Best Medal Of Honor Games, Ranked

Key Takeaways

• Medal of Honor
  series offers varying quality from impressive to lackluster; best games guide nostalgia seekers in the right direction.
• Warfighter
  failed to impress with technical issues and uninspired gameplay, leading to the series going into hibernation once again.
• Rising Sun
  in Japan, Heroes 2 on Wii & PSP, and
  Frontline
  ‘s large levels stand out despite varying hardware limitations.

The subgenre of Military shooters has been a dominant force in the industry since Call of Duty first hit the scene. However, long before that mammoth-sized game came the Medal of Honor series. These games primarily take place during World War 2 and cover different areas of the conflict, whether that be Europe, Asia, or Africa.

They also vary in quality, from the best the genre had to offer at the time to being boring and uninspired. For anyone interested in heading back into the series for either history or nostalgia, the games mentioned below will guide them in the right direction for playing the best the series has to offer.

Updated On December 4, 2024, by Mehrdad Khayyat: Medal of Honor and Battlefield used to be two wings of Electronic Arts in the FPS genre, with the former focusing more on story-driven campaigns and the latter putting the emphasis on multiplayer.

Unfortunately, things didn’t proceed well enough for the Medal of Honor series during the seventh generation of consoles, as both the reboot and its follow-up didn’t generate enough revenue, and Electronic Arts eventually decided to shift all its focus to Battlefield.

14 Medal Of Honor: Warfighter

The Final Mainline Entry In The Series

• Release: October 23, 2012
• Developer: Danger Close Games
• Platforms: PS3, Xbox 360, PC

After the first reboot from 2010, a sequel followed two years later with Medal of Honor: Warfighter. The game, unfortunately, did not live up to the same heights as its predecessor.

The campaign had a couple of standout levels, but the whole experience was bogged down by technical issues and lackluster enemy behavior. The multiplayer similarly did nothing to impress. Because of this, a real series revival never took off, and Medal of Honor once again went into hibernation.

Perhaps one reason for this game’s technical faults is that it runs on the Frostbite engine, whereas the first game in the rebooted series runs on the Unreal engine

13 Medal Of Honor: Vanguard

A Mixture Of Previous Innovations With Mediocre Execution

• Release: March 26, 2007
• Developer: EA Los Angele
• Platforms: PS2, Wii

In the jump from PS2 and PS3, many games did not receive direct ports between generations. Instead, there were versions that shared similar features while having different levels and stories. Medal of Honor: Vanguard is one notable example.

It has the parachuting mechanic of Medal of Honor: Airborne but it is a different game other than that. Ultimately, the game comes off as fairly unimpressive altogether. It does not do anything new, and its parachuting mechanic is far more interesting in Medal of Honor: Airborne.

The Wii version is mostly the same as the PS2 version except for the implementation of motion controls.

12 Medal Of Honor: Above And Beyond

The First-Ever Spin-Off For VR Platforms

Respawn Entertainment’s DNA traces back all the way to Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, which was designed by the studio’s founders. In this way, Above and Beyond should have been a sweet homecoming. However, the game did not live up to that historical pedigree, nor did it satisfy the expectations set by the studio’s stellar FPS games like Titanfall 2.

Above and Beyond tries to be as realistic as possible with its VR format in order to convey the struggle soldiers went through in World War 2, but this does not always translate to interesting gameplay. Its low Metacritic score is disappointing, considering the impressive production value and the great care that went into the game.

A documentary short made for the game
Colette
won an academy award, making history as the first work produced by a game studio to achieve such an honor.

11 Medal Of Honor: Rising Sun

Setting The Foundation For Great Games To Come In Future

Where most Medal of Honor games before Rising Sun focused on Europe, this 2003 shooter took place largely in Japan, which gave players a nice change of scenery.

The game opens with the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, matching the spectacle and horror of the Omaha Beach mission from Frontline and Allied Assault. The campaign is not as interesting as the games that are mentioned later on, but the local multiplayer is entertaining enough.

10 Medal Of Honor: Heroes 2

A Unique Experience For Two Unique Platforms

• Release: November 13th, 2007
• Platforms: PSP, Nintendo Wii
• Developer: EA Los Angeles (PSP), EA Canada (Nintendo Wii)

Curiously, this game came out on the Nintendo Wii and PSP, two drastically different systems when it comes to controlling an FPS game. Neither console had a killer entry in the genre, though the Wii had some decent rail shooters that used the Wiimote to emulate a light-gun peripheral.

With this in mind, Medal Of Honor: Heroes 2 manages to be a perfectly adequate shooter for both platforms. It will not blow anyone away, but it serves as a good way to pass the time. Additionally, the multiplayer offerings on PSP were extensive for the time.

9 Medal Of Honor: European Assault

Taking A World War 2 Tour Around In Europe, North Africa, And The Soviet Union

• Release: June 7th, 2005
• Platforms: GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox
• Developer: EA Los Angeles

European Assault was the first game that added some unrealistic features to the series’ classic gameplay, which is probably why it is not as beloved as the previous games in the franchise.

