Some people are bored of World War II. Are you one of these people? Do you know how horrible that makes you and how terrible you should feel? It’s a moment in history that should never be forgotten, you heathens, and if videogames can achieve such immortality then dammit, long may it continue! However, even we must admit that the WWII genre well has run dry; the culmination of which has seen the ‘awesome’ Hour Of Victory somehow getting approved for release and Call Of Duty abandoning its mid- Forties’ roots completely.

There’s one franchise that decided to stay on track, though – the series that some argue popularised the Second World War on consoles with a little number called Frontline. For the idiots that are currently scratching their heads, we’re talking about Medal Of Honor. There’s probably a lot of you who have already thrown Airborne into the ‘oh, why are they still pimping out this series’ category, but grab that emotion and kill it. MOH’s 360 debut is a silent gem.

Quite rightly, the one aspect everyone is focusing on is the ability to hurl yourself from a plane before each mission. Far from being a mere gimmick, it adds a needed injection of life into the mix. Understandably some of you may be miffed that these sections only last a matter of seconds, but choosing what to do in this time is essential. The specified green zones located on your rustic map are your safe havens, whereas the red zones equal pure hell – mistakenly fall into one and watch as you’re literally abused by a bombardment of bullets.

The actual parachuting itself is a lot of fun too. It controls as you’d expect (move sticks, aim for ground) but with the freedom to drop wherever you fancy within a level, you’ll constantly try to come up with different strategies depending on your current objective. Need to blow up a Panzer tank? Maybe you could land on top of it and then grenade the hell out of it? Sure, it won’t work, but at least you have the option to try.

The parachuting mechanic even ties into your death, which is a really cheery subject. Once a Nazi has sent you to Davey Jones’s Locker, hang on, you’ll respawn in the skies. Although this seems slightly irrelevant, it works on two levels. One, it gives the impression that you’re another paratrooper being sent into battle (even if your allies refer to you as the same name throughout) and two, it’s a huge help when attacking different goals. During your first flight into a battle zone, you’ll aim for a green asylum and have a wander to meet the locals and see what’s what. But, after a successful initial run followed by an unsuccessful death, you’re going to want to start somewhere else. Okay, so games have done this for years with checkpoints, but the ability to choose where you kick back off, again, lets you execute a strategy you simply couldn’t do if you were forced into a strict position. It certainly doesn’t freshen up the WWII genre completely but adds enough to make Airborne feel unique.

And that statement leads us very nicely into the next – if you hate WWII FPSs, you still hate WWII FPSs. The environments and situations you’ll find yourself in are still heavily involved in the history of the campaign, and if your interest peaked during the Normandy Beach assault, it’s still there waiting for you in 2002, singing love songs and pining for you to return. If, on the other hand, your thirst is still not quenched, come gather children.

With parachutes being an essential ingredient, Operation Market Garden stands out as the pick of the bunch; the rest will only strike a real chord with Second World War buffs. As such, there are a couple of low points (particularly mission numero five) but certain beauties, such as having to attack a German platoon who are waiting on Normandy beach, are as intense, interesting and enjoyable to play through as anything a WWII game has thought up. Everyone loves a rolereversal (it was made official in 2005) and conquering pillboxes that are ready to fire on and kill allied troops in mere minutes is damn epic. This is Medal Of Honor’s focal point, though. Ever since Call Of Duty 2 came along and took the word intensity to another level, war experiences that forgot to step up were buried. MOH has been around long enough to notice a change in the trend and has suitably upped its extremities. Enemies are stacked with ammo and ferocity, and even charge you with nothing but pure anger (and a dose of fear) if you manage to pick off the rest of their pack. The conclusion is ludicrous: waves of jacked-up, fearless foes continually bring the pain. You’ll think the game has gone nuts as dozens of soldiers persistently attack. ‘When will it ever end?’ you’ll cry – just keep shooting!

It’s clear EA looked at the current market and thought ‘what can we do to be distinctive?’ In a universe where the past rules all and can’t be tweaked, it takes a bright mind to implement an idea that improves the core game without having to shoehorn in laser death rays; the atmosphere could never support them. Instead, your skills with a weapon will be rewarded with upgrades. Throw a grenade off two walls and into a Nazi’s knapsack and you’ll be given a bigger satchel. Snipe someone’s eyebrow off their head, and watch as your ammunition stock increases. The same mentality is in place for every weapon; you’ll even see the additions displayed on the side of it. Airborne also makes you feel good about earning such a prize. In true Matrix fashion everything from the visuals to the sound slows down and there’s a certain sense of anticipation as you wait to see the bounty that is about to be bestowed upon you. We admit it has gimmick written all over it, but we’re officially announcing our love for it right now!

Unsurprisingly, we still managed to find a problem with Airborne (that’s how we roll). The six different operations that feature do manage to prolong the experience, but the first next-gen MOH is still quite short; someone playing on the casual difficulty setting could probably get through it in eight hours, maybe less. Of course, to many of you this will be a treat. Seeing a game’s credits has become a lost art in recent years – Airborne’s are most definitely reachable. What’s more, there are dozens of paths in each level, and it’s likely you’ll be sucked back in to see how they can affect an assault. The same can be said when you’re actually airborne. The hidden ‘skill drop’ points are tough to find and flying through one can alter a battle significantly. We lost count of the occasions we entered a building only to exit it somewhere else entirely – yes, it’s simple, but it’s strangely compelling.

The one resonating sensation you’ll get when playing Airborne is that it’s simple, mind-blowing good fun, because it is! MOH is easy to get lost in (to the point you’ll forget you’re just sitting in a chair) and has some set pieces and mission objectives that’ll have you clapping your hands together like a performing seal. You may even be fed a fish! We’re not trying to pretend EA’s latest war jaunt rewrites the genre because it doesn’t. What it does do, however, is concentrate on the series’ strengths while introducing a new mechanic that works. Shooter fans will enjoy the satisfying aiming system (see ‘Steady Sight’ boxout), and WWII enthusiasts can bask in encounters that haven’t been pushed within the field before, especially Market Garden. In fact, due to how successful this has turned out, there may even be scope for another one down the line. Expanding the battlefields, which would place an even greater emphasis on your descent and what can be achieved in the air, coupled with a more refined parachuting experience, could easily justify a sequel, and if there's one thing Medal Of Honor loves it's follow-ups!

We’re perfectly aware that we’ve said it many times before, but 2007 is undoubtedly EA’s year. After all, who else could have resurrected a dying franchise that’s almost eight years old? We tried once with The Raggy Dolls and trust us when we say it's damn hard. Ladies and gentlemen, war is fun again, although that seems like such a terrible thing to say…

Simon Miller