"Human civilization has always known conflict. But it wasn't until the 20th century that the scope magnified to such a bloody scale as to engulf the entire world. In the aftermath of the War To End All Wars, Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party fanned the flames of a broken and dispirited nation, rebuilding the country from the ashes of the Versailles Treaty into a fascist juggernaut that seemed unstoppable. They pushed all the way to the Atlantic in their blitzkrieg, with England their next target. But Winston Churchill and his small island nation won the Battle of Britain, holding out through Hitler's terror-bombing for an entire year. They stoked the fires of freedom long enough to stay alive and save the world. After Pearl Harbor, the United States, with all its military and industrial muscle entered the war. First Africa, then Italy, then finally, Fortress Europe itself. You soldier, are a part of this great crusade. Are you ready to rise above and beyond the call of duty?"
— Opening Narration during the Intro
Medal of Honor is the very first title in the Medal of Honor series, developed by Dreamworks Interactive and released on October 31, 1999 for the PlayStation 1. Set late in World War II's War in Europe and Africa, players strap into the boots of Lt. James Steven "Jimmy" Patterson, a USAAF transport pilot turned OSS agent around the time of the Normandy landings in June 1944.
The game is most famous for popularizing story-driven First Person Shooters set in World War II, and for that matter, World War II shooters, First Person Shooters, and Works Set in World War II in general. In addition, this game was produced and written by none other than Steven Spielberg, who at the time of the release of this game was already well-known for Saving Private Ryan.
Followed next year by Medal of Honor: Underground, which switched the perspective to Manon Batiste, and served as a Prequel to this game. Medal of Honor: Frontline, released in 2002, would serve as both a Prequel and Interquel to this game, showcasing how Jimmy Patterson got noticed by the OSS, and the missions he undertook between this game's third and fourth missions.
This game contains examples of:
- Abandoned Mine: The Steinburg Salt Mine in Austria, which has long since been abandoned as a mine, is the setting of the level "Capture the Secret German Treasure". The SS has been using the mine to store hundreds if not thousands of priceless European artwork looted from the Occupied territories. Worse, they're planning on blowing the mine, the artwork, and the adjacent town just to deny the artwork back to the Allies.
- Absurdly Spacious Sewer: The first game's third mission is set inside a massive sewer system, containing a Resistance weapons cache containing Allied weapons and ammunition, as well as Patterson's escape route. Patterson himself has to deal with Gestapo agents and their Angry Guard Dogs as he makes his way through.
- Artificial Brilliance: When enemy soldiers see you throwing a grenade, they will make sure to kick or throw it back, or, on occasion, jump on it to save their fellow soldiers.
- Artificial Stupidity: They'll sometimes do the latter even if there are no other comrades nearby for them to save.
- BFG: The Browning Automatic Rifle is this, being a light machine gun that's much heavier and more powerful than anything short of a mounted MG42. It's absolutely capable of ripping apart entire squads of enemies in just a single burst of fire. And given enemies in later levels will have more automatic weapons, the player is definitely going to need this weapon to progress.
- Deadly Gas: Fort Schmerzen, as it turns out, has a mustard gas production facility located in its basement. Col. Muller, commander of the fort, intended to create gas bombs that would be dropped by Ju 87 Stuka dive bombers, and were to be used against advancing Allied troops.
- Demolitions Expert: The Waffen-SS Demo Squad encountered by Patterson are this, to the point they're Mad Bombers dressed as soldiers. According to Manon, these soldiers were most infamous for blowing up a French school suspected of being a Resistance hideout during the German occupation. During the events of the game, these same soldiers make no hesitation to destroy an Abandoned Mine housing a ton of precious European artwork.
- The Dreaded: By the late game, Patterson has gained this reputation amongst the German ranks, with many of them outright screaming in fear when they recognize him.
- Dressing as the Enemy: On more than one occasion, Patterson has to disguise himself as a German officer, complete with stolen identification papers, in order to progress.
- Elite Mooks: Waffen-SS soldiers. Compared to their Heer counterparts, they're more durable, have much better aim, and are equipped with better weapons like additional submachine guns and Panzerschreck rocket launchers.
