Since the 2010 Medal of Honor reboot, publisher Electronic Arts and developer Danger Close studios have hung the franchise on the peg of the “Tier 1 operators,” the best of the best of America's special forces. The reboot also continued to capture the original Medal of Honor ethos that recognizes the valor of the American soldier (as the series has done since it was founded in 1999). In the beginning that was enough because Medal of Honor was the only military shooter on the block. The situation is clearly different today, and the trade-offs required by that original mission are now proving to be an impediment to its success.
To be fair, those challenges are less apparent in the multiplayer modes than in the single player campaign. The first thing you'll notice when you load up Warfighter's multiplayer is how busy the user interface is. EA clearly wants Warfighter to become a social hub through integration with the Battlelog website. Users can earn “country tokens” that can be redeemed on Battlelog for bonus experience points, or form Platoons (read: Clans). Most of the UI is dedicated to these social tools rather than menus to get into matches.
The main building block of Warfighter's multiplayer is the Fire Team, or two-man squad. If your buddy's not in danger you can respawn right near him instead of at the default respawn location. Fire Team buddies can heal and re-supply each other, and earn experience points by killing enemies that are about to kill their buddy. Fire Team buddies can also see each others' outlines through walls to keep track of their position. If you earn enough points during a match you can call in support actions like mortar barrages or Blackhawk helicopters to spawn on.
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from Ars Technica http://arstechnica.com
