Believe it or not, there was a time when the Call of Duty franchise was the definitive mainstream military themed shooter. In fact, before Call of Duty monopolized the genre, Medal of Honor was a leading franchise. Sadly for EA, as the Call of Duty franchise grew in popularity, Medal of Honor struggled to keep up.

The last fully fledged Medal of Honor game – Medal of Honor: Airborne – was fairly well received by critics in 2007 and enjoyed average sales. Between 2002 and 2007 there was at least one Medal of Honor game released every year. The franchise went quiet in 2008 and 2009, until now.
Clearly observant of Activision’s success with the Modern Warfare franchise, EA has announced that its next Medal of Honor game will be set in modern times.

The game is currently being referred to simply as Medal of Honor, and while little is known about it, EA has stated that it will be set in “war-torn Afghanistan.”

At first gamers may be tempted to sigh at the predictability of the decision to follow Infinity Ward’s (IW) massive success with Modern Warfare.

When IW originally announced that it would be moving from WWII to modern warfare, not only were fans apprehensive, but publisher Activision reportedly opposed the move. Since making the transition however, the franchise has become stronger than ever – a point clearly illustrated by the massive commercial success that Modern Warfare 2 has enjoyed.

Many may say that changing to a modern setting is unoriginal, and therefore likely to fail. However, based on some of the tid-bits released by EA, Medal of Honor may yet have a few tricks up its sleeve.

Firstly, unlike Modern Warfare, Medal of Honor will be based on a real war – Afghanistan. EA promises to recreate real events, and has worked closely with “US Special Operations Tier 1 Operators to create the most authentic modern war experience.”

EA is promising to deliver a “best-in-class single-player campaign,” a component of the game which will be handled by EA Los Angeles. The multiplayer component will be handled by Battlefield veteran studio Dice.

More information is expected to become available on December 12, and the game has been confirmed for a 2010 release on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.

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