As engaging as the enemy A.I. is, they aren't as smart as all hell. For the most part, they do take cover and are careful to peak around corners and send a hail of bullets in your direction. But there are times when they will run at you through an open field, opting for a totally inappropriate melee attack instead of taking cover and trying to pick you and your men off from a safe distance. By the same token, the friendly A.I. will also run at them to engage in hand-to-hand combat. It's something that you'll just learn to ignore. Sometimes the friendly A.I. will actually get in your way and block your shots. That's a little bit harder to ignore.

An average gamer can blast through this in a couple of days. Fortunately, the faux open-ended gameplay will allow you to replay the single-player mission a couple more times. The ability to start your mission where you want and change the order of objectives gives you a sense of freedom. You may want to try different techniques to achieve the same objectives. And once you've exhausted the single-player mode, there is a multiplayer component that features Deathmatch and Capture the Flag-style modes. The multiplayer modes are fun, but they aren't the reason to purchase this game. I did have a bit of trouble finding a game for the PS3 at times, although that may change after the holidays. While I did experience some slowdown online, it was momentary.

Medal of Honor: Airborne is a good-looking game, but it's not amazing. It doesn't push the next-next gen envelope. It looks like a good Xbox game. The character models are well animated and look great close up. From a distance, the characters can be difficult to discern. Things do tend to look a little frenetic and messy. The guns sound great. They are loud and aggressive. Crank it up.

Medal of Honor: Airborne is definitely worth a weekend rental. There are few games that you could tackle in such short time that are of comparable quality. I applaud the developers for not dragging the gameplay out. It's as long as it needs to be, and even if that means a little on the short side, so be it. It just leaves me wanting more.

By Cole Smith
CCC Senior Writer

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