Shooter Frenzy: The Pros & Cons

It was an inevitably- a season such as this had to come at some point. In case you've just joined me and have no idea what I'm going on about, we're getting three consecutive franchise FPSes over three consecutive months this Autumn, and that can only mean one thing: REVIEW ANARCHY! Far from having to compare each shooter to other entries in the series, we're also going have to compare them to the other two games out this fall. So that means Halo: Reach; Medal Of Honor and Call Of Duty: Black Ops have to do big things to impress, and that's without comparison between the three. Will they all be just as good as one another and thus get the same score? I think we all know that isn't going to happen. Sufficed to say that before this year is up, everyone in the room will have one favourite shooter, and odds are the vote will be nigh-on unanimous. Now, I'm not saying for a moment that COD already has it in the bag, quite the contrary: Halo Reach should be an amazing sci-fi send off for Bungie's critically acclaimed Halo franchise, while Medal Of Honor should offer a realistic glimpse into the ongoing war in Afghanistan. Plus, each FPS will easily have its flaws: Black Ops will still be new look-COD; Medal Of Honor might be trying to squeeze too much variety into the FPS genre and Halo: Reach is 360-exclusive so may not get the full attention it seems to deserve. So which one will come out trumps? Right now, I think it's up in the air: Black Ops may look better than it actually is; Reach may not prove to be the ultimate Halo send-off everyone wants; and Medal Of Honor has never been an amazing FPS. Either way, you can expect exclusive reviews of all three come launch day(s), which are September 14th for Reach; October 15th for Medal of Honor and November 9th (though due to exams my review will be a week or three late) for Black Ops. Get ready to rumble...