World War 2 this and World War 2 that. I hunger for a decent science fiction shooter. Now I'm talking Halo because everyone else has probably been talking Halo for the god-knows how long when you mention a sci-fi shooter. Well I can't get my sci-fi fix at the moment so I'm delving back into the gritty scenery of World War 2 don't you know!

Welcome to Airborne soldier, that's right, Medal of Honor: (there's a bloody u in it!) Airborne.

EA have given us a fresh new look at the linear levels of previous MoH games and opted for a GTA-style free-form approach. You start the mission on a transport plane, one jump away from the hell of World War 2 and are soon embroiled in numerous objective based gameplay missions on the same map.

These maps and there are six of them, are huge, massive vistas that are packed with things to do right from the moment you drop in. They might not appear so but each and every one can be played in a different way each time you start the mission. Objectives are varied and are usually quite tricky to accomplish since it takes a good aim and some decent tactics to triumph when the pressure's on.

There's no sticky-cover option and the HUD/Controls are pretty minimal. It doesn’t take too long to get into the game and you'll be blasting Axis scum within about ten minutes. There's a short training mission that gets you used to using your parachute and you can perform two kinds of landings to allow you to deploy to the battlefield with the minimum of trouble.

A flared landing means that you don't hit the ground hard, just press and hold A before you land and you should do alright. A greased (running) landing allows you to deploy weapon at the ready, running across the ground to get into cover as your chute detaches.

There are health and ammo boxes marked at green smoke dropzones, these are areas that the HQ has marked as safe enough to aim for. It's a good idea, unless you're supremely confident (crazy) to aim for red zones where the enemy have a decent foothold.

You can carry a primary weapon, secondary, grenades and a pistol at any time. You can freely swap out weapons that run too low on ammo for new ones, collect ammo and pick up health packs just like a traditional old-school FPS. Your health bar is divided into segments, similar to that of the Riddick Xbox and PC game. Take enough damage to deplete a segment totally and you lose it for good. Get into cover, allow your health to recharge and you keep it.

You can crouch and lean, duck and peek over walls to provide cover tactics. There's no way to order your allies but they're not bad at providing support (and getting in the way) when you need them. A lot of the levels are designed so that you can move from one firefight to the next and assist from ground or up on the roof (if you land on it or find an alternate way up there).