- Gas Mask Mooks: The German soldiers encountered within the basement sections of Fort Schmerzen are shown to be wearing gas masks and other breathing apparatuses, which is very much justified due to the Fort being used to manufacture mustard gas. Patterson himself steals one such mask just before venturing into the basement.
- The Guards Must Be Crazy: Zigzagged Trope. On one hand, German guards will always require the player to present the proper identification papers to access certain areas, German officers will immediately find the player suspicious due to them personally knowing other officers stationed in their respective areas, and alarms are strategically placed in heavily guarded facilities. On the other, they won't react or retaliate when their fellow guards are killed out of sight, and will also stop being hostile to the player once an alarm stops going off.
- Hollywood Silencer: The Walther PPK pistol comes equipped with a suppressor that causes it to produce zero noise whatsoever, making it incredibly useful for assassinating unsuspecting guards.
- I Surrender, Suckers: German scientists at the Rjukan Facility, when caught by surprise and held at gunpoint by Patterson, will pull their hands up, only to pull out handguns and attempt to kill him once he looks away. The scientists encountered at Nordhausen avert this, opting to straight up attempt to kill Patterson with submachine guns.
- Karma Houdini:
- Col. Hermann Muller, Commander of Fort Schmerzen and Arc Villain of "Attack Impenetrable Fort Schmerzen", ends up fleeing the the Fort when Patterson begins his one-man attack on the facility. He ends up becoming a subversion in Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, when Muller is killed during the destruction of Fort Schmerzen 2 months later, by Lt. Mike Powell and the 2nd Ranger Battalion.
- Sturmbannfuhrer Ratter, the Arc Villain of "Capture the Secret German Treasure", manages to get away with murdering the Curator of the salt mine, having chosen to flee rather than confront Patterson.
- La Résistance: Manon Batiste, a French Resistance leader, is one of Patterson's main contacts throughout the game. The French Resistance themselves, while not physically appearing, help Patterson indirectly via their weapon caches stored across France, as well as by giving directions to Patterson on an escape route from the Gestapo early in the game.
- Mountain Warfare: The fifth, sixth, and seventh levels notably take place in the mountains of Norway, Austria, and Germany, respectively, with the former two notably taking place in the dead of winter as well. Patterson himself is stated to have received extra hiking equipment just for these two missions.
- No Fair Cheating: You can unlock cheats straight away by inputting a code, but you'll still have to play through the full game without them because they're only selectable on previously-beaten stages after the first. Using a GameShark won't help either, as the only known invincibility code makes both you and the enemies unkillable.
- One-Man Army: Lt. Jimmy Patterson, who by the end of the game has mowed down thousands of German troops, destroyed a number of their artillery pieces, sank a U-boat, and sabotaged many of their operations.
- Punch-Clock Villain: The unnamed Curator of the Steinburg Salt Mine is stated by Manon to be working against his will, with the SS constantly holding him at gunpoint and coercing him into cooperating. By the final part of the sixth mission, he's clearly had enough, and screams at Patterson to stop the SS fanatics from destroying all the priceless works of art, before getting shot by Sturmbannfuhrer Ratter.
- Purposefully Overpowered: Both the Browning Automatic Rifle and M9 Bazooka are incredibly powerful weapons, with the former able to kill several enemies in a short burst from any range, with the latter being a guaranteed One-Hit Kill on any enemy unlucky enough to be caught in the rocket's blast. Given that the enemies fought in the late game, where these weapons are provided to player, are themselves each wielding submachine guns and their own rocket launchers in the form of the Panzerschreck, the player is definitely going to need these incredibly powerful weapons in order to advance.
- Satchel Charge: One of Patterson's most common forms of equipment is a timer-equipped satchel charge, which he often uses to blow up enemy vehicles, fortifications, gun emplacements, or components.
- Secret Weapon: The Germans have been developing quite a few during the events of the game.
- At Fort Schmerzen, Col. Muller has secretly been creating a newer, deadlier strain of mustard gas, intended to be dropped from the air by German Stuka dive bombers when the Allies advance into the area.
