Does it shoot down the rivals?

THOSE playing video games for a number of years will know Medal of Honor as the premiere WW2 first-person shooter.

Perhaps in the wake of Modern Warfare 2’s monumental success, developers EA have decided to stage their latest instalment away from history and instead in modern day Afghanistan.

The result is an engaging, thrilling shooter which could pave a new way for the franchise.

The single-player mode is made up of a serious of missions from an elite squad of just four or so soldiers, you being one of them.

Taleban are dispensed with by headshots galore and doors booted in to rescue hostages. It is excellently done, and more interesting than other first-person shooters in being set in a current war.

The graphics are top-notch with night-time raids welcoming in the dawn and foes dropping like sacks of spuds.

Controls are almost exactly the same as MW2 except a few new bits such as diving for cover and leaning around corners or poking your head over walls to check if anyone is coming.

Overall it feels more authentic than the widely praised MW2 with the language spoken by soldiers to each other spot on and the fights fizzing.

In the single-player mode however it is just not as exciting or sleek

The multi-player mode however is cracking fun and utterly ferocious.

Developed by the folk behind Battlefield 2 it attempts to bridge the gap between that and MW2 and while successful to the most it occasionally suffers from being too intricate compared to the pick-up-and-go ease of the others on the market.

Latest figures show that Medal of Honor has shifted 1.5 million copies in less than a week and I can see why.

A really good game with fantastic graphics and good gameplay.

7/10

Out now