klutz leaves med kit box there for me to take. That's all.

 

"Ambush!" said my soldier or maybe my comrade off screen and there's indeed Nazi soldiers spawn to attack me. I recognize that "Ambush!" shout from Medal of Honor - Allied Assault. It came out in 22th January 2002 so i suspect that EA use  assets from previous game to make this one.    

You can only enter buildings that don't have door that block your way in, like this house. It serves no purpose except to peek a machine gun nest and a soldier ahead.

Sniper_specialcompleted44.wav. My shoot manage to sneak past into machinegunner's head. That's my snipping luck skill there.

 

Inside of building that's guarded by the late machinegunner, i find another sub-objective: desert map document. But it looks like Nobita's zero-score test rather than important map.

Passing another gate, i'm in another turret section. I forget to tell you how the control regarding machinegun nest. Directional pad to rotate it. 'A' button to shoot it. 'L' button to use/leave the machinegun. 'R' button to move it left and right within small degree. Unlike in FPS, this machinegun doesn't need to cooldown. So feel free to spray your bullets here.

 

I found another bunker. This time i have a chance to get BAR (Browning Automatic Rifle) but i only can have 3 grenades (which is half amount from Thompson SMG set).

Although i can shoot pass the sandbag for some reason, i opt to use grenade for safer way to deal with enemies here. You can hold 'A' button to increase your throwing power. There's small indicator on how your throwing strength. The longer you hold the button, the farther your arm pose to the back. It's nice graphic feature.

After another turret section, i secure the lighthouse and signal a flare for USS Dallas (DD-199) on the back to advance. Soldier_autocappedcontrolpoint03.wav

Next mission (through 'Quick Start' game) is simple: protect said Destroyer. How hard can it be, huh?

 

Oh, i see! It's crosshair shooter section like Operation Wolf or what have you. Move the cursor with direction pad, shoot either machine gun with 'A' button or cannon with 'B' button. You can slow the crosshair movement by holding 'R' button. Simple and easy control scheme. Maybe because i played Cabal last year, i'm conditioned to shoot those tank with machine gun and that don't work obviously. So i have to use the cannon that have mysterious cooldown after firing it. Mysterious because there's no indicator or whatsoever to show us how long it take to reload. All i need to do is wait for the timer to run out with occasion of bump the crosshair to rightside to advance the scenery.

Like the famous Taito's crosshair shooter, there's occasion of medipack parachutes from above for you to shoot in order to refill your health. It's cute.

On another mission, i have to infiltrate a mansion where i will meet Diesler to get some intelligence. Spoiler: he's traitor. You know the gist of infiltration, right? Do it stealthily. Or you can just gun blaze all the way, it's totally fine [Bit Sarcasm]. If you get caught on searchlight or enemy's sight or you make explosion noise, alarm will be sounded and enemies will start to spawn to get you. Avoid the searchlight isn't hard, it has pattern on each section of the map. You can also use your weapon to club your enemies if you can get close to them unnoticed, preferably. The melee method is quite responsive, thankfully. Actually, I want more lethal method of stealth takedown than just use your gun's stock to smack the enemy unconscious like using knife or something. But that doesn't discourage me to use sneaky way. I'm trained for this from playing Tenchu back in the days.

This one is unavoidable. I have to (once again) destroy ammo supply as secondary objective. Why i'm so fixated to accomplish the sub-mission? Because i'm kind of completionist. If you play this in campaign mode, you can unlock extra feature by fulfilling secondary objective. I think.

 

You can quickly see your objectives by pressing 'select' button. Oh! I have to get another secret document. Joy! [Medium Sarcasm]

 

That Nazi officer refuses to walk away from explosive barrel. So i blow it. Demoman_specialcompleted11.wav

 

Once i enter the mansion, i get caught by bullets and grenade immediately. There goes my live, again.

 

There's the document, just lying on the floor. Does Nazi don't have budget to buy file cabinet or something? I like the (late) officer that station in chair near piano. As if i'm interrupting his hobby of playing Moonlight Sonata in his free time. 

 

Here's Diesler himself and i have to stare at his trouser's zipper for few seconds before the game pulls me back to main menu. 3:

Later at 'Unexpected Party' level

It's another crosshair shooter level but this time you have limited hand grenade instead of battery cannon and you have to hold grenade button to increase throwing distance. Because this level takes place in one screen, you can only hope some medkit hide behind barrels around here. Therefore your healing item is also limited. There's some occasion where enemy soldier try to man field gun on the center so mind that besides others that try to take potshot at you from windows and also tanks.  

After that level, i decide to continue where i left off. I forgot that my man's name is Murphy. I'm about to name him Lt. Powell from Medal of Honor Allied Assault. As i told you before that Diesler is double-crosser and i have to end his miserable life.

You know the moment when the game is getting seriously hard if it doesn't give you any tips. :p

It's yet another crosshair shooter and this time it takes place in submarine base. Here i shoot Diesler right in his hat. Yep. That's the one in hanged scaffold and blinking white because i hit him, you see. I don't think no matter how many bullets that he take, he can't be defeated not even interrupted from shooting me. I might as well as ignore him and more focus on his henchmen.

 

End Game, huh? Reminds me of the last Avengers movie so Diesler are going down for sure.

This level is no kidding. It's quite bastard hard. Enemies have more hitpoints and are able to fire more rapidly than my SMG. Plus their gun has more range. There's 3 arena before facing Diesler himself and enemies will come from 4 corridor in cardinal direction. This one is the easiest because there's decent amount of obstacle for your cover.

