Medal of Honor Allied Assault is a pivotal game in FPS history. After its success, its key developers were headhunted by Infinity Ward, including Vince Zampella and Jason West. Zampella and West went on to create Call of Duty and then found Respawn – without MoH Allied Assault, you might argue, there would be no CoD. But speaking to the qualities of Allied Assault specifically, it represents a different era for shooters. Before the maximalism of Battlefield V or the online brutality of Hell Let Loose, WW2 games had a more adventurous spirit. Part of a turn-of-the-century canon that includes Half-Life, System Shock 2, and No One Lives Forever, Medal of Honor Allied Assault is a true blockbuster – and now it’s $3.
You start behind enemy lines in the North Africa campaign, sabotaging tanks as part of a small infantry unit assigned to help the Office of Strategic Services. After that, you’re sent right into the heart of the German war machine to destroy a u-boat fleet. And then you’re landing on the beach on D-Day. And then clearing a French town alongside the Resistance. And then there’s a climactic battle at an old Prussian fort. FPS games, by nature, are built on limited mechanics – aim, shoot, reload, and try not to die. Medal of Honor Allied Assault exemplifies that the key to a great shooter is variety. A pet project of Steven Spielberg, it has the same globe-trotting energy and set-piece focus as Indiana Jones or Band of Brothers.
And it’s a serious challenge. If you feel like modern shooters are too gentle, test yourself against Allied Assault’s notorious ‘sniper town’ level – even on the easiest difficulty, it starts to feel like a WW2 game built by FromSoftware. As an aficionado of videogame guns, I would also say that MoH Allied Assault has the single best MP40 of all time – that closing fort mission is a the perfect showcase.
If you’ve never played MoH Allied Assault before or you think it’s finally time to go back, you can get it now for the subterraneanly low price of $2.49 / £1.99. It may be 23 years old now, but don’t let that put you off, even for a second. Medal of Honor Allied Assault is truly one of the all-time greats. If you want it, just head to GOG or click the button below.
Otherwise, try some of the other best old games you can still run today, or maybe the best war games.
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