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For almost a decade, the market has been flooded with every possible angle and perspective on recreating WWII. Now I know it is the war to end all wars, but you'd figure that gamers and developers would be sick of reliving it over and over again. Well, for those gamers who just can't get enough, EA has managed to ship off another title and sent you back to the years 1939-1945 once more. Medal of Honor Vanguard is not much more than your run of the mill WWII shooter and offers little to capture the interest of those growing tired of this genre. This being said, the game is still a solid FPS shooter that will provide plenty of white-knuckle moments and tight gameplay that the series has been famous for in its eight series run.

You are Frank Keegan, a paratrooper of the 82nd airborne division. In this role you will being doing what all good soldiers do best in the areas of Italy, Germany, France, and even the Netherlands. Spanning over 16 missions, you will unfold the typical WWII soldier story and help show the courage of this brave individual. Speaking of show, there isn't much to write home about when it comes to the visuals. Sure, they do the job, have a consistent frame rate, great death animations, and even provide widescreen and 480p on the Wii, but there is nothing here in the model details or environments that don't feel like you've lived this adventure before. The only real new details come in the form of some of the parachuting missions, but they are too few which makes the game rely on the same formula we've dealt with for many years now.

A staple to the series is the superb audio, and MOH Vanguard doesn't disappoint here. Authentic weapons sounds, loud explosions, well-done voice-overs, and a fantastic score round out the reasons to wake the neighbors at three in the morning.

Where MOH Vanguard takes a sniper hit to the head is the game play department, which feels a bit loose and unpolished. During the faster paced missions, this isn't as noticeable as there is so much going on that you'll be happy to take out anyone who presents a threat. It is when your accuracy needs to be dead on Vanguard drops the ball, as the hit detection and collision factor is a bit off, which will make some missions down right frustrating. Don't even get me started on the failures that the Wii version presents with its motion sensor controls, there are too many to speak of.

Speaking of frustrating, where's the online play? That's right, after many moons of playing online in the Medal of Honor series, this feature is completely omitted in Vanguard. Now I understand this setback on the Wii as the servers haven't been implemented as of yet, but on the PS2 this is very unforgivable. Not only does it set the world of video gaming back 10 years with everyone huddling around one TV and enjoying the limitations of split screen action, but the element of surprise and game play modes for multiplayer take a hit as well.

If this is the swan song for the current gen consoles then this is easily one of the more forgettable versions in the series. Thankfully, owners of next-gen consoles will be treated to another great MOH title with Airborne later in the year. Until then, MOH Vanguard should supply enough action to get your fix, provided you aren't WWII'd out