Eurogamer recently got to sit down with the producer of Electronic Arts’ upcoming Wii first-person shooter Medal of Honor Heroes 2. For the first time in the franchise’s history, the Wii version will feature on on-the-rails campaign to make good use of the Wii Zapper. The EA man sat down to explain the decisions behind the deviation from the World War II simulator’s safe ground.

Mr. Tomprowski explained that what makes Medal of Honor Heroes 2 stand out is that the developer has listened to consumer feedback and created an experience that is moulded specifically to make use of the Nintendo Wii’s unique strengths - in Nintendo’s little whirring box’s case, it’s the control scheme.

Eurogamer: What is the thinking behind making separate Medal of Honor games for different platforms? First Heroes for PSP, then Vanguard for PS2 and Wii, now this…

Matt Tomprowski: Without trying to speak for the entire Medal of Honor franchise, I can say that with the original Medal of Honor Heroes and now in Medal of Honor Heroes 2, we have really focused on designing and building Medal of Honor experiences that are truly unique to, and designed for the platform. We’ve tried to listen to what consumers have said about wanting these unique experiences for their platform of choice rather than just having one game to play that has been ported to every platform. While there are some core tenets that are shared by all Medal of Honor games, like authenticity, heroism, action, and storytelling, there are definitely great opportunities to deliver unique experiences for the different platforms like the PSP and the Wii. We agree with the feedback we’ve received and think that these platforms deserve their own unique game. Also, with the fascinating history of WWII, the courageous and heroic battles, the unique weaponry and the tremendous drama of the Allied versus Axis, it’s a time period and genre that has many unique stories to tell.
The producer goes on to chat about the decision behind the Wii Zapper, noting that it was an aim to introduce first-person shooting genre to casual gamers, making a title that appeals to the widest demographic.

Eurogamer: The Wii version of Heroes 2 has Zapper support we note, and an intriguing ‘on rails’ mode that essentially lets you play it like an old school arcade lightgun shooter. Did you decide to do this purely because the controls lend themselves so well (especially in ‘Zapper’ form) to the console, or because of the demands of the Wii audience demographic?

Matt Tomprowski: We are really excited about our new a new mode for casual gamers in Medal of Honor Heroes 2 for the Wii. We definitely wanted to design something that was unique for the Wii controls, and when we discussed the Zapper peripheral with Nintendo we all saw a perfect fit. We’ve designed the new mode like the old school arcade shooters so that anyone can pick up and play right out of the box, regardless of skill level or experience with shooter games. We feel this will appeal to casual Wii consumers and we’ve designed it in a way to help train and bridge them to the more traditional single player FPS experience found in our campaign and multiplayer modes. We also think the fast-paced, intense action of this mode will appeal to existing Medal of Honor and FPS fans who are looking for a “quickplay” type of mode that utilizes the Wii controls or Nintendo Zapper in a totally immersive and intuitive way. It’s a lot of fun and in our focus testing we’ve found that people can’t seem to put it down, which is very encouraging.

Head over to Eurogamer for the full interview.