''Medal of Honor'' is a 1999

first-person shooter First-person shooter (FPS) is a sub-genre of shooter video games centered on gun and other weapon-based combat in a first-person perspective, with the player experiencing the action through the eyes of the protagonist and controlling the pl ...

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

, developed by

DreamWorks Interactive Danger Close Games (formerly DreamWorks Interactive LLC and EA Los Angeles) was an American video game developer based in Los Angeles. The company was founded in March 1995 as joint venture between DreamWorks SKG and Microsoft (later moved to Mi ...

and published by

Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted the d ...

for

PlayStation is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a divisi ...

. It is the first installment in the ''Medal of Honor'' video game series. The gameplay features the

combined arms Combined arms is an approach to warfare War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme vio ...

warfare of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, as the player completes various missions for the

Office of Strategic Services The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was the intelligence agency of the United States during World War II. The OSS was formed as an agency of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) to coordinate espionage activities behind enemy lines for all branc ...

. The story was created by film director and producer

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Spie ...

, combining his deep interest in World War II with the inspiration of watching his son playing the game '' GoldenEye 007.'' While in development, the game experienced controversy due to the 1999

Columbine High School massacre On April 20, 1999, a school shooting and attempted bombing occurred at Columbine High School in Columbine, Colorado, United States. The perpetrators, 12th grade students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, murdered 12 students and one teacher. ...

, and was criticized by the

Congressional Medal of Honor Society A congress is a formal meeting of the Representative democracy, representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political party, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle Eng ...

for turning a serious topic into a video game. Game producer Peter Hirschmann convinced Medal of Honor Society president

Paul Bucha Paul William Bucha (born August 1, 1943) is an American Vietnam War veteran and a recipient of the Medal of Honor. He was a foreign policy adviser to Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign. Early life and education Bucha was born on August 1, ...

that the project was made with serious and honorable intentions, saving the project from cancellation, and even earning Bucha's endorsement. The game was released to universal acclaim, and has been credited with popularizing the trend of World War II shooters. The game was followed by '' Medal of Honor: Underground,'' leading to a widely successful series.

Gameplay

The game takes place near the end of

(mid-1944 to mid-1945). The goal of the game is to complete various

(OSS) missions, such as rescuing an American pilot, going undercover to board and destroy a U-boat, recovering stolen art work, and sabotaging the Nazi war effort. The game includes a

split-screen Split screen may refer to: * Split screen (computing), dividing graphics into adjacent parts * Split screen (video production), the visible division of the screen * Split Screen (TV series), ''Split Screen'' (TV series), 1997–2001 * Split-Scree ...

deathmatch Deathmatch, also known as free-for-all, is a gameplay mode integrated into many shooter games, including first-person shooter (FPS), and real-time strategy (RTS) video games, where the goal is to kill (or "frag") the other players' characters a ...

mode, pitting two players against each other in various maps. Players can unlock several secret characters after completing the game or through

cheat codes Cheating in video games involves a video game player using various methods to create an advantage beyond normal gameplay, usually in order to make the game easier. Cheats may be activated from within the game itself (a cheat code implemented by ...

, including notable historical figures such as Filipino patriot

José Rizal José Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda (, ; June 19, 1861 – December 30, 1896) was a Filipino nationalist, writer and polymath active at the end of the Spanish colonial period of the Philippines. He is considered the national he ...

and playwright

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

, as well as outlandish characters such as a

German Shepherd The German Shepherd or Alsatian is a German breed of working dog of medium to large size. The breed was developed by Max von Stephanitz using various traditional German herding dogs from 1899. It was originally bred as a herding dog, for he ...

and a dinosaur.

Development

Filmmaker

founded

in 1995, as part of a trend of Hollywood studios set up their own interactive divisions, such as

Disney Interactive Disney Interactive is an American video game and internet company that oversaw various websites and interactive media owned by The Walt Disney Company. History 1995–1996: Formation and beginnings In December 1994, Disney announced that it wa ...

. Spielberg had recognized the entertainment potential of video games earlier than other Hollywood veterans, as he already had experience consulting on projects for both

Atari Atari () is a brand name that has been owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by French publisher Atari SA through a subsidiary named Atari Interactive. The original Atari, Inc. (1972–1992), Atari, Inc., ...

and

LucasArts Lucasfilm Games (known as LucasArts between 1990 and 2021) is an American video game brand licensing, licensor that is part of Lucasfilm. It was founded in May 1982 by George Lucas as a video game development group alongside his film company; as ...

. ''Medal of Honor'' was a passion project that emerged during Spielberg's work on the film ''

Saving Private Ryan ''Saving Private Ryan'' is a 1998 American epic war film directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Robert Rodat. Set during the Battle of Normandy in World War II, the film is known for its graphic portrayal of war, especially its depictio ...

