I’ve been playing the new Call of Duty game non-stop for the past few hours. I’m mentally and physically drained yet whilst the game continues on around me I drag my eyes away from the screen for a moment and pause to collect my thoughts.
See, I’m trying to figure out the next best move to make. I’ve got some smoke grenades which are a funky new addition and I’m perched in some cover with bullets ricocheting off every corner whilst my various comrades shouts and screams drown out my thoughts. I want to stop playing. But I can’t. Not until I’ve got round this corner. Not until the world’s safe dammit. Yes, it’s that good.
What’s even more impressive is that it’s this good when there’s certainly a little bit of tiredness creeping into WWII themed games. They’ve been done to death now and whilst this isn’t so much of a problem for a triple A title such as COD2 it may well prove to be a hindrance in future.
So, this time round everything looks better, naturally. However, the rest of the game is pretty much as you’d expect. Relentless action mixed in with expertly scripted sections that really pull you into the action as much as is humanly possible. There are certain games that just have a unique feel to them, and this is absolutely the case with Call of Duty. Even if you’d been blindfolded and deliberately not told what game you were playing you’d soon realise what it was.
Sure enough though there are changes and on the whole the experience is better for it. As much as we loved the first game there were some rather glaring problems with it, such as the rather rubbish solo levels and the fact that as good as the scripting was it did hurt the re-play value of the game somewhat.
This time round the game kicks off with the American campaign and features, as you’d expect, the D-Day landing. It’s certainly an impressive way to get you into the game and one, which even though you’ve done before, never fails to impress.
If you’ve watched the opening to Saving Private Ryan you’ll know exactly what to expect here and it’s certainly a decent stab at bringing a cinematic feel to the game. The look on your comrade’s faces and the knowledge of your probable impending doom makes it a rather memorable scene. Once you reach the top of the cliff then you’re confronted with some decisions to make. Depending on the decision you make you’ll either be faced with a tougher way through or if you’re lucks in an easier one. Naturally, you’re going to die. A lot. But this is all part and parcel of the game. Finally, you reach the target that you were aiming for when you set out all that time ago and you sink back in your chair waiting for the mission over screen to load.
However, this time round the level continues. The Germans are coming back at you and you’re job this time is to hold onto your newly acquired positions, which means a whole change in tactics. It’s nice that the game does this and presents you with objectives, which can be completed in any order as it takes some on the linearity out of the game. Stuck on a certain objective, well leave it for a while and do one of the others in the meantime. It’s all about giving the player as much freedom as is possible in a highly scripted game like this.
Arguably the biggest improvements have been seen in your fellow soldiers. It’s not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but things have certainly taken a step up from the previous game. They seem to act with more intelligence, more like a real soldier in a real war scenario and it all adds to the overall feel, which is so important in a game like this.
This time around your chums and your enemies can shoot each other meaning that there are occasions where you’ll be just about to take one in the chest from an enemy when out of no-where you’ll suddenly see the guy that was about to shoot you topple over with a bullet in the head.
You’ll also be pleased to know that the game’s a bit longer this time and add in the fact that the solo missions have been ditched you get even more WWII goodness for your money. True, there’s no story to speak of which means the campaigns are rather separated but then to add a plot and characterisation to a game of this type would probably take something away from it anyway.
One of the best features of the game is the set pieces, and this time around Infinity Ward have taken them to a whole new level. They are heaps of moments throughout the game, which will leave you gasping, and it certainly ensures that as we mentioned earlier the game is just as draining as it ever was.
Ok, we’re done with the praise now. Unfortunately, there are a couple of areas in the game that still could do with a bit of a polish. It’s not that they detract from the overall experience of playing the game, rather that there are a couple of pointers that don’t quite add up to the quality found elsewhere.
First up, and it’s not only COD which is at fault for this, but, please, can we find an alternate method to spawning enemies please. They’ve been part of FPS’s since the days of Doom and it really is becoming a little tiresome now.
The other slight downer on an otherwise great game is that you can see the console leanings that are beginning to appear. Don’t worry we’re not talking Deus Ex: Invisible War style here but as the game is one of the launch titles of the new Xbox 360 there’s definitely certain sections such as the tank battles which feel they’ve been tacked on for our console brethren.
Finally, the new health system isn’t really very good. This time round there are no magic health packs lying around to help you out, instead when you’ve taken a bit of a beating you simply need to get into some cover and cower for a while until the blood red colour on your screen has gone, and your breathing a little easier.
Now, there’s a good point and a bad point to this change in the gameplay. It certainly helps the game run along more smoothly as you don’t have to spend ages re-tracing your steps for a health pack before you feel confident enough to take on the next section. However, the downside to this is that it does make the game easier. Once you’ve taken a few shots you can simply hide for a little bit and then you’ll have your full health back.
Right, so that’s the not so good stuff out the way so now we come to the summing up so to speak. Call of Duty 2 is easily the best war themed shooter on the market. There are moments of sheer gaming brilliance and there’s absolutely no doubting it’s an extremely exhilarating experience.
There’s pure love in some areas of the game and the attention to detail is astonishing. You’ll constantly find yourself cooing over things you hadn’t noticed before and it’s easily an essential purchase for anyone with a passing interest in gaming. You’re not going to be able to plod through it at your own pace however. This is war. You go with the flow and hope to God that you can hold on long enough to get through it all in one piece.
92%
The best WWII game bar none
