The last entry of the Medal of Honor series on the Game Boy Advance was a port of the PS One title Underground.  The game attempted to bring the same style of 3D FPS gameplay to the GBA, but failed to create an engaging experience due to horrible graphics and control issues.  However, the next Medal of Honor entry, Infiltrator, starts from scratch and changes the perspective to a 2D top-down view.  It also manages to provide an excellent blend of atmosphere and exciting gameplay to become one of the best action titles on the Game Boy Advance.  Forget about last year’s lousy Underground port, Medal of Honor has finally hit the GBA in style.

Infiltrator pits you as Corporal Jake Murphy, a soldier thrown smack dab in the middle of WWII.  As Murphy, you’ll charge through the game’s 15 stages which range from many different fronts of the war, from North Africa to Russia.  Between the missions, FMVs (that’s right, on the GBA) will show you a little bit of a lead up to your next mission and a mission screen will show you your objectives.

The majority of the gameplay is played from a top-down view, similar to games like Commando.  You run your character around the screen shooting Nazis and ducking behind cover whenever needed.  Much of the same kinds of tools are at your disposal as were in the console and PC games.  You can use stationary guns like MG42s, you can explode barrels to take out crowds of enemies, throw grenades, ride in tanks and use a variety of authentic weapons from the series, like Thompson sub-machine guns and M1 Garands.  The weapons are divided into kits, of which you may hold one at a time.  The kits each contain a primary weapon (a rifle or a sub-machine gun are examples) and a secondary (grenades or a bazooka).  The kits are balanced so that the weapons will offset each other.  For example, the Thompson SMG comes with a set of ten grenades, while the Browning Rifle, a superior weapon in terms of stopping power, only comes with five and the Colt 45 pistol, the weakest weapon, comes with a bazooka, the most powerful.

The other sections of the gameplay are turret gun missions that occur in a first person rail mode.  You move the targeting reticule over enemies and items and shoot away.  These missions are kind of fun at first, but they can get quite redundant and don’t really compare to the rest of the game.

The best thing about this game is the presentation.  The game doesn’t look like Medal of Honor, but it certainly feels like Medal of Honor, even though the perspective has been radically changed.  There is a surprising amount of depth and variety in the missions.  Some missions are stealth-based and play like Medal Gear (old Medal Gear, not Solid).  These missions are quite difficult and demand quite a bit of patience and strategy.  The action missions, on the other hand, are somewhat the opposite, requiring a fair amount of reflex.  The sheer amount of activity on the screen in the action levels is extremely impressive, easily rivaling the series’ console efforts.  Planes will roar over head dropping bombs, barrels will explode and shoot into the air, and hordes of enemies will come out of the wood work to take you out.

The graphics in Infiltrator are great, bringing to mind graphically excellent 2D action games like Medal Slug.  As I stated earlier, the sheer amount of things happening at once is extremely impressive, and will certainly immerse you into the action.  The character sprites look great, with a kind of cartoony quality instead of forced realism that many titles try but fall way too short on.  The environments are huge and colorful, with plenty of diversity to keep things interesting.

 The sound is excellent, some of the best I’ve heard on the GBA ever.  The music sounds great, just shy of the same level as the console games.  The sound effects are also lifted very well from the series, complete with voices in both English and German.  Also, the gun sounds are fantastic, also taken from the console games, and rife with little details that make all the difference.  You can’t help but feel impressed when you expel your M1 Garand clip with its trademark “ping” as the empty clip shoots out of the rifle.

Medal of Honor: Infiltrator is a great action game for the Game Boy Advance that actually manages to do something that the latest console offering failed to do: it revitalizes the gameplay formula to create a unique experience while keeping the things that make the series so great.  A must-buy for any Medal of Honor fan with a GBA.

Gameplay: 9.0
While the first-person perspective has been shucked (thankfully) for a top-down 2D view of the action, the game still feels a lot like Medal of Honor and does a fine job of immersing the player into the war.  The stealth missions are a nice change of pace from the constant action.  The turret missions, while a bit redundant after too long, are also pretty fun.

Graphics: 9.2
The game’s graphical presentation is great, bringing to mind games like Metal Slug.  The characters are cartoony without being too kiddie, and the environments are very detailed and colorful.

Sound: 9.5
Fantastic, some of the best I’ve heard on a GBA.  The music has been nicely replicated from other entries in the series, and the sound effects are excellent and filled with all the details of the console games.  There’s even some voice acting in both English and German, which sound great.

Difficulty: Medium

Concept: 9.0
Infiltrator provides a whole new perspective for the series, literally.  The top-down view works a lot better than the FPS view of Underground, and also manages to retain true to the atmosphere of the series.

Multiplayer: 9.0
The game features a few two-player modes that range from co-op to deathmatch.

Overall: 9.0
Infiltrator manages to do what Rising Sun couldn’t: it innovates the series and moves it along in a new gameplay direction while maintaining the sense of atmosphere that made the Medal of Honor series so fun to play.  Recommended for any Medal of Honor (or action fan, for that matter) with a GBA.