The Medal of Honor games were once the unrivalled champions of the WWII shooter genre. Over the years, however, the series started to disappoint, and quickly became watered down. It wasn't long before it finally lost all inspiration with the release of MOH: Rising Sun. Though EA released a couple more games after that, the franchise had all but turned belly up. Now, Medal of Honor returns with Airborne, which was almost timed perfectly, as the current champ, Call of Duty, has chosen a more modern setting for its next game.

As the name suggests, you'll be stepping into the shoes of Private Boyd Travers of the 82nd Airborne. This means you'll be starting each level in paratrooper style, parachuting in from the sky. You'll be following some of the major events that turned the tide of the war in the Allies favor, including well known missions such as Operation Market Garden, where you must stop the enemy from destroying the Nijmegan Bridge in Holland, a key supply route for the Germans.

The game features impressive production values.

Safe landing zones marked in green provide a refill point with ammo, health and later on, explosives available from crates. Though you don't have to land in safe zones, these are a sensible target on your first play. Landing in a heavily occupied area will quickly lead to frustration, and ultimately, death. Each level also has secret "Skill Drop" locations scattered around. There are five in each map, each highlighted only by a disregarded parachute. Finding all of these gives you an achievement, but it's a challenge as most are in hard to land spots, with their marker s only visible as you rapidly approach their location. You will be told if you find one on foot, but finding it again as you drop in can be tricky. Each time you die, you will be dropped in again with the objectives you've already completed removed from your compass. This gives a lot of room for tactical dropping, sometimes making it a better option to die and drop in by your next objective on the opposite side of town, rather than having to pass through occupied areas on foot. Using the left analog stick lets you run for a spell, which can be combined with melee attacks with devastating effect. This is a nice feature that allows you to dash between cover, which is the safest way of making forward progress.

The casual gamer should be warned though, as some combat situations can get frustrating due to the seemingly endless respawning of enemies. There are a few points during the game where this is the case, but forging forward will remedy the situation. Because many objectives can be approached from more than one direction, enemies will spawn at set points as you approach. Although this generally works quite well, there were a few points where three bogeys will just appear in front of you, and immediately start rattling off rounds in your direction. This is one of Airborne's few problems and something you'd think a major developer like EA could overcome. Luckily this isn't a regular occurrence throughout the campaign, and such minor issues don't significantly damage the gameplay.

Weapons here are the standard issue to begin with, but Airborne adds a new aspect to the genre: weapon XP levels. Each gun has a meter that when filled, presents you with a custom upgrade. For example, scoring repeated headshots with a Garrard rifle will give you a match grade polished bolt, increasing accuracy. Each weapon features three levels of upgrade, including added scopes, increased stopping power, faster reload times and even a grenade launcher attachment. It's hard to say how well this fits the integrity of a historical game, but it certainly adds depth gameplay-wise, giving you more to achieve. And with upgrades making the weapons noticeably more potent, they can often be the difference between life and death as levels progress. You can also use a fairly effective melee attack, which can also be made more powerful, as some weapons' upgrades include bayonet style blades. Although upgrades can increase your ability to fire "from the hip" without using ironsights, the aiming is one of the game's best features. Holding the left trigger allows your feet to remain stationary while your upper body leans left, right, up and down while looking down your sights. This allows you to find gaps in cover to fire through, say for instance, a car window. This also gives the opportunity to shoot under cover, really adding to the possibilities when targeting enemies, especially for the use of sniper weapons.

One irritation, however, is the intelligence of your fellow soldiers. Aside from the fact that they somehow always step in front of you just as you're about to take the shot (they clearly have a friendly-fire death wish), for some unknown reason they repeatedly run at armed enemies without firing their weapon, strangely convinced they can do a great deal more damage with the butt of their rifle than with the barrel. Another slight annoyance is the vehicles and the absence of their interactivity. There are no user vehicles in Airborne, but you will be tasked with taking on a few Tiger tanks throughout the game. Unfortunately, they are set on a basic path around the map, making them easy to predict, and if necessary, avoid. The final level adds Half-Tracks to the list of enemy vehicles that must be destroyed. Unlike the tanks though, these are immune to all known ammo types. You can empty a Panzershrek and your whole stock of grenades, only to discover that the vehicle itself is indestructible, and is only used as a blocking technique. All you can do is sneak around the back and take out the gunner, which will effectively stopping him from using the mounted gun, but will still leave the vehicle intact. This must be a development oversight, as surely, it makes no sense to have an armored tank destructible, and have the smaller, less protected vehicle, unable to take a scratch.

The game also features multiplayer for up to 12 players in a variety of team based matches. There's really nothing new to this except the ability in one game type for Allied soldiers to parachute in when respawning. But, this is a nice extra, and it adds to the tried and tested multiplayer mechanics of deathmatch and capture the flag. The map designs are generally quite tight which encourages fast-paced, close quarters combat. Essentially, if you're thinking of this game as a multiplayer purchase alone, you may be let down by the lack of original features. The multiplayer is a nice added extra, but it simply doesn't break any new ground.

Airborne's AI does have a few minor issues.

When you attempt your first jump into a level, the first thing you'll notice is the excellent standard of graphics and lighting on display. A small cutscene using the in-game graphics precedes each jump, doing a great job of capturing the mood aboard the plane. Details like the weave of fabric on the uniforms show that a lot of effort has gone into making the game look stunning, and the HDR lighting effects really help character designs stand out. This is important, as most of the levels are played at night, in the already dark and gritty wartorn towns, and deciphering who's who has been an issue in similar style games of the past. The visuals as you descend into the level are no less impressive, as rooftops grow closer and green smoke wisps up into the air showing safe landing zones. The weapons look and sound great. Some real effort has been applied to make the game as authentic as possible, including atmospheric effects. The night sky is filled with stars that lights up with tracer fire, planes zoom by, and explosions are constantly occurring. After all, the game's theater of operations are all in areas that saw heavy occupation and some serious fighting.

This is made even more believable with background noise of ground to air cannons being fired, and the pops of tracer fire constantly ringing out. In all aspects of the game, the WWII themed music also fits perfectly, rising with the drama of the onscreen action. The atmospheric noise is top notch, creating a believable war time setting, whether it is the AA guns in the distance or the sound of a nearby battle. Your AI companions shout remarks frequently in battle too, which are normally relevant. If one of your men spots an enemy flanking you, he'll scream "I've got the man to the right" and actually follows it up with some action. When the gunfire starts you'll realize the intense noise is as realistic as it gets. You can just taste the gunpowder. If you have a 5.1 surround sound set up, MOH: Airborne will do it justice like few other titles.

Aside from a couple of minor AI glitches and lack of vehicle use, this is one of the best historical titles on 360, and generally one of the better shooters out there. Despite some minor oversights, EA have brought the franchise back in a spectacular fashion. With gorgeous visuals throughout, and sound that add to the gritty atmosphere of the game, this original take on a tried and tested recipe will keep you coming back. Whether you're a fan of WWII shooters or not, an original approach and some interesting features make Airborne a worthwhile purchase. Without doubt, this is the best Medal of Honor game yet.