Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond (2020) was set to be the storied franchise’s first big push into virtual reality when it launched in late 2020, offering up some of its characteristic WWII combat missions alongside what hoped to be a robust online multiplayer. Now, less than three years since launch, EA’s Respawn Entertainment say they’re pulling the plug on multiplayer.
Arguably the best part of Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond was its online multiplayer, but that’s going to change before year’s end. The developers quietly posted this message on the game’s Quest page, appended above its original description:
“Multiplayer will be unavailable starting on December 1, 2023.”
The studio hasn’t provided any reasoning beyond the short message, although it’s fairly clear why the developers don’t want to pay for server space anymore. The well-funded and much hyped Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond suffered a pretty rocky launch, and never managed to gain the sort of sustained support either the developer Respawn Entertainment or Meta’s in-house publisher Oculus Studios were aiming for.
Originally released on the Oculus PC platform and SteamVR headsets back in December 2020, EA’s Respawn Entertainment was hoping to make a splash with its first VR-exclusive entry into the franchise, having worked on the WWII shooter for three years before launch. At $60 on PC VR when it first released, requiring a massive 180GB to install, expectations were set for what promised to be a true ‘AAA’ VR shooter. Alas, the game suffered from a host of issues at launch, which ranged from usability to gameplay polish, essentially rendering it a costly flop.
Still, Respawn and Meta (then Facebook) pushed through the game’s middling launch on PC VR by slimming down the game to fit on Quest 2, offering up its eight-hour campaign and online multiplayer to a wider audience a year after it launched on Rift and Steam. In an effort to win back good will, the studio even reduced the price to $40 and slimmed down the file size on Quest to fit on the headset’s 64GB variant.
That said, you probably still won’t see a lot of love for Medal of Honor: Above andBeyond—certainly not on the scale of the now dearly departed Echo VR, Meta’s own VR sports game which was shuttered earlier this month. Medal of Honor VR’s last update was in late 2021, basically showing the studio abandoned the game long before it decided to shut down servers just short of its three-year anniversary since launch.
While this isn’t the first MoH title to see the axe, it is the youngest among the group. EA deprecated online support for a number of MoH titles in February 2023, including Medal of Honor (2010), Medal of Honor: Warfighter (2012) and Medal of Honor: Airborne (2007)—all of which benefitted from wide support across PC, Xbox and PS consoles throughout their tenure.
The fact that Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond runs on Quest 2 at all is a miracle, but it doesn’t change the core issues at the heart of an otherwise decent shooter. Read on for our Medal of Honor: Above And Beyond Oculus Quest review!
When we first reviewed Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond on PC VR headsets in 2020, we said this:
“If you’re eager to dive into a VR version of WWII with exciting set piece moments, authentic historical footage, and an addictively fun online multiplayer mode, then you should come away satisfied. But if you were looking for an immersive narrative wrapped up in a cutting-edge evolution of VR game design with expert pacing — don’t hold your breath.”
There was a lot of hype behind what would be one of Oculus Studios’ final blockbuster PC VR releases, especially in the wake of other hits like Half-Life: Alyx and The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners. And Above and Beyond certainly delivered on some fronts. The game had good — if not especially advanced — weapon handling, cinematic moments you wouldn’t find in many other VR games and a wealth of content between its campaign and multiplayer offerings. But it was also held back by sluggish pacing that constantly interrupted the player and simplistic level design that often focused on bite-sized missions that were over before you knew it. Moving to Quest doesn’t do much to absolve the game’s campaign of those issues.
Campaign
Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond Oculus Quest 2 Review- The Facts
What is it?: A standalone version of last year’s blockbuster PC VR shooter, taking players on missions across the globe during WW2, with multiplayer to boot Platforms: Oculus Quest 2, PC VR Release Date: Out Now Price: $39.99
I was still struck but just how slow the game’s opening in particular is, in which you’re thrown into endless cutscene after cutscene, with just a few minutes of gameplay interspersing another lengthy group dialogue section. Some of these moments do offer interesting snippets of VR storytelling, but they’re also strangely placed and, even though the game promises 10+ hours of action, it’s significantly padded with these moments.
