Medal of Honor returns to its console roots with this first outing on the PS2 for Lt Jimmy Patterson. This time the setting is June 6, 1944--D-Day and beyond--and the game begins with you storming the beachhead at Normandy. Frontline definitely lives up to its name, and from the outset the action is intense. As you rush up the shingle, comrades falling beside you and artillery ringing in your ears, you'd be forgiven for thinking you were on the set of Saving Private … mehrRyan. Players of the PC incarnation will recognise this mission from Allied Assault, but here is where the similarities end; Frontline is a new game with new objectives and levels designed perfectly for the console. If you survive D-Day you enter the real meat of the game--Operation Market Garden (Arnhem). From scuttling a U-Boat to clearing checkpoints in the town itself, the missions are brilliantly designed. The true playability of the Medal of Honor series is how immersive it is: narrative, graphics and sound all combine to give you one of the most gripping first-person shooters on any format. Backgrounds are beautifully detailed, and the sound really sets the game apart. The control system is also intuitive, with the option to customise your controller or choose one of the two default options: MOH Sharpshooter (two analogue stick-control) or the original controls used in the PSone's Medal of Honor. There are only two criticisms that can be levelled at the game. Firstly, the artificial intelligence errs on the stupid side, with enemies standing around watching comrades get shot, and although this changes with the difficulty level it never responds in a particularly "human" way. Secondly, you can only save at the end of a mission (always a feature of console conversions), so it's quite frustrating to be unceremoniously dumped right back at the beginning after battling your way through a level. But hey, this is war, after all, and these are small niggles about what is a genuinely phenomenal game. Sign up now: the Allies need you. --Kristen Bowditch weniger