Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault

Plot

The game begins with Pvt. Thomas Conlin, a U.S. Marine, landing on the Tarawa atoll. Conlin wades ashore but is cut down by a bullet during a Japanese counterattack. As he bleeds out, the story flashes back to his first day of basic training, where he meets his squad: leader Frank Minoso, a smooth-talking New Jersey native; sniper William "Willie" Gaines, a country boy from North Carolina; and corpsman James Sullivan, a quiet sailor from Oak Park, Illinois.

After training, Conlin is assigned to the USS Arizona and arrives at Pearl Harbor on the morning of December 7. He is later reassigned to the 2nd Marine Raider Battalion and takes part in the Makin Island raid, destroying a radio tower and a supply dump, rescuing a downed airman, and defending submarines from aerial attack. The squad then joins the 1st Marine Raider Battalion on Guadalcanal, defending Henderson Field and fighting at Edson's Ridge and the Lunga River.

Conlin becomes an impromptu pilot, flying an SBD Dauntless. Promoted to sergeant and squad leader, he secures the beachhead during the invasion of Tarawa, neutralizes a Japanese command center, destroys AA guns, and clears the atoll of remaining forces.

Reception

Metacritic reported that Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault received favorable reviews. In the United Kingdom, the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association gave it a Silver sales award, meaning at least 100,000 copies were sold there. The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences nominated the game for Computer First-Person Action Game of the Year at the 8th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, but Half-Life 2 won.

Did You Know?

• The game was officially announced on March 5, 2003.
• One level requires the player to fly an SBD Dauntless in a dogfight.