All of this makes for a campaign that’s difficult to really settle into. You’re either itching to get a cutscene out of the way and get back into the fight, or left wishing that last level had stretched out just a bit longer – the constant stopping and starting really disrupts the flow. You can now skip cutscenes but you’re going to remove a lot of the game’s context and you’ll still spend time hopping between loading screens. It’s more of a foundational issue than something that can simply be solved just by ignoring the story.
Having said all of that, it’s also true that you won’t find many other shooter campaigns on Quest with this much scope and variety. Medal of Honor’s campaign takes you around the world with missions that try to offer something new, be it vehicle segments, sniping missions or otherwise, and you definitely get a much more rounded feeling of it being a ‘full’ game comparable to something on consoles. In that respect it’s very much a bar raiser, but here’s hoping to next game to match its production can also raise the stakes when it comes to gameplay, too.
Multiplayer
Still, you might remember our review last year was significantly more positive about the game’s multiplayer segment and, again, that’s all intact here. Above and Beyond offers clean, accessible multiplayer modes that are incredibly easy to hop right into, with five game types across levels retooled from the campaign. Here the game’s flow picks up considerably, with arena-style, fast-fire matches. You’ll find health and grenade pick ups around the map and can pick from pretty much any weapon up-front. Modes are mostly standard except for Mad Bomber, which utilizes VR by having players hide bombs where they can and try to blow others up with them as they search for the opponents’ explosives too.
It’s a brilliantly frantic mode that really shows Respawn thinking outside the box in a way other areas of the game are lacking. And, more generally speaking, the lack of fuss around the multiplayer — easy quick match options etc — makes it a great draw for first-time competitive VR play.
The trouble is this offering is very light, with no reward systems to keep players coming back. Granted there’s a heavy demand for campaign-driven, single-player content in VR, but it certainly feels like Above and Beyond would have been a better sell as a multiplayer-first shooter. With a progression system and promise of post-launch support to come, this could have been the perfect AAA competitive shooter for those that don’t want the tactical difficulties of Onward but also don’t fancy the Fortnite-inspired action of Population: One. But given it’s likely we won’t see any new post-launch content for the game whereas VR’s other shooters are all refreshed pretty much around the clock, the multiplayer doesn’t fully make up for the campaign’s misfires.
Performance
You can find more details in our graphics comparison, but Oculus Studios has pulled off an incredible job not only getting the game onto Quest 2 but, in some levels at least, largely keeping a lot of the detail intact. Yes, character models look a little strange with degraded assets and the usual suite of effects — smoke plumes, fragments of broken glass, swaying trees and dynamic lighting — have all been removed, but the cost isn’t quite as heavy as you might expect. You have to take it on a level-by-level basis, of course, as some of the outside areas are drastically scaled back in terms of foliage etc, but it’s a really impressive effort all the same.
To add to that, it’s nothing short of incredible that some of the game’s more intense sequences remain intact here. I wouldn’t have been surprised to see moments like the explosive ski chase scene in Norway or flight sections missing, but it’s to the team’s credit that this really is the full game beaten down onto Quest.
Medal of Honor: Above And Beyond Oculus Quest Review: Final Impressions
On a technical front, Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond is one of Quest’s most impressive games, bringing a cinematic, blockbuster campaign to standalone VR with differences that often aren’t as drastic as you’d expect. And some post-launch patches have also introduced welcome options like the ability to skip the many, many cutscenes in the campaign. But, even then, the pacing with the short levels remains a big issue in a shooter that otherwise feels a step behind the competition, including even recent ports like Resident Evil 4 VR. That said the game still succeeds in the multiplayer arena and you won’t find many games as polished as this on the platform. Medal of Honor sets a bar for performance on Quest 2, but there are a lot of other games that simply play better.
For more on how we arrived at this rating, read our review guidelines. What did you make of our Medal of Honor: Above And Beyond Oculus Quest Review? Let us know in the comments below!
We’re back with another side-by-side graphics comparison. This time it’s for Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond on Oculus Quest 2 and PC.