In Medal of Honor: European Assault, players have access to an Adrenaline Mode that activates wants a certain kill threshold is reached, and makes the player invincible for a brief duration, granting them unlimited bullets to push forward and butcher the enemies.

Aside from that, European Assault features a great variety of maps around Europe and North Africa, which makes it a great tour around World War 2.

8 Medal Of Honor: Pacific Assault

Fighting Against The Axis Army In The Pacific Ocean

• Release: November 4th, 2004
• Platforms: PC
• Developer: EA Los Angeles

Pacific Assault is a direct follow-up to Allied Assault and it takes players to the Pacific War in World War 2, where the battle against Japan takes place. The game delivers some unique landscapes and maps that are one of a kind in the entire Medal of Honor series.

Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault introduced new innovations in the gameplay for the first time, such as the ability to order the AI-controlled squad-mates to support the player or do some basic practices. The game also allowed players to regenerate their health by getting help from medics.

7 Medal Of Honor: Airborne

One Of The Most Innovative Games In The Series

What Medal of Honor Airborne lacks in polish, it more than makes up for in originality. Maps are more open than a typical first-person shooter, and players have the freedom to parachute down to almost any spot in the level.

This was many years before the Battle Royale genre made dropping into the map the norm. The multiplayer similarly kept this format for its matches. Unfortunately, it does not quite have the refinement and whoa factor other early PS3 and Xbox 360 shooters had, and it was lost in the shuffle early in that generation.

6 Medal Of Honor (Reboot)

A Promising Return To The Series By Focusing On Terrorist Cults

Early in the 2010s, the series did what a lot of IPs did and went through a reboot. This game took the action to modern-day Afghanistan. It borrows more from Call of Duty than Medal of Honor, but it still tries to remain a solemn tribute to those who served in the line of duty.

The single-player campaign is nothing to write home about, but the multiplayer was a surprising bonus. It plays a lot heavier than Call of Duty, and the maps are more open, leading to interesting long-range firefights between teams.

Interestingly enough, the single-player runs on the Unreal Engine while the multiplayer runs on the Frostbite Engine.

5 Medal Of Honor: Infiltrator

A Memorable Move From FPS To Top-Down Shooter

• Release: November 17, 2003
• Developer: Netherock. Ltd
• Platforms: Game Boy Advance

Translating an FPS series to the Game Boy Advance was tricky. Medal of Honor did the right thing by making it an isometric third-person action game. Players blast their way through missions using surprisingly beautiful environments, considering the hardware.

Quick first-person segments also pay tribute to the main series’ core gameplay. It might not be accurate to what being on the frontline was like in World War II, but one should not really expect an experience like that on a feeble handheld device. After all, modern consoles could not really replicate that experience either.

4 Medal Of Honor: Frontline

Moving Away From Stealth Gameplay To Larger Maps With More Chaos

Stylistically, Medal of Honor: Frontline falls in line with the prior two games. However, the extra horsepower of the new generation helped the developers make bigger levels with more enemies and more allies at the player’s side.

There was still plenty of sneaking around, but many levels also took place in bigger areas, sometimes having players go through entire cities as they’re being torn apart by the war. The original release features no multiplayer, but it did not detract from the overall package as the campaign was long, tough, and varied.

The Xbox and GameCube versions of
Frontline
include split-screen competitive multiplayer.

3 Medal Of Honor: Allied Assault

A Genre-Defining Experience From World War 2

• Release: January 22nd, 2002
• Platforms: Windows, Mac
• Developer: 2015, Inc.

When consoles were getting Frontline, PC players got Allied Assault. The game was designed and directed by Vince Zampella and Jason West, who would go on to create the Call of Duty series.

One can see much of the DNA from the future series in Allied Assault, including an opening mission that lacks any sort of combat and instead builds tension for the harrowing mission to come. The online multiplayer was also highly praised. Two expansion packs came out for Allied Assault, ensuring players have plenty of content.

2 Medal Of Honor

Introducing A World War Shooter With Stealth Prioritized Over Mass Shootouts

The debut entry in the franchise was a unique FPS experience for the time. It also gave the PS1 something to be proud of when it came to the genre. Instead of bombastic setpieces, as one would expect from the genre, Medal of Honor is more about covertly sneaking into enemy territory.

The missions are so well-designed that it’s easy to forget they had to be so due to the console’s technical limitations. The AI players went up against was also extremely impressive. They would react to gunshots depending on where they were shot and would also kick grenades back at the player. As a result, players always had to stay on their toes.

1 Medal Of Honor: Underground

Giving More Depth To The Original Foundation

Where Medal of Honor puts players into the shoes of American serviceman James Patterson, Underground follows a member of the French Resistance. The story takes even further advantage of the more intimate mission design and includes more stealth missions.

It came out in 2000, just around the release of the PS2, but the upcoming graphical and technological leap did little to make Medal of Honor: Underground any less of a spectacular game. That said, the Game Boy Advance version of the game was a pixely mess that looked absolutely nothing like its PS1 counterpart.