Medal of Honor Warfighter review round-up

Although we're still in the process of reviewing Danger Close's Medal of Honor Warfighter reviews for the EA published first-person shooter have started to appear online.

As always, we've corralled them up and put them in a list below. We'll be updating this round-up as and when more reviews are published, so check back regularly to stay up to date on the critical reception.

Polygon: 4.5 - Medal of Honor Warfighter's multiplayer failings underline its real problem - it feels thrown together, with little consideration for why its parts should fit. While the multiplayer's obtuse design decisions are preferable to the campaign's lack of artificial intelligence, decent mechanics, or interesting level design, it's still difficult to find much reason to recommend Medal of Honor Warfighter over the shooters it wants so desperately to resemble. In an attempt to build a bridge across Battlefield 3 and Call of Duty, Danger Close has once again fallen into the hole between them.

Eurogamer: 5/10 - There's been a backlash brewing for some time against the bombastic direction military shooters have taken, but it would be wrong to assume that Medal of Honor: Warfighter is simply the game unlucky enough to bear its brunt. The truth is far simpler and more depressing: it's just not that good.

CheatCodeCentral: 2.7/5 - Medal of Honor: Warfighter feels unpolished. It's a slew of great ideas mashed together in a way that doesn't give any of them time to truly shine, rushed out to make a deadline that didn't do it any favors. While there's enjoyment to be had here, it is fleeting and often devolves rapidly into frustration and boredom.

Destructoid: 5/10 - Charmless, cynical, and uninspired, Warfighter encapsulates everything wrong with the annual big budget shooter industry. It's really not an awful game, it's just insipid and shallow, a title that exists solely to exist, and squeeze whatever profit remains to be had from serving the same flavorless porridge to the same unadventurous customers. It will make its money, and keep the FPS factories in business for another year.

NowGamer: 6.5/10 - While it's disheartening to see the promise of Danger Close's previous effort fall foul of the explosive taint of Call Of Duty, Medal Of Honor: Warfighter is still a fairly solid shooter with an unfortunately short campaign length.

The Daily Mail: No Score - But what it lacks in realism, it makes up with its colossal production values and memorable multiplayer - a tried-and-tested recipe for success. It's not the deep, emotional journey many were expecting, but action blockbusters never are.

GameThirst: 6/10 - Medal Of Honor: Warfighter isn't what you'd expect from Danger Close, especially in a day and age when the FPS genre in particular has become extremely competitive, with developers like DICE, Infinity Ward, 343 Industries, Gurrella Games and Treyarch pushing the boundaries. And with big titles like Halo 4 and Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 available in less than one month, there's no need to buy Warfighter. Rent it instead.

Source: computerandvideogames.com

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Paper mill confirms plans to halve production

Norwegian newsprint giant Norske Skog confirmed today that it will halve newsprint production at its Tasman Mill at Kawerau but said it would convert a machine in Tasmania to produce coated paper grades, thanks in part to the Australian taxpayer.

Norske Skog, in a move signalled in August, said falling demand and unfavourable exchange rates meant that it would shut down one of its two 150,000-tonne-per-year newsprint machines at Kawerau.

The company would not comment on how many jobs were involved, saying the consultation processes would take about two months, but the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU) said more than 100 positions could go. About 280 people are employed at the mill at present.

Norske Skog's announcement follows news of 120 redundancies at Solid Energy's Huntly East mine, with up to 400 jobs in the balance at Spring Creek, and last week's announcement that 100 jobs will go at the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter by November.

Consolidation in the newsprint industry has been a familiar theme for Norske Skog over the last few years.

Tasmania-based pulp and paper analyst Robert Eastment said newsprint is under pressure globally because of the digital delivery of news, information and advertising.

New Zealand production of newsprint has been in decline since 2005, when it hit a peak of 377,000 tonnes, falling to only 276,000 tonnes last year.

"It is a really tough market for Norske Skog, but if they are to remain viable in the future then they have to take really tough decisions," Eastment told APNZ. Norske Skog, which is involved in geothermal energy at Kawerau, is pursuing a range of renewable energy opportunities as part of a broader regional diversification strategy.

The company has two other sites in Australasia - one in New South Wales and the other in Tasmania.

It will invest A$84 million ($106.6m) at its Boyer Mill in Tasmania over the next two years to enable the production of coated grades suitable for catalogues. All the catalogue paper used in Australia is currently imported from overseas.

The Australian Federal Government will contribute A$28m in grants to help fund the project and the Tasmanian Government is providing a A$13m loan. Completion is targeted for the first quarter of 2014.

EPMU national secretary Bill Newson said shutting down a newsprint machine would be a blow to the community and a sign of a growing jobs crisis in New Zealand. "It's particularly galling that at the same time Norske Skog is cutting jobs in New Zealand, it's actually investing in jobs in across the Tasman thanks to the support of the Australian Government," he said in a statement.

The mill's partial shut-down will also have implications for the local power generation industry.

Norske Skog accounts for about 2.9 per cent of New Zealand's power demand and the partial closure would further extend the "significant" generation over-capacity in the electricity market, one market analyst said.

"Power consumption has been flat over the last few years and Norske, a major consumer, means more power will go onto the national grid, which will put downward pressure on prices," he said.

The likelihood of flat power demand has put a dampener on the Government's plans for partial privatisation of its generation assets.

The partial privatisation of Mighty River Power, which was to have been held this month, has been delayed until next year while the Government consults with local iwi.

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