Medal of Honor:Airborne MP summit review

[rudedog]

As some of you may know, I take the Medal of Honor series very personally. It's what help start this site and my own online involvement with both the Medal of Honor and Call of Duty communities. With that said, you may see some of my personal feelings thrown in with this review, I apologies for that now.

For this event EA picked a very special place. Fort Bragg the home of the 82nd Airborne, will be our backdrop. I really don't want that to over shadow this article and the multiplayer review of the game, so I'll save that unbelievable experience for the end of the article. Also, this article will be more of the overview of the technical aspects of the multiplayer side of the game. We will also provide links to other summit articles as they come on line.

Sit back and prepare yourself, it's going to feel like you're in a C47 over Normandy in June of 44, for operation Overload!

While Medal of Honor Airborne has been announced for some time and we have covered the single player aspect of the game here , this site and our visitors want to know more about the multiplayer aspect of the game. So when I received the invite from Blackhat (EA's community manager for the Medal of Honor series) for the MOH MP summit, I was very excited to say the least.

This all started about a year ago. I had a very long phone conversation with Blackhat and Tom Hess, Multiplayer Producer for Airborne. We discussed many aspects of what what server admins needed and wanted in a PC game server. Shortly after that, we where able to setup a small dedicated Medal of Honor AlliedAssault game to invite some of the Airborne devs in to play and see some of our frustrations first hand. Needless to say, within the first 5 minutes we had to password the server because of some unruly smacktards joining us (timing is everything) and we had no way of ridding them.

After that, we did not hear much from Tom or the other EA devs as they where busy working on the final product. Blackhat has always been in contact with us, at least on a weekly basis giving us updates and asking for other non SP/MP specific questions. Like mentioned above, MajorWoody attended several single player summits between that time and the present day. However we are more concerned with the multiplayer aspect of the game.

[break=Event location, setup, PC specs]

As mentioned above, the event was not located on EA grounds, a first for a Medal of Honor summit here in the states. The logistics alone where tremendous. EA setup shop at the local on base gaming center called Sports USA . This is more of a Dave and Busters then a LAN center, so the EA guys had some setting up of equipment as well as a small LAN to connect both the PCs and consoles. Note there is no cross platform support for this game and the network was simply shared for all devices.

Nvidia supplied the PCs for this event and Microsoft of course supplied the gaming consoles.

The PC specs we where using where:

AMD Dual Core 3800
7900GTX 512MB
2 Gigs of Ram
Windows XP

* Note these must have been older boxes, because of the graphics cards as well as the AMD processors. (all of the new nvidia demo boxes have intel inside.

The game itself, as you should already know is built upon the Unreal 3 engine. The install directory for Medal of Honor Airborne is about 7.30 gigs.

When checked via task manager, it appeared that the MOHA.exe was using about 265 Megs of ram.

All PCs and game consoles where using LCD panels, most wide screen.

[break=Maps, game types, weapons]

When we first fired up the game, we where presented with a very limited amount of MP content.

We have 6 multiplayer maps along with 3 limited game types.

Maps:

Remagen - Allied Assault remake
Destroyed Village - Allied Assault remake
The Hut - Allied Assault remake
Avalanche
Neptune
Husky

Game types:

Regular TDM
Airborne TDM
Airborne Objective

Weapons:

Garand
Thompson
Springfield
Shotgun
M18 Recoil less Rifle (bazooka)
BAR
Colt .45 pistol

STG44
G43
K98
MP40
Panzerschreck
C96 Mauser pistol

Let's take a minute to talk a bit about the maps. While I'm very disappointed in the overall number of the maps, the three remakes of classic Allied Assault maps are beautifully done and play so much better!

For the most part, all the remakes are the same foot print as the original maps. However you now have more vertical space and the addition of access to more of the buildings is a huge plus. The Hut plays a bit differently with this layout, which is a good thing, as I hated the nade bottle neck of that map. On Ramagen, you can now access the clock tower, which is something I always wanted to do. You have seen some screen shots of how beautiful Destroyed Village looks, all the remakes look this gorgeous. I just wish they included more maps

The new maps are well laid out and very fun, however it seems their art department bumped up the HDR type lighting and effects just a tab too much. Too many glowing wet rocks but overall not a huge problem.

