EA have released the first vision of their forthcoming Medal of Honor reboot. The action packed trailer premiered during Saturday’s Spike Video Game Awards.

The original PlayStation game was released to considerable acclaim in 1999 and more than a dozen sequels and expansions followed. Once virtually synonymous with the World War II shooting genre, the series has been dormant since 2007’s Medal of Honor: Heroes 2 for Wii and PSP. Now, for the first time, in move entirely unrelated to the success of Activision’s Modern Warfare series, a Medal of Honor game will portray war in a contemporary setting.

Set amidst the chaos of the ongoing conflict in Afghanistan, the game is certain to provoke strong reactions both within the game industry and in the broader community. While EA has promised to tell “the soldier’s story”, their depiction of Afghan locals and enemy combatants will also come under close scrutiny.

EA’s Los Angeles studio is crafting the single player campaign, while Battlefield developer DICE will deliver the multiplayer component. Look for it on PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in 2010.