[h=2]Medal of Honor: Warfighter Adds International Tier 1 Ops, Explores the "Heartbreaking Side of War"[/h]
Today, EA released new details on Danger Close's forthcoming Medal of Honor: Warfighter, revealing intriguing new details about the story and the multiplayer of the modern military shooter at an event in San Francisco. Warfighter, EA says, tells tales of military conflict but also explores "the heartbreaking side of war."
The next Medal of Honor focuses on a U.S. Tier 1 Operator by the name of Preacher, who "returns home from overseas only to find his family torn apart from years of deployment." The game also expands it focus beyond U.S. Operators, bringing Tier 1 soldiers from around the globe to the fight.
"Trying to pick up the pieces to salvage what remains of his marriage, Preacher is reminded of what he’s fighting for – family," EA says of Medal of Honor: Warfighter's campaign. "But when an extremely deadly explosive (PETN) penetrates civilian borders and his two worlds collide, Preacher and his fellow teammates are sent in to solve the problem. They take the fight to the enemy and do whatever it takes to protect their loved ones from harm."
That's a potentially fascinating area to explore, telling a story "through the eyes of military families" — and particularly touchy one, given Medal of Honor's basis in realism and real-life military operations.
At tonight's Medal of Honor: Warfighter event in San Francisco, following a live action cinematic of a hostage assassination narrowly diverted, Danger Close's Greg Goodrich showed a slice of gameplay. It was an intense hostage rescue set in Basilan, Phillipines, a nighttime raid set against heavy rains and raging floodwaters. The demo was packed with hyper-violent shootouts, showing off Warfighter's detailed environmental destruction and Frostbite 2.0-powered visuals. Warfighter both looked and sounded technically stunning.
After breaching a compound festering with enemy soldiers, an action-slowing flashbang that kicked off a terrorist slaughtering, and rescuing the hostages, the Tier 1 Operators of Warfighter set off on a dramatic escape on military watercraft. It was a break from the run-and-gun first-person shooter action, putting the player behind a powerful mounted gun. The demo ended with the extraction of the Operators by helicopter.
On the multiplayer side, which is now in development at Danger Close, not DICE, Goodrich touched briefly on some of the changes coming to Warfighter. The October-due Medal of Honor will add multinational Tier 1 teams to the fight, including the British SAS, Australian SASR, German KSK and Polish GROM.
Goodrich says Warfighter will feature "blue-vs-blue team play," pitting "the world’s best of the best warriors" in head-to-head combat. Goodrich says Danger Close is "taking a page out of that FIFA play book" in adding a sense of national pride for military shooter fans outside of the United States.
Watch for GameTrailers' full GDC interview with Greg Goodrich in the coming days and mark October 23 on your calendar for Medal of Honor: Warfighter's arrival on the PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.