Surrounding its launch in late 2020, Oculus Studios said it would look into porting PC VR juggernaut, Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond to Oculus Quest, but couldn’t make any promises that it would actually end up happening. And it was clear to see why; though the game itself was somewhat flawed, Above And Beyond was a powerhouse in terms of performance, with issues even on the latest top-end graphics cards. In truth, we doubted it could ever really happen.
But, hey, here we are.
Medal Of Honor: Above And Beyond Graphics Comparison: Quest 2 Vs PC VR
Launched on November 15th, Above and Beyond is a full-on port of the original PC VR game, and the third full Oculus Quest 2 exclusive (as in, you can’t play it on Quest 1). That means you get the game’s full original campaign with multiple hours of gameplay, and the multiplayer modes, too. Above is our first look at the first 30 minutes of the campaign, which takes you through the tutorials, a handful of missions and a heck of a lot of cutscenes. This is a surprisingly story-heavy game with lots of moments of standing around talking to the game’s cast, which gives us a lot of opportunities to inspect character models and environments between the action.
Generally speaking, then, this is a very impressive conversion, with some levels even looking remarkably close to the PC original (considering the obvious constraints of the hardware). But the crucial point to get across with this port is that the difference in quality between the two versions really varies by the level. The opening prologue in Tunisia makes some heavy concessions, for example, removing smoke effects and background detail but all in an effort to retain some of the more impressive sequences like a plane flying past. Character models have also degraded but are still pretty impressive for Quest.
We’ve found the biggest differences in areas with vegetation and other big details. After three or four sequences that match up relatively well, it’s very surprising to suddenly launch into one woodland mission and see all of the bushes and shrubs that mask your presence in the PC VR version totally missing from this one. And that makes a significant impact to the gameplay, too, as enemies are easier to spot. But, moving further into the campaign, later levels like the Norway section still run very well.
Some of the more consistent issues involve the resolution making characters and objects blurry at a distance. Of course, these downgrades do mean the game actually runs pretty well on Quest at least. In my time with the game I’ve noticed some occasional moments of stutter and one crash — all of which happened when I was also screen recording — but, compared to the PC VR experience even with a 3070 Ti, that’s actually a much more favorable turnout.
All-in-all this is a really impressive port, then. The core game, however, still has its issues. Pacing remains a problem, even with skippable cutscenes, as level length is often short and keeps you from becoming fully immersed. But if you’re looking for a blockbuster experience with cinematic moments then Above and Beyond really is one of your best bets on Quest right now. We just hope that setting the bar for the performance like this means we’ll see games that run this well and play even better later down the line.
And that’s our Medal Of Honor: Above And Beyond graphics comparison. What did you make of the game? Let us know in the comments below!
Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond, first launched on PC VR headsets last year, is coming to Quest 2 next week. Cross-buy is confirmed, meaning players that bought the game on Oculus PC will own the Quest 2 version as well.
Oculus today announced that Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond has November 15th release date on Quest 2. The release includes the full content of the PC VR version of the game, including the campaign, multiplayer mode, and the live-action WWII documentary series that was produced in conjunction with the game. The game will launch with a reduced priced of $40 (compared to the $60 PC VR version).
Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond will support Quest 2 but not the original Quest. Oculus has confirmed cross-buy with the Oculus PC version, so if you already owned the game there you’ll be able to play on Quest 2 for free. Unfortunately cross-play multiplayer is not supported.
Along with the announcement of the Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond release date next week, we also got a clearer look at the Quest 2 version of the game thanks to new screenshots:
'Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond' Quest 2 Screenshots
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Image courtesy Oculus
Image courtesy Oculus
Image courtesy Oculus
Image courtesy Oculus
Image courtesy Oculus
Be sure to make room on your Quest 2 though, especially if you have the smallest 64GB model—Oculus has confirmed that Medal of Honor Above and Beyond will take up about 45GB of space on Quest 2.
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Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond was developed by Respawn Entertainment—the studio behind iconic games like Titanfall and Apex Legends—and was one of the most anticipated Oculus-funded titles to date. While we didn’t exactly love the game at launch, a handful of post-launch patches have smoothed over some of the rough spots and we expect those improvements to be included in the Quest 2 version of the game. With no tether and less friction to jump into the game on Quest 2 compared to PC VR, we hope to see the game’s multiplayer mode find a sustainable population.
Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond launches on Oculus Quest 2 a week from today on November 15.
The news was just revealed on the Oculus blog, which also confirmed that the game will cost $39.99. As was previously announced, full cross-buy support is included for those that bought the Oculus Rift version from the Oculus Store, though that won’t be applicable if you bought the game on Steam. The Quest store page is already live.
Medal Of Honor Oculus Quest 2 Release Date Revealed
Medal of Honor’s Oculus Quest 2 port promises to bring the full PC VR experience over to the standalone headset. That includes the lengthy campaign in which players fight in battles across the second World War and the 12-player multiplayer component, complete with five modes. It’ll be a big game to install and will take up most of the space on a 64GB Quest 2. Cross-play with the PC VR version of the game is not included. Check out the trailer above to see how the standalone version of the game is stacking up.
We were surprised to learn that the game is coming to Quest 2 given the PC version of Above and Beyond was demanding for even high-end systems. We thought that version of the game was good, but definitely had pacing issues. “If you’re eager to dive into a VR version of WWII with exciting set piece moments, authentic historical footage, and an addictively fun online multiplayer mode, then you should come away satisfied,” we said. “But if you were looking for an immersive narrative wrapped up in a cutting-edge evolution of VR game design with expert pacing — don’t hold your breath.”
We’ll be sure to bring you coverage of how the game is shaping up on Quest 2 as soon as we can.
Doran confirmed cross-buy in a Reddit thread on r/OculusQuest, meaning that those who own the PC VR Oculus Store version, which released last year for the Rift platform, will get access to a copy of the Quest version for free on release. This naturally does not apply to the PC VR Steam release of the game, which is outside the Oculus ecosystem.
However, while all Oculus Store owners will get a free Quest copy in their library, only those with the newer Quest 2 headset will be able to take advantage — just like Resident Evil 4, this release is exclusive to Quest 2 and won’t release on the original Quest.
However, Doran also confirmed potentially even bigger news in a separate comment — Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond’s multiplayer will not support cross-play between PC VR and the Oculus Quest release, unlike many other games. This means that the matchmaking pool and online play will be restricted to the player base of the platform you’re playing on.
In the current VR landscape, multiplayer games are particularly susceptible to high queue times and matchmaking woes compared to traditional games. Despite being more mainstream than ever, the VR user base still pales in comparison to that of traditional flatscreen platforms. Many developers opt to include cross-play in multiplayer VR releases to help combat this, as it gives the matchmaking system the biggest possible pool of players and can help stem increasingly long queue times or unfair MMR distribution through a game’s post-release life cycle.
While understandable, the news is nonetheless a blow to existing and future Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond players. Quest users will be relying on their own platform to sustain a healthy playerbase post-launch, while matchmaking on PC VR won’t benefit from a boost in numbers from the Quest release. That said, Quest is thought to be the most successful VR platform at the moment, so it’s quite possible this version of the game can sustain a player base on its own.
Medal Of Honor: Above And Beyond is available now on Oculus Quest 2 and if you bought the $299 headset before August 2021 it could take up almost all the internal storage.
After a period with temporarily paused sales, Facebook now sells a 128GB Oculus Quest 2 as the entry level model for $299. From October 2020 to July 2021, though, if you bought the entry-level $299 model Oculus Quest 2 the device came with just 64 GB of internal storage. There’s around 52.7 GB of usable storage on the original Quest 2 (64 GB – 11.3 GB for the system) and we’ve confirmed with its release on November 15, 2021, that Medal of Honor takes up just over 41 GB of storage on a Quest 2. Facebook told UpoadVR in September that Medal of Honor would fit on a 64 GB Quest 2.
Marquee games on the Quest 2 standalone VR console are taking up more and more storage, but Medal Of Honor sets a new high watermark. Myst VR requires almost 10GB of storage on Quest 2 and The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners hit 12GB after an update last year. Resident Evil 4 takes up just shy of 8 GB of storage on a Quest 2, though sometimes more storage is needed to accommodate the installation process itself.
