‘Medal of Honor’ in VR takes the training wheels off video game guns

Put ink to paper, set it in stone, and take any other measures needed to make it official: I would perish immediately in any type of armed conflict. I’ve long suspected this, but Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond made me more sure of that than I’ve ever been.

The newest game from Titanfall and Apex Legends developer Respawn Entertainment is a bit of a departure for the company, ditching the sci-fi trappings in the majority of its work for a World War II setting. Oh, and instead of coming out on PC and consoles, it’s an Oculus VR exclusive. 

I got to spend some time with Above and Beyond before its Dec. 11 launch and, if nothing else, the game is going for it. It’s too early to say if Respawn’s latest effort successfully mixes traditional first-person shooter gameplay with VR immersiveness all the way through, but based on what I’ve seen, it has plenty of potential to stand out.  

War is work

Above and Beyond puts you in the shoes of an agent for the CIA’s predecessor, the Office of Strategic Services, who’s tasked with doing all kinds of difficult dirty work in the European theatre of World War II. There are six missions in the single-player campaign, and based on my playtime in just one of them it seems like each of them could be substantial. It took me a little less than two hours to get through the first mission (including tutorials), and that mission included several bespoke set-pieces, each with unique objectives, hazards, and tools to play with.

In one scenario, I got to coordinate an ambush of a Nazi convoy by choosing exactly where to place dynamite and from where each member of my crew would spring. Less than an hour later, I was infiltrating a Nazi camp using stolen uniforms to hijack a bunch of weapons crates and then shooting up pursuing soldiers from the back of a jeep. None of these little vignettes were especially deep or complex, but they all felt unique. It’s a really promising start, as long as the rest of Above and Beyond‘s campaign follows suit.

Respawn’s level design acumen shines most brightly in this respect. Titanfall 2‘s all-time classic campaign constantly introduced new mechanics just to ditch them half an hour later, after their potential had been fully explored. In my brief time with Above and Beyond, I never had a chance to get bored or frustrated with something because none of these elements overstayed their welcome. 

Of course, gunplay is where a VR shooter lives or dies. Above and Beyond follows other examples like Boneworks by making you actually reload your guns instead of simply pressing a button and watching it happen. Because these are extremely old guns, that often means more than just ejecting the magazine and inserting a new one. Even the basic MP40 submachine gun requires you to pull a bolt back to charge it after reloading.

When it comes to actually shooting Nazis, Above and Beyond skips typical video game trappings like fake on-screen crosshairs, the same as most other VR shooters. I had to learn how to properly use iron sights, which meant I was wildly missing enemy targets who were more than 10 feet in front of me. You’re strongly encouraged to hold all guns, even sidearms, with both hands for increased stability. The fact that shooting guns is so much more laborious (but no less fun) than in a regular shooter makes it all the more satisfying when you finally manage to pop a Nazi from far away with a single-shot rifle like the M1 Garand. 

I don’t really enjoy or condone the use of guns in real life at all, but I have to admit I had a ton of fun. At first, emptying a magazine was intimidating because every gun reloads differently. By the time I was done with the first mission, however, I had begun to develop muscle memory for each of the weapons I favored. I’m new to VR, so some folks have probably been through this cycle before. But I was struck by how different it felt to develop relationships with weapons in this game as compared to a non-VR shooter.

To be clear, Respawn turned down the realism in spots where it made sense. Letting go of a weapon will automatically holster it for you, for example. You also don’t need to be precise when pulling a weapon out of its holster; simply bring your hand up to your left or right shoulder and you can easily pull out whatever guns you have in your two main weapon slots slung across your virtual back. The same goes for new magazines and sidearms, which are situated on your left and right hips, respectively, meaning you can keep your eyes on the action while reloading or switching weapons.

Naturally, you’re not restricted to guns for taking on the Nazi menace. Grenades work as you’d expect, except you need to physically use one hand to pull the pin and the other to throw it. My favorite touch in the entire game is that you can bring the grenade up to your face and your character will use their teeth to pull the pin. You can also pick up many mundane objects like rolling pins and picture frames, and yes, hitting Nazis hard enough with them is fatal. 

Shooting in VR isn’t exactly new, but I dig what I’ve seen from Respawn’s first crack at it so far. There’s something compellingly disempowering about having to hide behind a pillar while Nazis shoot at you from 30 feet away, only peeking out slightly to take a few shots during openings between their fire. As a traditional FPS veteran, I felt like I was bad at shooting virtual guns for the first time in years. It was refreshing, honestly.

Make sure you have room and resources

Now comes the rough part, especially for those who don’t already have a VR setup in their homes. Above and Beyond has absurdly steep recommended system requirements, including the need for more than 170 GB of storage for installation. This is a beastly game that requires both a powerful gaming PC and an Oculus Rift headset, or a Quest headset with a link cable.

For what it’s worth, it ran smoothly on the Razer Blade 15 gaming laptop I used, though the machine’s fans were practically screaming at me by the time I was done. That’s a $1,500 laptop, and while a custom-built desktop could likely deliver similar performance for less money, it ain’t gonna be cheap to play Above and Beyond if you don’t already have the hardware.

I’d also recommend clearing out some space before you play. This isn’t an absolute requirement, as there’s a mode for playing while seated. But that makes it harder to crouch behind cover or bend down to pick up objects off the ground, so standing up and walking around is the ideal way to go here. You won’t have a bad time if you play seated, but you’ll surely have a better time if you can manage to avoid it.

As a big fan of Respawn’s non-VR work, it’s nice to see that Above and Beyond is a seemingly substantial game rather than a VR tech demo. The combat encounters I played through seen were varied, well-designed, and, most importantly, challenging in a way traditional shooters aren’t for me anymore. It felt kind of awesome to absolutely suck at something I thought I knew so well.