Infinity Ward released the first Call of Duty back in 2003. It was met with fantastic reviews and would eventually become one of the most successful franchises in videogame history. Most of us already know that; however, some might find it interesting that key members of the studio are actually former employees of the Oklahoma company 2015 inc., who created the Medal of Honor: Allied Assault game along with film director Steven Spielberg.

Electronic Arts has been publishing the Medal of Honor series since its first incarnation, which first saw the light of day back in 1999 for the original PlayStation. The series was always told in the World War II era and started that way because of the hype surrounding the movie ‘Saving Private Ryan.’ And honestly, it was regarded as one of the best ‘realistic’ first-person shooters before the Call of Duty series entered in the equation. Since that time, the MoH franchise has stayed with the W.W. II generation, while Call of Duty has moved on to the “Modern Combat era,” and has become extremely profitable for both Infinity Ward and the publisher Activision.

EA is now taking a page of the Modern Warfare formula, and has just revealed the next Medal of Honor game will be told with twenty-first century technology. The game will take place in Afghanistan and follow a more “badass” main character, who is known as a “Tier 1 Operator,” which EA describes as a person who takes on a mission, that ordinary soldiers couldn’t “handle.”

I’m not sure how I feel about the new direction. To me, it seems like the series might be trying to take a step-backwards from the realistic approach. They are obviously trying to put a more “personal” feel, by having gamers play as just one character and not multiple men, like what Modern Warfare does. I know I would also complain if it was just like Call of Duty and didn’t have a identity besides a different title, but I hope the series isn’t over-the-top…that would completely change the future of a series that was one of the pioneers of feeling like a realistic war movie.

At the same time, it just might work. While the first couple of installments of Medal of Honor were remembered as innovative titles, the games lately in the series have become quite stale. Hopefully this will shake up the franchise for the better.

Expect to see the world premier at the VGAs.