Facebook now sells 128GB and 256GB models of Oculus Quest 2 for $299 and $399 respectively.
This post was updated with additional information on November 15, 2021, after initial publication on September 29, 2021.
Facebook and developer Respawn today confirmed that the previously PC-exclusive VR shooter, Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond, is coming to Oculus Quest 2 this year.
The news was announced over on the Oculus blog with a new trailer you can see below. This version of the game will feature both the full single-player campaign and the multiplayer modes that debuted in last year’s release. The blog notes that this content has been “carefully reworked to fit (and run) on any Quest 2.” Facebook had previously said it would try to port the game to Quest, but wouldn’t make any promises it would actually happen.
Medal of Honor Oculus Quest 2 Confirmed
And, yes, the standalone version is another full Quest 2 exclusive that will not launch on the original Quest. Facebook confirmed as much to UploadVR. There is precedent for this – the upcoming Resident Evil 4 VR will be a full Quest 2 exclusive when it launches on October 21.
Other details, including a release date, will be revealed “in the very near future.” Facebook is holding its annual Connect developer conference at the end of October, so it’s possible we hear more there.
Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond was first teased years ago before Respawn brought the full experience to both Oculus Rift and SteamVR in 2021. The game was the first entry in the series in years and took the franchise back to its original WW2 setting. We liked it when we reviewed it last year, though noted some pacing problems. “Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond can be both frustrating and captivating at the exact same time,” we said, giving the game a ‘Good’ rating, “but underneath it all is a fun and engaging VR shooter that nails several facets of being a successful AAA game.”
Will you be picking up Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond on Oculus Quest 2? Let us know in the comments below!
The documentary premiered first at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival in February 2020 and won Best Documentary Short, followed by many other festivals, awards and limited release theatrical runs. It was then featured in the gallery section of Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond on PC VR, which released in December 2020. Now, the film is available to view for free in Oculus TV on Quest as well.
It follows Colette Marin-Catherine, one of the last surviving members of the French Resistance from World War II. Here’s a description from the Oculus blog:
As a young girl, Colette Marin-Catherine fought the Nazis as a member of the French Resistance. Since 1945, she has refused to set foot in Germany. That changes when a history student named Lucie enters her life and encourages her to visit the concentration camp where the Nazis killed her brother.
The film runs for approximately 25 minutes. While it’s available for viewing on Quest, it screens as a 2D traditional short film, so don’t expect any 3D or VR elements coming into play.
Last month, the film was nominated by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in the category of Documentary Short Subject. The Academy Awards are set to take place within the week, on April 26, and so Colette’s appearance in Oculus TV is timely. It’s up against four other short films in the same category.
Respawn Entertainment is back with another patch for Medal of Honor: Above And Beyond, this time adding official support for the HP Reverb G2 and Windows VR headsets.
You could already try and play Above and Beyond inside these devices when the game launched on Steam last year, but official implementation should do away with any compatibility bugs. We’ll definitely try and dive back into the game on the Reverb G2, which offers the highest per-eye resolution of any major VR headsets out there right now.
Elsewhere, another big addition is the ability to skip the game’s cinematic story sequences, which many complained broke the flow of the overall campaign. Respawn says that most of these can now be skipped, including mission briefings, by simply holding both triggers down. Scenes with NPC interaction or those where you receive a new item remain mandatory, however.
Moving on, the team has also added a new crouch option for when playing in seated mode and there’s a host of other minor fixes.
We gave Medal of Honor a 3/5 when it launched last year, citing inconsistent pacing as one of the main issues with it. “It’s not quite enough to solidify the experience as a must-play, but there are plenty of bright spots,” we said. “If you’re eager to dive into a VR version of WWII with exciting set piece moments, authentic historical footage, and an addictively fun online multiplayer mode, then you should come away satisfied.”
The game still managed to get onto Steam’s list of top-selling games for December 2020, though. The team is also looking into a possible Oculus Quest version, but won’t commit to a definitive release at this point.
