EA’s propriety launcher for its PC games Origin has a new offer for it’s “On The House” program, where they give out a free game from EA’s library of titles. This time it’s a trip down memory lane with Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault. This has replaced the previous offering, which was a free copy of Need For Speed Most Wanted 2012– the Criterion-made reboot that plays more like a Burnout Paradise than the 2005 classic.
Speaking of Medal of Honor, remember when World War II shooters were the big 10 years ago? Medal of Honor was a running success, capturing the imagination of many gamers on how the war looks like. The highlight of the series is of course the recreation of D-Day, the landing on Omaha Beach, featured in Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, arguably the peak of the franchise.
Around this time, newcomers at the time Infinity Ward appeared and gave some competition in the World War II shooters in the form of Call of Duty. The series quickly caught on as the Medal of Honor series stumbles. Their PC releases were solid. The releases on consoles? Not so much. This is a time when games are not developed primarily on consoles and then port to PC, but having different releases on PC and consoles.
From what we have gathered, it was a solid game for its time, and managed to prolong the series for a few years. It’s sad to see how the giant franchise stumbled, lost the lead to Call of Duty, and played catch-up by switching to the modern era setting after Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare was a massive hit. The studios making the Medal of Honor series, started as Dreamworks Interactive, which then became EA LA, later renamed to Danger Close, has now closed down.
That’s enough history lesson for now. If you’re curious to try it out for yourself, or want to play Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault again for nostalgia, then head over to Origin and claim it. You’re going to need an Origin account, and that shouldn’t be a problem if you had played any EA game with online functionality in the recent years.