Since I alluded to the potential completion of one of two games in my previous post I may as well elaborate on the non-CRPG
Medal of Honor: Airborne (Xbox 360 - 2007)
Developed primarily by EA Los Angeles, who were formally developers of the original Medal of Honor games under the title of Dreamworks Interactive, Airborne is a fairly enjoyable if flawed continuation of the series.
-Campaign Story-
Generally standard affair for a WWII shooter, that is unfortunately saddled by some of the most abrupt, irritating, unnecessary and at times unintentionally funny cut scene's I've ever encountered in an FPS. (Side Note:The establishing cut scene's for dropping into battle do not suffer from this.) Most of the time they will merely appear in situations that don't require explanation and at worst they will force you into situations that will take away control. For instance during one cut scene you're squad is entering a small coliseum that has been transformed into a military post. You can enter into this area from a few separate routes at different times before and during a required objective at said location. The only trouble is regardless of whether or not you enter into the area from the logical location for the cut scene to activate you will be teleported into the spot regardless. This puts the player at a cheap unfair advantage for an upcoming ambush in a game that (somewhat) actively promotes non-linear versatile level design and objective tackling, especially for a typical FPS.
Not counting the cut scenes the story, and all chapters within said story, are relatively long for individual levels in this type of FPS but altogether roughly the same length as most short FPS games (5-10 Hrs. Long). Characters with personality are non-existent, and the overall pacing of the story is a by the books mission-to-mission affair.
-Gameplay-
Single Player
Mostly the same as a majority of WWII shooters, with the inclusion of a few fun (if limited) ideas to level design thrown into the mix. For one you can start any mission with whatever loadout of preset and discovered weapons on the battlefield, giving added versatility. You can also obtain upgrades for said weapons by obtaining "Marksman points" which will unlock new addons (such as scopes) to certain weapons. A good incentive to better accuracy, but slightly annoying when achieved since it both slows down time, creates screen blur, and obscures your view with text to inform you of the accomplishment.
Side Notes: Weapons all have considerable kickback; You can also lean around corners and obstacles, but only if you are aiming down the sights, making this a much needed but irritating and unintuitive mechanic.
Then there are the missions themselves, alongside how you insert yourself into them. Airborne lives up to its subtitle by allowing the player to drop into nearly any available location on the map, secure or dangerous.This can include anything from landing directly into an enemy squad or finding a special Drop Zone that is out of the way of immediate danger (some rooftops, hidden openings). Once you make it to your drop point of choice you can proceed to finish a number of starting tasks in any direction you want, adding to player agency. Unfortunately this freedom is later gridlocked into more linear sections the further you progress towards mission completion. For example during one mission you are tasked with opening a fence from the other side of a location. The player needs to work their way through the enemy stronghold to get to a lock to break on the fence, but this lock is clearly visible (and should be breakable) on the side of the fence you start on. On top of that once you break the lock and allow your teammates to progress into the compound the mission is practically over.
Fortunately you have AI teammates! Unfortunately you are beholden to realizing how unreliable they can be, and in turn how ruthless (and inconsistent) the enemy AI is as well. Sometimes both friend and foe alike will either not progress at all or charge head first into death giving me flashbacks of the worst types of enemy behavior in Alpha Protocol and Mass Effect ("I will destroy you!"). Other times fellow brothers in arms will collectively suffer temporary blindness and fire at walls instead of enemies. You are, on most occasions the only soldier that matters and considering how accurate the enemies tend to be in this game that only adds to the challenge (and frustration of completing it) not to mention a few infuriating occasions where enemies will respawn out of certain sections of a map, further slowing down progress.
Multiplayer
Surprisingly (not counting the free version influx of players) still active on 360!
This portion of the game plays roughly the same as the single player, with the typical game modes of this genre (Team Deathmatch, Control the Flags, etc.) you come to expect.
The only major downsides to this are some serious lag and connectivity issues, team killing and the lean feature being rendered nearly useless by limiting the scope of range for leaning. Despite those issues still very fun to play with and against others and get a break from the bots in single player.
-Overall thoughts in Conclusion-
Medal of Honor: Airborne is a prime example of "for every step forward, take one step back" for the series. Which is not at all surprising given its slowing sales numbers and competition (Bioshock,COD 4, Crysis, Halo 3, Ghost Recon AW 2, Portal, Rainbow Six: Vegas, S.T.A.L.K.E.R., Unreal Tournament III were all released in the same year). Despite this and the numerous issues and lack of major or meaningful polish or innovation the game still managed to be enjoyable for what it was. And if your're like me and have a certain level of nostalgia for this era of WWII-centric gaming you might find some mild enjoyment out of it.
The game is currently available for free on Xbox Live for the 360.