You only have 3 game types (not impresses by this at all), most of which the Allies drop from the sky. At first I thought this would be a huge disadvantage to the Allies, I was wrong. While dropping into the fight, the Allies get a nice view of the battlefield and can chose where to drop (for the most part). This also brings into light a new tactic to remember. When you play as Axis, KEEP LOOKING UP. You now have several levels to worry about. Not only do you have to worry about the bad guy coming around that corner, but what about the roof of the church or the 3rd floor of the other building across from you? Axis remember keep looking up, it will save your butt to fight another day. Also note that there are plenty of ladders and wooden planks to gain access to most parts and all levels of the map(s). You don't have to be Allies to have access to the roofs.

It's worth mentioning, that weapon sounds are unbelievable. They are the best of any game I've played and from first hand experience.

While playing, we did find some issues with mouse lag and FPS. However EA assured us that these where fixed and possibly an issues with the Nvidia boxes supplied.

[break=Server sided options]

First let me say, before you make any judgments based on my following comments you read this whole section thoroughly. While we (PC guys) brought up a lot of issues and I mean a lot, Blackhat was on the phone immediately with the men in suites back at the office.

This event was hyped by EA as being a multiplayer summit. The multiplayer details have been kept secret until the summit and now I know why.

I was extremely disappointed in what I saw as far as setting up a game server.

Right to the point, all we got was the Xbox console server running on the PC. What I mean by this, was EA was going to ship Medal of Honor Airborne with a max 12 player (total) listening server. You could not even setup a map rotation -sick . You did not have a dedicated server, no http redirect, you did not have any way of changing maps, you played only one map for x rounds (3-7) and that was all. Oh you did get Punkbuster out of the box but not anyway to run a dedicated server out of the box. Could someone from EA tell me what good is PB when you run a listening server? More on anti cheat in a bit.

We did not find out about this info until after playing a bit. When Tom Hess confirmed the above information, the guys who heard him where floored to say the least. We could not believe that all we where getting was a cheap console port of a server that later, we where told, would be patched to accommodate dedicated servers. How could this happen, how could EA remove something that is already part of the unreal engine? What where they thinking? They wanted this game to succeed and take over from where Allied Assault left.

I will tell you as I told them, this game will go no where on the PC side if that is what you're giving us, end of story!

I will say I give Blackhat props for coming out, sitting down and talking to us, once we left the demo room. He jumped right on the phone and started making calls with our concerns. - more on that later.

Anti Cheat- As mentioned above, we will have Punkbuster out of the box as well as....DMW hooks so they can support the game as well. That's right, the first game to have some type of support for two Anti cheat out of the box.

With all that said as I left the event, this was a no go for the Medal of Honor community. How could a community survive without proper support form the developer? how could they ship this game in that condition and expect it to take off? Where was any of the admin sided things we talked about over a year ago? I was dumbfounded and could not believe it was all happening again, just like Pacific Assault only worse, ok maybe not as worse Pacific Assault.

Once we returned home, Jeff Innocent Bystandard from Ahz started a mailing list to get our concerns in writing and off to the correct people to make things happen at EA. The problem with Pacific Assault was we did not come together as a team to voice our issues. We raised them seperatly with different people a the PA events thus they went no where.

This time, we where not going down without a fight and you know what? EA listened to us or they said they did.

After we returned home and got our list off to the appropriate people, we have received some feedback from them regarding all these issues.

1) Mouse Lag has been fixed.
2) FPS issues: They have done some code check-ins to address the issues and it looks like they made some tweaks. Things are running much better
3) Dedicated Servers and custom server settings: Dedicated servers are in and will ship with the box. Most of our wish list has been addressed and or will come in the form of the first patch (which I'm told is ASAP)

Quote from Blackhat in his email replies leading up to this article:

I’m feeling very confident that you guys are really going to enjoy the game and the server options you’ll have with it.

I truly believe if it was not for Blackhat's efforts to communicate our frustrations and the issues we found at the summit to the men in suites at EA. We would not be getting our issues looked at.

[break=Parting comments]
While I can only comment on what I actually saw with my own eyes. I can only take EA's statement for updates and future support with a grain of salt. We have all been in this same situation with ALL the past Medal of Honor games. I really hope this is the start of a new beginning.

Personally I believe Blackhat I've talked to him in person and I know how he feels about the game. Unfortunitly it's not his call, it's the higher ups I don't trust right now. Only time will tell if EA will actually support this game and give us what they promised.

Rants:

No dedicated server shown at the event
Only 12 players total
Only 6 maps
Only 3 game types
Mouse lag (has been fixed)
Low FPS (has been fixed)
No server options
No http redirect
No server features at all!

