EA’s Medal of Honor reboot was a bit of a letdown, disappointing both critics and the publisher itself. With the amount of money involved in such a massive project, blame has to come from somewhere. According to DICE producer Patrick Liu, who was in charge of the game’s multiplayer, at least some of the poor reviews stemmed from the Taliban controversy.
“It stirs a lot of feelings, just the setting,” Liu told Eurogamer in an interview. “And that does affect people's judgment.”
Liu went on to say that the cold reception is essentially a hiccup in a longer strategy. “[T]his is a reboot of a franchise. It's an investment for EA as a company. We need to build upon what we have achieved so far and improve and build up the franchise again from scratch, basically.
"In that sense, I think we're off to a very good start."
When I reviewed the game, I considered the multiplayer to be Medal of Honor’s saving grace -- controversy or not. A buggy, mediocre game is going to be a buggy, mediocre game, regardless of whether or not the mainstream media is all atwitter over what the bad guy is named.