New war game swift and intensive

A secret mission, by order of the president of the United States, sends Army Lieutenant William Holt to the European war front in 1942 to stop a Nazi plan to develop and harness atomic energy.

That is the race-against-time premise for the fifth and latest instalment of publisher Electronic Arts' Medal of Honor franchise. The video game's debut in 1999 started the second world war first-person shooter genre.

The new Medal of Honor: European Assault for the Sony PlayStation 2 console sends a player, filling the boots of Lieutenant Holt, to four pivotal European campaigns. These include a daring raid on the deep water port of St Nazaire in France, fighting Field Marshal Erwin Rommel's troops in North Africa, making a last stand in Stalingrad, and holding off Nazi tanks in the Battle of the Bulge.

The player's secret objectives will drive the game's storyline, written by veteran Hollywood director and Apocalypse Now co-screenwriter John Milius.

Medal of Honor: European Assault makes the battlefield bigger as it offers the player 360 degrees of movement in which to undertake a series of assignments that can be completed in any order. This set-up also provides opportunities for game play to be extended. For instance, a player's ability to 'cook' grenades spices up game play. This means a player can pull the pin on a grenade, hold and delay its detonation until there is an opportunity to throw it.

Players will be able to direct the movements of their squad during combat in real time via the provided D-pad. But players should be wary of enemies, which the video game endows with increased artificial intelligence. Enemies can take different routes to get the jump on players. They can seek cover, use grenades to force a player out into the open, and change positions to get a better shot.

In contrast, a player's squad members apparently have less AI. In a situation where a player is seeking cover, teammates run around right in front of machine gun fire. Although you can command them to attack and retreat, they mostly refuse to listen.