Medal of Honor: Warfighter is a first-person shooter game developed by Danger Close Games and published by Electronic Arts. It is a sequel to 2010's series reboot Medal of Honor and the fourteenth installment in the Medal of Honor video game series. The game's single-player campaign picks up where Medal of Honor (2010) left off, as it follows the Navy SEALs from the previous game's AFO Neptune.
Development of the sequel began after the 2010 reboot was commercially successful. During development, Naval Special Warfare Development Group (DEVGRU) members who worked as consultants for the game were disciplined for releasing classified information. The title was announced on February 23, 2012, and was released in October 2012 on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360.
Upon release, Warfighter received mixed reviews, with praise for the visuals and the use of Frostbite 2, but criticism aimed at the low texture quality on consoles, glitches, confusing storyline and poor artificial intelligence. The game sold 3 million copies by January 2013, but was a commercial failure for EA, resulting in the Medal of Honor series being taken out of rotation.
Gameplay The gameplay in Warfighter features different aspects than its predecessor. Features from the previous game such as peek and lean, requesting ammunition (now unlimited), and sliding returned. New features in the campaign like the Dynamic Door Breach and environmental destruction have been added.
Single-player The single-player campaign follows the story of Tier 1 operators from US Special Operations Forces and features various locations including Bosnia, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Somalia. The player primarily plays as "Preacher" of Task Force Blackbird and "Stump" of Task Force Mako. Campaign levels follow a nonlinear path and depict missions which occur at various points in time.
Multiplayer Medal of Honor: Warfighters multiplayer was not developed by EA Digital Illusions CE who previously helped develop Medal of Honors multiplayer. Danger Close Games developed the game's multiplayer aspect with DICE's Frostbite 2 engine. Players are involved in a global battle and choose which country they would like to support. There are 12 different tier one units from ten different nations that players can choose from. Reserving the game gave players access to additional content when Warfighter released, including additional weapons and perks. There was also a limited edition of the game that gave players early access to the U.S. SEAL Sniper equipped with the McMilllan TAC-300.
The following national task-forces are available in multiplayer: Australian Special Air Service Regiment (SASR) British Special Air Service (SAS) Canadian Joint Task Force 2 (JTF-2) German Kommando Spezialkräfte (KSK) Norwegian Forsvarets Spesialkommando (FSK/HJK) Polish JW GROM (GROM) Russian FSB Alpha (Alfa Group) Republic of Korea Navy Special Warfare Flotilla (UDT/SEAL) Swedish Särskilda operationsgruppen (SOG) U.S. Army Delta Force (SFOD-D) U.S. Navy SEAL Team Six (DEVGRU) U.S. CIA Special Activities Center/Special Operations Group (SAC/SOG) also referred to as "OGA" (Other Government Agency)
Within these groups, there are six distinct classes that players select from: Spec Ops, Sniper, Assaulter, Demolitions, Heavy Gunner, and Point Man. Each class has specific benefits and unique abilities. These nationalities and classes are only available in multiplayer mode.
The game's online servers along with Medal of Honor: Airborne and Medal of Honor (2010) were shut down on February 22, 2023.
Customization Warfighter's multiplayer features deep customization, for both the player's appearance and their weapons. The player is able to equip each weapon with various barrels, muzzles, magazines, stocks, optics, and paint jobs.
Plot At a ship dock in Karachi, Pakistan, Task Force Mako plants a demolition charge to sabotage a terrorist organization's smuggling operation. However, the charge unexpectedly sets off secondary explosions which destroy the docks. Debrief by their "OGA" (Other Government Agency) handler Dusty, a former U.S. Army Delta Force operator, suggests that their charge set off hidden PETN explosives being smuggled in the shipping containers to the Philippines.
Mako follows the lead to Isabela City, Philippines, but are diverted to aid the Philippine SOCOM's Task Force Tiger, led by General Barrera, with rescuing several hostages kidnapped by the Abu Sayyaf Group. They identify one of the hostage takers as Marwan al-Khalifa but General Barrera denies Mako's recommendations and instead orders his own NAVSOG operator, "Tiger 12", to shoot Khalifa. Tiger 12 wounds Khalifa and, in the chaos, the kidnappers and an unidentified terrorist are able to escape with the hostages. Mother and Preacher link up with the NAVSOG team and push in to secure the hostages. After taking multiple casualties due to General Barrera's poor decisions, Tiger 12 directs the NAVSOG team to ignore Barrera and follow Mother's orders. The NAVSOG and DEVGRU operators are able to secure the hostages, though Tiger 12 is seriously wounded and Khalifa and the unknown terrorist escape. Humiliated, General Barrera uses his political connections to force Mother and Preacher to retire from the Navy.
Weeks later, Task Force Mako, now led by Voodoo and consisting of Stump, Dingo, and Tick, assists a Marine-led amphibious raid aimed at curtailing local Somali piracy and later returns to the to help aid with the hostage situation on a U.S. freighter off the Somali coast.
