One series I grew to love when it debuted was the Medal of Honor games. A favorite and one of my first PlayStation 2 titles was Frontline. It did everything right and expanded on what a World War II and first person shooter game should be. This was a surprise to see it remastered for just the PlayStation 3 as a bonus for the 2010 Medal of Honor release. Nothing changed with the gameplay, but it was more of a cosmetic change with the graphics. It's still a fun game.
Frontline had you returning as Jimmy Patterson in missions that took place before and in between missions in the first game. There are six missions combined for 19 levels. Each mission has about three or four. Following tradition, you are doing objectives to beat the level and stop the Nazi war machine. It takes you to a few places in Europe like D-Day in France, and some unique locale in Holland. Unlike other games in the series at the time, it followed with one huge mission broken into several.
The only thing EA changed was its graphics. As far as areas and backgrounds go, it is a bit of an improvement. That being said, the characters and enemies have a mix of both PS2 and PS3 quality. Not bad, but could be worse. Audio was not changed at all. It's still the same music, sound effects and voices. And it sill delivers on what it did in 2002 by creating a great war environment that lets you soak in that era of action and heartbreak.
Combat is really realistic but still plays like a video game. Various weaponry from the series come in the forms of M1 Garands and STG 44's just to name a few. They function quite well and provide enough firepower for Patterson. You have to be a little bit careful as ammo may not always be available for one particular weapon in a level. Health is still the same. Instant kills come from grenades and bazookas. The same ways of healing are back
Enemies are a bit more ferocious compared to the PS1 counterparts. They will put up a fight and will use various strategies to take you down. Controlling Patterson is a breeze and the game offers a decent amount of schemes for your liking. Level designs are smart and know how to convey a battle with allies and being on your own. It doesn't stray from what the original intentions were with the series at that time. Do well and you earn a star. Get a gold in every level of a mission to earn a medal.
There are a few difficulty modes with the hard one being brutal. It's pretty fair without being cheap. Options include cheats, changing audio and subtitles, and a password section. You can watch stuff in a gallery once you beat missions or view performances and medals in the records section. Saving is a breeze with autosaving, but saving manually is an option.
I only have a few complaints. With this version, the audio can skip sometimes or not load up after pausing, but that was rare. Videos after beating the last level of a mission were not synced. My only other complaint is something that I never liked on the original version and that was the dying aspect. Getting killed meant restarting the level from the beginning. A number of them take a good half hour to do and without means of saving can be frustrating sometimes.
Frontline is not something I would really recommend, but it is an alternative to other World War II games. I would give it at least a playthrough. This is still a nice game to have and it still plays well.
Score: 7.5 out of 10
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