Maybe second area is the worst because, there's only this hole that doesn't offer you protection from enemy's Panzerfäust meanwhile you have to close in to enemy because you only armed with Thompson SMG. So many times, i wish i can switch weapon to BAR or M1 Garand. Preferably the latter. At the start of every next arena you're given small medical canteen to restore your health. You also have to heavily rely on chance of enemy dropping either small canteen or small ammo. Not to mention, the loots doesn't last forever so you have to pick them almost immediately. Therefore i'm resort to savestate at this point.

 

Here's funny moment in the last arena where me and my enemy play Cat & Mouse game behind giant yarn roll. XD

The final battle is so intense. Diesler in white coat and his 2 friends immediately siege me with either bullet barrage or grenade. It was so intense that i fail/forget to capture the moment, you have to trust me. In this screenshot, i have killed Diesler and one of friend. Now that only one last enemy here i can stay in this corner, safe from his bullets. Like in previous section, Diesler and his friend have super firearm that can deliver bullets from far distance with remarkable speed. But you can overcome them by throwing grenade before entering this area. Perfect grenade throwing can save the day. 

 

After that, there's black and white documentary of victory parade in America. boys show us smile and peace sign. Confetti everywhere. Star and Stripes flags are waving. Everyone is happy.

Oh, i thought there's more level in Campaign but no. It's over. So i abandoned this game at more or less 90% of campaign progress. Shame on me! I conclude that the campaign consists of 5 mission with 3 or more levels. Therefore there's at least 15 levels in campaign. Quite short in my opinion. By completing campaign mode, i unlock extra game mode: Survival and Max GI. You can choose them at Extra menu on main menu.    

In Max-GI mode, you replay the campaign but your uniform become black and your gun has maximum range even the SMG. This is appropriate reward from beating enemies (including Diesler himself) with super gun on last level. Heavy_specialweapon08.wav

In survival mode, -as you can guess- you have to survive as long as you can. You start near weaponry bunker to allow you to switch weapon to your liking before you walk to survival arena. Here's my summary on the arsenals:

1)           Thompson SMG set, is good for those who like to scatter bullets from close distance. The SMG has highest fire rate, fairly small damage per bullet, magazine with 30 bullets capacity, and has the biggest bullet deviation when reach long distance. You can compensate its inappropriateness to long range by having the most grenades.

2)           BAR set, is the most stable weaponry in any kind of situation but you can only have 3 grenades. The rifle has the second highest fire rate, moderate damage per bullet, magazine with 20 bullets capacity, and has the second smallest bullet deviation when reach long distance.

3)           M1 Garand set, is only for those who keen on precision shot. You must make each bullet counts except maybe for the last one. You can waste it to reload sooner. Did you know that M1 Garand rifle can't be reloaded if there's still bullet within like in history fact? Once last bullet is shot, there' loud 'Ctiiing!' noise come out from it. The rifle is bolt action rifle meaning no auto-fire at all. The rifle has clip that consists 8 bullets, biggest damage per bullet, and has the smallest bullet deviation when reach long distance. It also has the longest shooting range like you can shoot across entire screen with it unlike BAR and Thompson that has limited range. You can use the explosive to destroy secondary objective easier or trap any enemies who are eager to come near you.

4)           Pistol and bazooka, is well...the worst set in my opinion. M19A1 Colt handgun has the smallest damage per bullet, magazine with 7 bullets capacity, has the worst fire rate and slightly smaller bullet deviation when reach long distance than BAR. It also has the shortest firing range. But in return, you posses the best explosive weapon: the bazooka. You can kill any soldier in one hit with it and it's the best weapon to take out machine gun nest or tank. Think of this arsenal kind of resemble with Team Fortress 2's Soldier.   

Because i didn't mention about the last set before, i will use it on this survival mode and you can guess how does it works there.    

 

But to hell with that. I will just use machine gun nest here. In this arena, there's also limited amount of big medical box kit. But you can also hope that deceased enemies will drop medical canteen.   

 

Everything goes well until they're smart enough to throw grenades to me at once. Game Over.

Electronic Art's Medal of Honor - Infiltrator (2003) isn't First Person Shooter game in the series. But the gameplay is engaging yet solid enough. Any Top-down shooter game with strafing, get my seal of approval immediately and this game certainly get it. I believe there's many Top-down shooter game that have more variation than this. Searching every crook and nook of the level only gets you to secondary objective or health/ammo refill. But that's quite true to the core of nowadays AAA FPS game. There's 1 level where you got to deal with tank and you can get in ones yourself but i don't show it to you. Sorry. The graphic is quite standard of GBA and the music are quite good. There's speech from other Medal of Honor (i believe) that some of them will helps you to identify some condition such as "Medic!" shouts if you're in critical health or "Men down!" if you lose your live. The control is precise enough. The crosshair shooter section is also quite good though you have to tank damage in most part of it and that get tedious. You can shoot enemy's grenade but it's much more difficult to do then in Cabal. Moreover, enemies don't flinch when get shot unlike in overhead shooter level so you can't interrupt their attack there.

 

It's obvious that Medal of Honor - Infiltrator (2003) get recommendation from me. It's not FPS game but it's interesting enough with arcade-y game pace. It's also one of Medal of Honor game that i manage to finish besides 2 other in PSP. Meanwhile i quit on Medal of Honor - Allied Assault because it get frustrating due to enemy snipers. In this game, i only have to worry about machine gun nest and bazooka soldier which are manageable enough.