Will you answer the call???
By now everyone is familiar with the Call of Duty series, a trulyfine WWII FPS game. If you didn’t fall in love with the single playermode, the multi-player mode was bound to grab your attention. There area few upgrades in this latest installment as well as a few‘downgrades’.
I thought playing CoD2 right after Brothers In Arms: Earned InBlood would be difficult. There is so much realism in BIA:EIB, that Ithought it would hinder my overall view of CoD2. Even though both gamesare based in the same time frame and are in the same genre, they’realmost two worlds apart. BIA:EIB was a much more serious and realisticgame to play, whereas CoD2, was more of a fun, lighthearted game toplay.
Gameplay/Controls:
Just as in the previous CoD, you start off the game in a trainingarea. This time there is a nice change, as you start off in a Russiantraining camp. The training doesn’t last long as you’ll soon find outwhy, but it does give you a quick understanding of how to play thegame. If you’re familiar with playing almost any type of FPS, you won’thave any problem getting up and running on CoD2.
Just as in CoD, CoD2 is broken up into three segments based onmilitary forces. You’ll first start off playing the Russians, move ontoplaying in the UK’s army and finally finish with the U.S. army. Again,it was nice to see something different and not always start and finishwith the American army.
Duringthe course of the game you’ll come into a wide selection of weaponry.You’re only allowed to carry two weapons at once, plus your smoke andfrag grenades. Just as in BIA:EIB, I’m happy with only being able tocarry two. Sure having an inventory that takes up your 1-8 keys on yourkeyboard can be fun, but is it even close to being realistic? Justbecause you start off as the Russians (for example), it doesn’t meanyou’re stuck with that PPSH. Take out one of those krauts and pick uphis MP44 and presto, you have something new to try out. If you’re asniper fan like I am, you’ll enjoy hitting your Shift key to hold yourbreath. What that will do is steady your aim for a couple second so youcan get a better shot off. Be advised, don’t hold it for too long, asyou’ll eventually stop holding your breath and as we all, do suddenlytake in this big gasp of air making it virtually impossible to hitanything, until your breathing is under control again.
I enjoyed being able to drive tanks during the UK levels. Two nicefeatures that made it all the more enjoyable was the ability to useyour binoculars while in the tank in order to see off in far distances.How many games have you played where you were able to drive a tank andafter firing a couple of rounds and moving around some, found that yourturret and base of tank just don’t line up anymore. Remember how hardit was at times to get that turret to line up straight again so youcould move easier? Well, all you have to do is hit your spacebar andhold it down. Now your turret will line up for you! Just a littlefeature that I’m glad they added.
Just as with weapons that enemy soldiers drop, you can use theirfixed weapons as well. The most commonly used one will be the MG-42.You’ll also be able to use an AA (anti-aircraft) gun and a FLAK gun.I’d have to say, I sure did like sitting in that FLAK gun seat andunleashing holy hell on a wave of incoming German soldiers.
The AI in CoD2 was very well done. I was impressed with the waythey would take cover while under fire as well as move when they wereable to. You won’t find that degree of AI in BIA:EIB though. TheGermans won’t be trying to flank you or conduct any type of advancedmovement. They are smart enough to toss a grenade at you with prettydeadly accuracy and if close enough, will make short work of you with amelee attack. On more than one occasion, I was able to toss a grenadeinto a small crowd of standing soldiers and decimate them. I was alittle disappointed they didn’t hear the thud of it hitting the groundand run for cover and even more disappointing was the fact that youcan’t cook off your grenades either.
IfI was to grade your comrades AI, out of a 1-10 scale, I’d have to givethem a 5. They don’t have any problem taking on the enemy anddispatching them through whatever means they see fit, but that’s aboutwhere the positive things end. Countless times they’ll run right on topof a grenade lying on the ground and become mince meat. I guess theydon’t have one of those grenade indicators like I have. Other times,there was a MG-42 firing, tracers visible and all, and they’ll runright into the path of fire and die. They’re always replaced, which isa little disappointing as well. Your squad will also tell you where anenemy position is, and that does come in handy at times. There is alevel close to the end where you’re on top of a grain silo and have tosnipe out the enemy mortar teams. They’re hard to see until they fireoff a round and our squad’s help in determining their position is anice feature.
There are no health packs or canteens in CoD2 to replenish yourenergy. You might be wondering how you heal yourself right about now.Well…you auto heal. Yes, I said “auto heal”. After taking a fewrounds, (damage) all you have to do, is what the screen tells you todo. “Take cover”. After a few seconds your breathing returns to normaland your health is magically restored. I’m not kidding folks. This isexactly the way it is in the game. I was hugely disappointed with thisnew ‘feature’. It takes a huge part of the challenge away fromthe gamer. You might as well just put on God mode. Unless you’restepping on top of two or more grenades or you charge head on into aMG-42, I doubt you’ll die more than three times during the entire game,no matter what difficulty you have the game on.
Along with the “auto heal” as I have dubbed it, if you do die,you’re brought back in time by a few seconds and are allowed tocontinue from where you left off. This is due to the game’s auto savefeature. Combine this with your nifty auto heal function and thechallenge of playing CoD2 is diminished greatly.
Sound:
CoD2 is a beautiful sounding game. When fired, most of the weaponrysounds like it should or at least we think it should. The only odditywas the M1 Garand. It just didn’t sound quite right to me. It could befrom playing other games where it sounded fuller. It just sounded dull.No big deal really.
As I mentioned the communication that your squad provides you onenemy positions was very helpful at times. The voiceovers were welldone and minus the Germans, sounded unscripted. The German voices orscreams or whatever they were saying, became readily redundant and evenmore so, annoying. They defiantly needed more to say or scream thanwhat they were given by the programmers.
Graphics:
I have to say, I’m up and down about the graphics on CoD2. I don’tthink I’ve seen any better rendered smoke in any game before. It wassimply beautiful to look at. I sure did enjoy throwing those smokegrenades, right up until the point where I actually had to walk throughone of them. Talk about being nearly impossible. I had no frame rateslowing at all, even during a major fire fight with a lot of people onthe screen and a few smoke grenades.
The background textures were pleasant to view as well. I do wishthey would have made more of the background objects interactive. It isdisappointing to shoot at a lantern on a pile of wooden boxes and justhave a little spark show. That should have been nothing but a pile ofglass and metal on the floor after I shot at it. That pretty much goesfor everything else you’ll come across, like the dead animals you’llsee lying on the ground. If you fire a round into one, you’ll get thismuddy splash sort of thing.
Overall, the visuals could have used some improvements in specific areas, but the game as a whole looks great.
Overall:
As I said in my opening, CoD2 is a fun WWII FPS to play. If you’relooking for realism that is displayed in BIA:EIB, you’ll need to looksomewhere else. There is enough of an AI challenge to keep youinterested though.
The single player mode is very short. I managed tofinish this game in about 4-5 hours. That really doesn’t say much forthe single player mode. I’m sure there will be hordes of people willingto play the multiplayer mode though.
If you’re looking to play only the single player mode, you might bebetter off renting the game and just finishing it in a day. If you haveany anticipations of playing the multi-player aspect, then I woulddefinitely add this title to your collection.
"Call of Duty 2 (X360)" is on sale November 15, 2005 and is rated T. Shooter.
