Medal of Honor: Vanguard

So it is with great delight we can confirm to you that Vanguard on the Wii, is a sort of 'compilation' disk of all the 'best bits' of WWII fun. You get a bit of a familiar feeling right through this game. If you ignore the rather badly implemented Wii controls this is essentially odds and sods of various MOH titles botched together with a bit of glue and shoved onto the market in an attempt to make some cash. Oh EA, how could you...

 

You get to crawl through trenches, run through villages, avoid snipers, take part in a major assault and you get to do it all whilst waving your trusty Wii-mote about. Problem is, you've done it all before and it was better back then than it is now. There is no cohesion, no sense of a complete game and most of all, no sense of money well spent. We made the point of trawling you through each and every MOH game ever created (sorry about that), but it illustrates a point. If you've played ANY of those games, you don't need to buy this one. In fact, we'd even go so far as to say that nobody needs to buy Vanguard on Wii.

Much like Red Steel before it, Vanguard falls at the first hurdle. The Wii-mote might look a bit like some sort of killing stick, but a gun it isn't. The technology just doesn't translate to an intuitive FPS experience (yet) and until developers can work out how to implement it correctly all FPS games on the Wii will, to an extent, stink. Before you can even enjoy the game properly you have to get to grips with an evil control mechanic. The main problem lies in knowing just where you are pointing.

 

There is no cross-hair on the screen to act as a reference point as you move the Wii-mote about. Once you get the hang of this and start firing with vague accuracy you might start to notice another problem, shots mysteriously miss their targets. Or do they? Well, not they don't actually. For some strange reason the hit-detection is appalling meaning that no matter how accurate you are, your shot won't necessarily hit. Fun.

In some respects it does make good use of the control system. You get to check grenades about and (our favourite part), you get to control a parachute. Using the Wii-mote and Nunchuck to tug on the parachute lines you can control your descent. It really is fantastically good fun and an innovative use of the Wii's control system. Problem is, it isn't used often enough and is very much the game's only good moment. And there are plenty of bad ones.

 

For example, the simple art of reloading. This is done with a quick flick of the Nunchuck in one direction. Flick it in the other direction and you do an about turn. Never before has reloading a weapon been such a risky business. Needless to say, turning right around mid-fight isn't a very good plan. EA clearly have a sense of humour too. Up and downward flicks on the Nunchuck control your stance, so you'll find yourself doing all sorts of involuntary dance moves when you actually just want to stand quite still and shoot. We've said it once and we'll say it again. Developers need to THINK about how they use Wii controls in games. What's most frustrating, is the blatancy of what EA are doing. This isn't trying to be innovative or comprehensive, this is just an exercise in money making. We're not impressed.