Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12416 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: Electronic Arts
• Released on: 2002-12-06
• Platforms: Windows NT, Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows Me, Windows XP, Windows 95

Amazon.co.uk Review
A very welcome expansion pack to an already classic game, Medal of Honor Allied Assault: Spearhead mixes in additional single and multiplayer challenges. The first person action kicks off with D-Day, and the same kind of measured, yet frantic, gameplay that earned the game an add-on in the first place, is present and correct.

Kicking off with the playing parachuting through a hail of bullets, Spearhead's missions bother little with plot, instead opting for more of the same. Thus, there's first-person action, tank driving and simple issues, such as survival, to consider once more.

In the enhancements column, you certainly feel more part of a squad this time around, with colleagues ready to stand alongside you in battle. Leaning is incorporated into the single player game for the first time, which helps combat the previously overbalanced snipers. Little tweaks here and there tighten things up too, and there's a few more weapons thrown in too. Pretty much what you'd expect from an add-on pack.

On the multiplayer side, a dozen new maps are included, and this, as last time, range from tight, tense levels to more open battles. They seem slightly larger than before too, and as with the single player levels, they're enjoyable, challenging, and won't disappoint. What will is the length of the single-player mission, which is notably shorter than previously. What's there is very good; there's simply not enough of it.

Nonetheless, with the various tweaks taken into account, Spearhead undoubtedly improves and prolongs the original, and boasts the same high production values. It's a pack that no Allied Assault fan can really be without. --Simon Brew

Customer Reviews

Another hit, although short!
I have just completed the first of the three levels in this add-on and as before with MOH:AA, I enjoyed it immensely. The excellent, opening sequence really sets the scene and sees you jump out of the plane and parachute down to the ground. From there on the format is much the same as before, except now you are always part of a team and not alone (which I think makes it harder!). It is a bonus that there are now British soldiers and British weapons, albeit a small bonus!! The graphics and sound are as superb as before and on my system (pretty high spec. I must confess), I have not had any installation or subsequent crashing problems at all.

Now for the complaint. MOH:AA and this add-on is just too short!!!! I know that this game is designed for multi-players which gives it extra value, but some of us can’t get broadband!!! I finished the first level on easy in about 90 minutes. Is the rest of the game going to be this simple?

If you can afford it and just loved the first game, then BUY SPEARHEAD!! But if your gaming pounds are limited, then I would invest them somewhere else. That’s why I gave it only 4 stars.

Finally, one thing that I enjoyed, although some may just ignore it, is that at the end of the first level and at the start of the second we are treated to a selection of pictures and poems. This is good because it reminds us that this was real, that people really fought, bled and died for freedom. These people were not characters from a video game but were often scared, young men who didn’t really know what was going on, but had courage to do what was required of them.

Linear and familiar but good fun
I was really looking forward to the Spearhead expansion pack, and although it's not a classic there is just enough here to justify a purchase if you love Medal of Honor: Allied Assault.

The single player game comprises of three mini-campaigns featuring a few missions in each. This opens up with a breathtaking parachute drop into Normandy during the early hours of D-Day. This is nicely done and sets the atmosphere well. Early combat is frantic and fast-paced as you fight your way out of the landing zones and on to your objectives. You link up with British paratroopers as you have been separated from your unit and accompany them on their mission to destroy a bridge.

This opening campaign is great as you blow up tanks with anti-tank guns, cross a river in a dinghy, assassinate a Nazi colonel, battle through plenty of German soldiers and finally reach the bridge.

You then jump forward to the Battle of the Bulge in the Ardennes Forest in Belgium. This section starts well but then you come across a tedious mission of manning a gun in a half-track as you fight through German lines. This is tricky and takes many attempts to complete. Basically you need to know where every enemy is to complete it, so it's trial and error gameplay - therefore a bit tedious.

You then have to survive an artillery barrage and hold off a German attack in the woods. The latter is poorly implemented and hugely unrealistic, as only one German setting one foot on the other side of your trench means mission failed, even if you kill him milliseconds after. Daft.

After this it's on to Berlin, where you are now inexplicably attached to Russian forces as they enter the city to finally crush the Nazi empire. This involves a lot of sniping, good use of cover and destroying tanks with sticky bombs. Once you have secured a list of friendly spies you then jump into a tank and get to blast your way out and finally hold an important bridge against German counter-attack. Exciting stuff.

Spearhead gives you new weapons to play with, including lots of different grenades (which I didn't really use much), the British Sten gun and Lee Enfield rifle, Russian rifles and SMGs and also the familiar M1 Garand (blam, blam, blam, pling!) and Thompson SMG.

The British and Russian sections are a good play, but the middle Ardennes part is a let-down and can be very frustrating. Lots of credit to EA for trying to balance out the experience by involving other allies though.

Multiplayer-wise, you get new models and maps as well as a new game mode - Tug of War. There aren't too many servers supporting Spearhead at the moment so it can be difficult finding a game in order to try these out. Worth the effort if you can though.

The Spearhead expansion is a worthy purchase and will extend MOHAA a little further until the sequel appears, hopefully in the next 12 months.

Great, but could be better
In my opinion Medal of Honor Allied Assault is one if the best shooters around. It easily has the best weapon sounds and has great details and a solid storyline driving it along. As soon as heard about the add-on i knew i would get it. You are a different character doing different missions but in the same period of WWII. I was always going to get this add-on but as details emerged about it i did have second thoughts for a brief second. Mainly there are only nine single player levels, split into three missions (the original had 30 levels in 6 missions, but there were more levels to each mission). The missions are the D-day landings where you parachute in ala band of brothers, the Battle of the Bulge, also band of brothers and into the heart of the fatherland, Berlin. I said earlier "second thoughts for a brief second", well as soon as i saw some in-game movies off the official website the second thoughts went away. The battle of the bulge level, where you are in the middle of the forest is a massive open environment, if you remember the start of mission six in the original it is a little like that only much more open with no rocks and trees forming a perimeter. You also get the addition of some new weapons, British ones include the mark enfield mark 1 rifle which i imagine is like the American M1 Garand, there is also the sten sub-machine gun. As the game includes Russian soldiers as well they bring some new weapons to the game. The multiplayer aspect hasn't been left out either, there are 12 new levels including the Arnhem Bridge. There is also a new mode, where by you have to capture a number of flags in a level, called Tug of War, a bit like Battlefield 1942. My final words are if you like the original and/or you like shooters and in particular WW2 ones, then get this. My only little nag is the single player missions could be more padded out.