In 2002, a small studio called 2015 Games developed the third entry, Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, which released on PC to critical acclaim.Īllied Assault was a major pioneer in the advancement of cinematic first-person shooters. After Spielberg sold the license to EA, Medal of Honor continued to see success on both console and PC. The original game was the brainchild of director Steven Spielberg, who aimed to educate and entertain a generation too young to see Saving Private Ryan and learn about the heroic efforts of the war. Medal of Honor is one of the more underappreciated and influential franchises in the military-shooter genre. Why Medal of Honor Mattered (And Why It Died) With the WWII shooter experiencing a renaissance of sorts, perhaps it’s time for Medal of Honor to make a comeback.
The Wolfenstein franchise has also seen a recent surge in popularity with its alternate history take on the global conflict. Battlefield went back even further in Battlefield 1, and eventually returned to World War II with Battlefield V. Many of the major players in the genre have returned to the past, starting with Call of Duty: WWII. In recent years, however, the trend has reversed, and World War II has reemerged as a shooter setting. Ultimately, Medal of Honor was unable to keep pace with its competitors and fell off the map. The Medal of Honor franchise, on the other hand, was slower to adapt to the changing marketplace. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and Battlefield Vietnam took those series out of the past and into the present. Eventually, so many WWII shooters flooded the market that in order to stand out, these franchises had to start changing up their templates. Franchises like Battlefield 1942, Call of Duty, Wolfenstein, and Medal of Honor all delivered multiple successful titles during this span. In the early 2000s, World War II shooters were hugely popular.