Raves:

Graphically looks awesome
New remakes of the old maps are great
Great fun when playing on a limited server
Weapon sounds are the best in any game I've played
Airdrops into MP are way too fun

Rudedog's recommendation: Wait for the first patch to purchase. (Microsoft effect) If what EA tells us is true, then the game will truly be worth it, after they patch.

SP demo will be available within the next couple weeks. Why there is no MP demo speaks for itself.

[Prometheus]

Cheers for the writeup Jim, I will deffo hold off until its patched. I kinda hoped for better.. but knew at the back of my mind they would let us down again

[Zepplin]

Nice write up rudedog hopefully EA get off their butts and sort out multiplayer including dedicated server support!

I wonder if ryan from icculus will end up doing the linux binaries? I hope so

[Dirtynap]

Great write up very informative.

I must say its looking good.

Also when you say the patch will be ASAP are we talking the day of release like some of the other EA games have been?

[rudedog]

From what we where told, yes they are shooting for a 0day patch, however take that with a grain of salt as anything can change at any time.

[-FjG-salti]

I cannot believe how game developer's proceed with doing there job....how they clealy do not understand what brings people too come together and play online,the trend to caiter to the x box etc community take the buck and move on.
Member's of our clan,have been waiting for this game since the new's came out that it was on the way.
MOHAA was the first game that i started with....well word's are beginning to fail me, as to the feeling's within the PC community.....you know what...if some people that i worked with turned round and said that's what they had done....i'd say pack up and go home.
How can you believe that that sort of packet would keep the online gaming community going....i'd clear your desk's guy's....if it dont change ,my 50 euro are staying in my pocket.
WAKE UP

[Diva]

I figured the graphics would be pretty good looking at the screenshots but the lack of MP support with only 6 maps, 3 game types, no server support hardly et....

Should of been lesson learned from Pacific Assault

Honestly they could of had and actually still could have a great game if they listen to the community, that lasted a really long time, like the original.

This is very disappointing to hear feels like dejavu with what happened with PA, wont fall for that one again. I will be waiting to buy this game now if at all.

always CoD4

[GaSplat]

Looks like a suit decided they needed to hit a release date and that SP would drive initial sales. Figured they could finish development of the MP piece and distribute as a follow on (patch) in time to keep it alive and build a community.

Pretty big risk alienating a core user group up front in exchange for getting revenue flowing earlier.

[3degs]

About multiplayer side of the game:

One thing is for sure the game wont last 4-6 months if they dont have proper maps released. 9 or 12 maps should be enough to start with and no more remakes please. Remakes can be included as bonus i think but nothing more.


Singleplayer and Multiplayer

oh and great pre-review of the game. cheers for taking your time digging stuff up.

[OldDog]

Originally Posted by GaSplat

Looks like a suit decided they needed to hit a release date and that SP would drive initial sales. Figured they could finish development of the MP piece and distribute as a follow on (patch) in time to keep it alive and build a community.

Pretty big risk alienating a core user group up front in exchange for getting revenue flowing earlier.

There's no real risk for EA. This game will sell like hotcakes to the console people, and EA will make their revenue goals...marketing will take a well-earned vacation, then start on the next game.

[Baddad53]

"First let me say, before you make any judgments based on my following comments you read this whole section thoroughly. While we (PC guys) brought up a lot of issues and I mean a lot, Blackhat was on the phone immediately with the men in suites back at the office. "

First let me say that I stopped going to the MOH:AB forums because all Blackhat was doing was stroking the fanboys with marketing BS and would not address MP at all nor the issues raised about gameplay and MP. Your's is the second article from the event which pretty much says the same thing but..let's be very clear..every issue with MP has been talked to death on the MOH:AB forums. Heck they even asked about some of the topics. But after a few months I noticed that BLackhat was just doing his job of conning the fanboys and never addressing the MP issues. So FIRST LET ME SAY, the judgement should be made and it ain't looking good for support if they never ever listened to the non-fanboy comments in their own forums. Sorry no sympathy here.

[HellBilly]

wow .. what can i say ... i think we are all feeling the same way

i dunno guys .. the money it takes in upgrades to keep the pc up (DX 10 is right on top of us )
.. and the attention that the 360 gets ... is it worth it ?

i think IW is better then EA ... but for sure its the lesser of the two evils


***Edit*** man and my sig looked so good on this background

to Jim >> BTW happy B-day man ... sorry its so late but tweedle dumb and tweedle dee over there got me to the breaking point