,'' with development of the game beginning on November 11, 1997. Spielberg held a meeting with his staff, outlining his idea for a first-person shooter set during World War II. The idea originated from Spielberg's deep interest in World War II, while also watching his son Max playing the

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...

-themed game '' GoldenEye 007''. According to game producer Peter Hirschmann, the studio's corporate management was worried that World War II was dated, and players were more interested in "ray guns, hell-spawn and laser rifles". The studio recruited

Dale Dye Dale Adam Dye Jr. (born October 8, 1944) is an American actor, technical advisor, radio personality and writer. A decorated Marine veteran of the Vietnam War, Dye is the founder and head of Warriors, Inc., a technical advisory company specializ ...

as the game's military advisor, who had previously advised Spielberg on ''Saving Private Ryan''. Dye criticized their first demo as exploitative and irresponsible, but continued with the project due to his belief that the studio had honorable intentions, improving the game's historical authenticity with nostalgic and educational segments. By March 1998, the game had reached its prototype stage with significant differences from the original version. Spielberg was determined to pioneer new experiences in interactive entertainment, such as a "show me your papers" sequence where the player brandishes fake ID papers instead of a gun. The new demo was well received by publisher

, but was soon mired in controversy as the 1999

attracted more scrutiny onto video games. The team decided to remove particularly gory scenes from the game, particularly an animation where a maimed Nazi soldier appeared to dance around before collapsing. Still, the

president

heard about the game's development, and criticized them for using a serious and sacred symbol such as the Medal of Honor for a video game. Spielberg considered cancelling the project, but Peter Hirschmann showed Bucha a demo and convinced him of the project's seriousness, saving the project from cancellation, and earning an endorsement from the Medal of Honor society. The game was released in 1999, with Steven Spielberg credited for its story, and film composer

Michael Giacchino Michael Giacchino (; born October 10, 1967) is an American composer of music for films, television and video games. He has also served as a director for television. He has received many awards, including an Oscar for his work on '' Up'' (2009), ...

credited with the game's full orchestral score. The studio experienced severe losses through the production of the game, and was sold to EA, ironically before the game became highly profitable. ''Medal of Honor'' was re-released on

PlayStation Network PlayStation Network (PSN) is a digital media entertainment service provided by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Launched in November 2006, PSN was originally conceived for the PlayStation video game consoles, but soon extended to encompass smartp ...

as a PS one Classic on June 2, 2009 in North America.

Reception

''Medal of Honor'' received an aggregate score of 92 out of 100 on

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, indicating "universal acclaim".

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...

gave the game its editor's choice award, with reviewer Doug Perry praising its gameplay, sound, level design, attention to detail.

GamePro Gamepro.com is an international multiplatform video game magazine media company that covers the video game industry, video game hardware and video game software in countries such as Germany and France. The publication, GamePro, was originally la ...

called the game "one of the year's top titles and a must-won game", praising it for featuring "some of the most tense first-person action ever delivered on the Playstation". Jeff Lundrigan of '' Next Generation'' called it "the best PlayStation first-person shooter in ages", while '' PSM'' stated that the game was "an extraordinary game with no equal on the PlayStation". ''Medal of Honor'' received a "Gold" sales award from the

Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association The Association for UK Interactive Entertainment (Ukie) is a non-profit trade association for the video game industry in the United Kingdom (UK). Ukie was originally founded as the European Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA), and the ...

(ELSPA), indicating sales of at least 200,000 copies in the United Kingdom.

Legacy

ranked ''Medal of Honor'' as the 20th-best shooter game of all time, crediting it with popularizing the trend of World War II shooters, as well as creating the highly popular

series Series may refer to: People with the name * Caroline Series (born 1951), English mathematician, daughter of George Series * George Series (1920–1995), English physicist Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Series, the ordered sets used in ...

. Several members of the game's team recall that the game was one of the first marriages between game and film, showing that video games could tackle a serious topic like World War II with gravitas. In the final issue of the ''

Official UK PlayStation Magazine An official is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless whether it carries an actual working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority, (either their own or that of their ...

'', the game was chosen as the 8th-best game of all time. IGN ranked the game #21 on their list of the "Top 25 Games of All Time" for the PlayStation console. ''Medal of Honor'' is the first in the ''Medal of Honor'' series, and was followed by the direct sequel '' Medal of Honor: Underground''.

References

External links

Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Medal Of Honor (Video Game) 1999 video games Cancelled Game Boy Advance games Cancelled Windows games Cultural depictions of José Rizal DreamWorks Interactive games Electronic Arts games Interactive Achievement Award winners 1999 Multiplayer and single-player video games Multiplayer online games PlayStation (console) games PlayStation 3 games PlayStation Network games PlayStation Portable games Split-screen multiplayer games Steven Spielberg Video games scored by Michael Giacchino Video games set in Austria Video games set in France Video games set in Germany Video games set in Luxembourg Video games set in Norway World War II first-person shooters Video games developed in the United States