- At the Norsk Hydro facility in Norway, German scientists have been making progress in their research related to the creation of an atomic bomb, complete with entire rooms worth of research notes, and entire shipments and storage tanks of heavy water needed to create such a weapon.
- Secret Police: The Gestapo, whose members are encountered as a common enemy in earlier levels. During "Search The Town", the second part of the first level, Patterson must eliminate 8 of their Officers, due to them rounding up French Resistance members and sympathizers. In "Sewer Chase", their K9 units attempt to chase after Patterson through French sewers, sending several Angry Guard Dogs after the player. During the first two parts of "Destroy the Mighty Railgun Greta", their officers and agents are shown guarding the train station near the titular railgun, will check Patterson's identification papers if approached, and will open fire and sound the alarm if Patterson's cover is blown.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: The G3 officer that you're sent to rescue in the first mission is dead when you find him. You are stuck with the pissed off Nazi search parties.
- Sniper Rifle: The US M1903A4 Springfield rifle is issued to Patterson on certain occasions, and is the only scoped rifle available in game. Unlike every other weapon in the game, aiming with this weapon will have the player use the rifle's scope, allowing them to zoom in on and pick off faraway targets.
- Stock Footage: Actual photographs and footage from World War II are used for both cutscenes and mission briefings, in order to give a documentary-style feel as well as to make up for the graphical limitations of the time.
- Stupid Jetpack Hitler: Downplayed. While much of the technology and research the Germans have researched is similar to what was done in Real Life, there are quite a few times where it's actually much more advanced and detailed.
- The Germans at the Norsk Hydro facility in Rjukan have already made significant progress in their research on heavy water and atomic weapons, having produced entire hallways worth of documents and schematics on top of having produced tons of heavy water. Unfortunately for them, Patterson puts an end to their attempts at producing a functioning nuclear weapon for good, destroying all of their research and heavy water in the process.
- As it turns out, the German scientists at the Nordhausen facility had already drawn up schematics and plans for a V2 rocket armed with a nuclear warhead, as detailed in the blueprints that Patterson snatches during the final level. Unfortunately for them, the heavy water shipments that the Germans had intended to use to create such a device was destroyed by Patterson a month prior, rendering the research useless. Instead, the Germans create a conventional V2 rocket warhead with much more explosive power than previous iterations. While not as powerful nor destructive than their first choice, it's still rather impressive, as proven when the sabotaged rocket levels the entire Elaborate Underground Base around it.
- Those Wacky Nazis: Given that Patterson is deployed to Europe late in the Second World War, his main opposition are soldiers and sailors of the various Nazi German military branches as well as the Waffen-SS.
- Translation Convention: Zigzagged Trope. On most occasions, the German forces that Patterson fights against speak German. During sections where Patterson is Dressing as the Enemy, however, the Germans will speak accented English when asking for Patterson's identification papers.
- Trapped Behind Enemy Lines: The game is set entirely within German-occupied territory, with Patterson having to accomplish his objectives while being completely outnumbered and outgunned.
- The Unfought: Both Col. Hermann Muller and Sturmbannfuhrer Ratter, the Arc Villains of "Attack Impenetrable Fort Schmerzen" and "Capture The Secret German Treasure", respectively, are not encountered nor fought in their respective levels. Both of them instead choose to escape with their lives rather than confront Patterson.
- Unique Enemy:
- Attack dogs only appear in the third part of the first level, and never show up again in subsequent levels.
- Gasmask-wearing German soldiers are only encountered in the later sections of the fourth level.
- German scientists only appear in the indoor sections of the fourth level, and during the entirety of final level.
- SS Demolition Squad soldiers only appear during the second part of "Capture the Secret German Treasure".
- Unusable Enemy Equipment: Quite a few of the weapons used by the Germans cannot be picked up by the player.
- While it's a common weapon wielded by German soldiers, the Karabiner 98 rifle cannot be picked up and used by the player, with the player only being allowed to pick up rifle ammunition from these dropped weapons.
- Likewise, the Panzerschreck launcher cannot be used, with only rocket ammunition being available for pickup. Instead, Patterson gets to use its American counterpart, the M9 Bazooka.
