History VideoGame / MedalOfHonorAirborne

* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: The officer variants of most Axis soldiers tend to be armed with more powerful automatic weapons, and are a lot harder to take down. In some cases, and depending on the difficulty, they can give even experienced players a run for their money. The black-uniformed S.S. Commanders are the toughest normal enemies in the game (not counting the HeavilyArmoredMook Nazi Storm Elites), with almost twice the health of a basic enemy soldier, and capable of taking 3 rifle rounds to the torso compared to just 2 for everyone else.

''Medal Of Honor: Airborne'' is the 11th installment of the ''VideoGame/MedalOfHonor'' series and released in 2007 for the UsefulNotes/Xbox360, UsefulNotes/Playstation3, and UsefulNotes/MicrosoftWindows. It is the first ''Medal of Honor'' game to be released on [[UsefulNotes/TheSeventhGenerationOfConsoleVideoGames 7th generation consoles]], and the only 7th gen game in the series to be set in World War 2.

* ItsRainingMen: TheGame. The cover features an American Paratrooper jumping out of a C-47, and pretty much every level in-game starts this way, even giving you the freedom of picking where exactly you want to land and start fighting.

''Medal Of Honor: Airborne'' is the 11th installment of the ''VideoGame/MedalOfHonor'' series and released in 2007 for the UsefulNotes/Xbox360, UsefulNotes/Playstation3, and UsefulNotes/MicrosoftWindows.

* AluminumChristmasTrees: Apparently, WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation thought [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flak_tower flak towers]] were completely fictional.

* KillEmAll: [[spoiler: By the end of the final level, Travers and Col. Webb are implied to be the only named major characters to survive.]]

* DoomTroops: The Waffen Storm Leaders, high-ranking officers armed with [[RareGuns STG 44s]], and the Nazi Storm Elites, gas-mask wearing Waffen SS units armed with [=MG 42s=]. Both these enemy types wear the distinct black S.S. uniform (which was very much a real life version of this trope), rather than the more utilitarian woodland camouflage the regular Waffen S.S. soldiers wear.

* RareGuns: German troops encountered late in the game, starting from ''Neptune'' onward and becoming commonplace by ''Varsity'', are armed exclusively with higher-end German weapons such as the Gewehr 43 and STG 44.

* AntiAir: The Germans have the 20mm Flakvierling 38, which is often an objective to be destroyed during a mission. The final level involves assaulting a Flak Tower, which is this trope taken UpToEleven.

* UniqueEnemy: In ''Husky'', one Heer Officer is equipped with a Kar 98k sniper rifle rather than the usual [=MP 40=]. He has to be killed as one of your primary objectives.

* RealityEnsues: For all the potential of being a OneManArmy, the player can still very much end up a SittingDuck should, or rather when, they land into enemy-occupied zones on the map and have their health bars reduced to zero even before they can pull out a weapon.

* DoNotRunWithAGun: One major gameplay element that distinguishes ''Airborne'' from most other FPS games is that you can't move when aiming down sights, as the movement controls will cause you to lean instead when using your sights. This is also true of the A.I.-controlled characters, who can occasionally hip-fire while running but for the most part have to stand still and aim their weapons before firing.

* SortingAlgorithmOfEvil: Each enemy unit type encountered is, in general, overall tougher to beat in a firefight and more competent in combat. Italian Blackshirts, the first enemies encountered, have a Combat Rating of 1, Heer units have Combat Ratings of around 2 and 3, Waffen-SS have around 4, 5, and 6, Fallschirmjager have 7 and 8, Panzergrenadiers have 9, and finally, TheDreaded Nazi Storm Elites are 10.

* RealityEnsues: For all the potential of being a OneManArmy, the player can still very much end up a SittingDuck should, or rather when, they land into enemy-occupied zones on the map and have their health bars reduced to zero even before they can pull out a weapon.

->'''Paratrooper:''' Who does the Army [[ElitesAreMoreGlamorous trust]] the most?\\

'''Paratrooper:''' Who do the [[ChickMagnet ladies love the most]]?\\

'''Paratrooper:''' Who do the [[ThoseWackyNazis Nazis]] [[TheDreaded fear the most?]]\\

* AllForNothing: Despite the 82nd securing the Nijmegen bridge and Col. Webb's confident after-action report stating that fighting would end swiftly, Operation Market-Garden ends in failure due to circumstances outside of their control, specifically the British 1st Airborne Division becoming overwhelmed by incessant attacks from the Waffen-SS offscreen.

* HomeByChristmas: Said word-for-word by Travers' superior officer during the briefing for Operation Market-Garden. As we all know, this wouldn't be the case, as the war in Europe would go on for 8 more months.

** The Germans also attempt to use one to destroy the Nijmegen bridge during Operation Market-Garden. Travers, however, destroys it before it can even be used.

* KilledMidSentence: A U.S. paratrooper was telling a joke. "What do you get when you mix a Nazi with a cockroach? You get-" He then gets shot by a Nazi plane before he could say the punchline!

* A U.S. paratrooper was telling a joke. "What do you get when you mix a Nazi with a cockroach? You get-" He then gets shot by a Nazi plane before he could say the punchline!

* TheEnemyWeaponsAreBetter: American automatic weapons tend to have better damage at the cost of higher recoil and lower magazine capacity. The problem is the extra damage generally isn't enough to make a practical difference in terms of how many bullets it takes to kill most enemies, so you're generally better off trading your tommy gun or [=BAR=] rifle for an MP40 or Sturmgewehr rifle as soon as you can kill someone for their gun. [[Creator/BenCroshaw Yahtzee]] even observed this in his WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation video on the game, referring to the American guns as "a pile of ass and recoil".

* AwesomeButImpractical: The Mauser C-96 handgun becomes this upon reaching its third level, a conversion to automatic fire (the other two are a a wooden shoulder stock and an enlarged magazine). While the two first improve the weapon's usefulness, the increased fire rate actually hinders its performance, as it is too fast for the magazine's length to compensate it, which means the weapon gets empty of ammunition after just a couple of bursts. This forces the character to spend a precious time reloading it and thus eliminates the advantages of a short weapon.

* HomeByChristmas: Said word-for-word by Travers' superior officer during the briefing for Operation Market-Garden. As we all know, this wouldn't be the case, as the War in Europe would go on for 8 more months.
* HyperspaceArsenal: Zigzagged. While the game only gives you allowance to carry 2 primary weapons, a pistol, and grenades, with the correct upgrades and weapons, a player can carry one anti-tank rocket (complete with 14 rounds), a light machine gun, and at least ''36 grenades of different types''.

* RankUp: Travers is promoted from Pfc. to Cpl. following his actions in Nijmegen. [[spoiler: It's even implied, based on promotional materials, that, following Setzer's death in the final level, that he later gets promoted to Sgt. as well.]]

* TankGoodness: The German Tiger I tank, which makes appearances in the in ''Saved by Sacrifice'' and ''The Opening''. And when they do appear, you ''will'' remember them.
* TanksForNothing: The Sherman tanks in ''The Opening'', which were intended to reinforce the Paratroopers taking Nijmegen, are destroyed easily by Panzergrenaders defending the bridge. This forces Travers and the rest of his unit to storm the bridge and remove all the threats.

* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: The officer variants of most Axis soldiers tend to be armed with more powerful automatic weapons, and are a lot harder to take down. In some cases, and depending on the difficulty, they can give even experienced players a run for their money.

* HeavilyArmoredMook: The Nazi Storm Elites, Waffen-SS soldiers equipped with body armor and wielding [=MG42s=] which otherwise can only be used as stationary turrets, are ''ridiculously'' tough to kill.