Preacher takes his discharge and travels to Madrid, Spain to repair his failing marriage. While waiting for his wife's train to arrive, he unexpectedly sees Khalifa but is unable to stop him from committing a suicide bombing in the station. When Preacher regains consciousness in the hospital, he finds Lena and their daughter are safe as they missed their train. Mother visits and tells him that intel from their missions revealed connections between the Madrid train bombing (which used smuggled PETN), Abu Sayyaf, the unknown terrorist (now identified as Sa'ad al Din), and a terrorist leader known only as "the Cleric". Mother persuades him to join a newly-formed covert unit codenamed Task Force Blackbird, a joint effort between the Navy and the Central Intelligence Agency to investigate the PETN proliferation.
Task Force Blackbird, composed of Mother, Preacher, and Ajab, a local Pakistani CIA asset, track a gun runner named Faraz who is linked to the PETN smuggling. The operation is kept secret from Pakistani officials as Blackbird suspects they are actually aiding the terrorist network. This appears to be confirmed as Blackbird is forced to engage Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agents protecting Faraz. Mother and Preacher apprehend their target and learn the PETN is being supplied by a banker in Dubai named Hassan. While waiting for extraction, Faraz is killed by an enemy sniper and Ajab barely helps the two escape. While this is happening, Mako has tracked the PETN to Yemen and raids the terrorist facility storing it. There, they find a training camp with mockups of airports and train stations but only half of the PETN stockpile.
Blackbird arrives in Dubai and capture Hassan for interrogation. The SEALs manage to upload crucial data from Hassan's laptop but are captured before they can escape with Hassan. This data leads Mako to Sarajevo, where a Bosnian weapons dealer named Stovan Bosic is selling the PETN. Mako links up with a team of Polish GROM, and the joint forces track Bosic to the abandoned bobsled/luge track from the 1984 Winter Olympics where they capture him. Bosic reveals that two ships containing the PETN had just left Dubai. Dusty notifies NATO forces in Croatia to impound one of the vessels while Mako is sent to intercept the other headed for Karachi.
Unbeknownst to them, Sa'ad al Din is interrogating Preacher and Mother aboard that very same cargo freighter. After refusing to divulge information, Mother is executed by Sa'ad al Din. As Mako arrives and assaults the ship, Preacher is able to escape and fight his way to the bridge. He corners and overpowers Sa'ad al-Din before Mako arrives and takes the latter into custody. This enables them to identify the Cleric's identity as Hassan and his compound in Pakistan.
Preacher and Dusty join Mako in the final raid on Hassan's compound. During the assault, Voodoo and Preacher locate Hassan and kill him when he attempts to detonate his suicide vest. Afterward, they return home and pay their respects to Mother at his funeral. Some time after the funeral, Preacher receives a deployment signal on his pager while spending time with his family, but hesitates to answer.
Development One month after Medal of Honor was released, John Riccitiello, EA CEO at the time, stated that "Consumer feedback has been strong to suggest that we've got a franchise now, once again, that we could successfully and effectively sequel in the future." On February 18, 2011, Gregory Goodrich, the executive producer of Danger Close Games, said that the company would be pursuing a sequel to the 2010 reboot. On January 11, 2012, retailer Game revealed that EA plans to release new entries in the Medal of Honor and Need for Speed series later that year, which was shown by EA during a confidential presentation. Several video game website outlets such as GameSpot and Kotaku disclosed an invitation to a March 6, 2012, public unveiling at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, indicating that a new installment in the Medal of Honor franchise would have its first public demonstration.
Warfighter follows in the footsteps of 2011's Battlefield 3 by using the Frostbite 2 engine. EA senior creative director Richard Farrelly said Danger Close has been helping push the engine in new directions and has managed to create its own signature look for Warfighter, but "still have some of the same elements that EA Digital Illusions CE have like the micro-destruction and the amazing lighting." Farrelly also stated that Warfighter is "helping make Frostbite 2 a better engine".
Beta A multiplayer beta for Warfighter was made available on October 5 exclusively for the Xbox 360. The beta featured one map, and one mode. Players had access to all 6 classes. The beta ended on October 15.
Controversy Seven members of Naval Special Warfare Development Group (DEVGRU), including one of the alleged killers of Osama bin Laden, Matt Bissonnete, who worked as consultants for the game were disciplined for releasing classified information to the game's creators. They received a punitive letter of reprimand and a partial forfeiture of pay for two months. The two main complaints against the SEALs were that they did not seek the permission of their commanding officer to take part in the project and that they showed the game designers some of their specially designed combat equipment unique to their unit. The military official briefed about the case was not authorized to speak publicly about it.
Music
The music for Warfighter was composed by Ramin Djawadi, who also composed the music for Medal of Honor (2010). The official soundtrack was released on September 25, 2012, on iTunes and Amazon, nearly one month before the release of the game. The soundtrack consists of 21 tracks, 2 of which were composed by Mike Shinoda, the co-vocalist and rapper of Linkin Park. Linkin Park's song "Castle of Glass" from their album Living Things serves as the end credits song for Warfighter, and variations of the song appear on the soundtrack. Themes from the previous game reappear as well, albeit in slightly differed forms. The official video was released on October 10, 2012.
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