I’m sure you’re prone to releasing a prolonged groan when the word “World War 2 game” is uttered. You’re not alone- many others are in the same boat as you, such as myself, when a WW2 game is released. WW2 is, in fact, the second most overused concept after Mario. Still, Activision decided to let Infinity Ward a shot to come back with the sequel to its excellent shooter, Call of Duty. What set Call of Duty apart from other WW2 games was the lack of an Omaha Beach invasion level and a focus on lesser-known battles in the European Theater of Operations. It also sported some of the best AI to grace a shooter. Call of Duty 2 does exactly that and then some.
Call of Duty 2 takes place in locales that were not touched on as much in previous games in the WW2 shooter genre. The opening missions are still set in the siege of Stalingrad, but you then move on to the tank campaign in North Africa as well as the Normandy invasion at the lesser-known Point du Hoc. With that, every last theater of the European aspect of the war on land has been covered in shooter fashion.
Gameplay is, as usual, your typical shooter. Anyone who has touched any FPS since the dawn of time will get into it with ease. Left click shoot, right click aims down the gun, G for grenade, etc. What sets CoD2 apart from the rest of the crowd is the content that goes behind the time-tested shooter controls.
The game centers around the chaos of war. While most shooters are straightforward, with little confusion, Call of Duty 2 is the opposite end of the spectrum. Maps are convoluted with many hiding places for enemies, or wide open with enemies coming at you from all sides. You have to worry about choke points, ambushes, and artillery barrages as you make your way through the mission. CoD2 perfectly simulates a war and I found myself frequently getting confused as to what was going on, getting shot from all angles, and trying to figure out what to do next. The best level that exemplifies the idea is the invasion of Normandy at Point du Hoc. You have to climb up a sheer cliff face, being shot at by snipers above, and when you get up there, run through a maze of trenches and wide open spaces with enemies coming from every which way. You then move to the hedgerows beyond and things get even wilder.
The enemy AI covers the chaos very well. They lay cover fire, shoot around corners, and duck behind objects. They use flanking maneuvers and even call in mortar attacks on your position. The enemy even tries to run when injured and takes a few pot shots with their side arm as they lay dying on the ground. The AI still has a few problems, though. They will frequently walk right into the path of an MG-42 fire stream and get themselves mowed down by the dozen as they come barreling around a corner in single file. The tank segments also are frequented by morons as they will sit around waiting to get shot as well as take forever and a day to fire back.
Another issue is the ammunition problem. American and British made weaponry run out of ammunition fast, forcing you to use enemy armaments. While I can see this as being a reality, I fail to see how you can run across an open area, scoop up a clip out of a gun, and keep going without slowing down. This is a simulation in most aspects, so go a step further. You do have to worry about reloading a picked up weapon though, so it is a step in the right direction.
A further problem is the way you regain health. While death is actually quite common in the chaos of CoD2, regaining full strength is absurd. When you are near death, all you have to do is take cover for a bit and you shake it off. That may work when getting pelted by a paint ball, but not by a bullet. At least keep a medic in with the company and try to keep the guy alive so he can patch you up along the way.
The grenade indicator is a further irritant. I don’t understand why I have this sixth sense and know instinctively where a grenade is so I can run off. The sound is good enough that I can listen for the thunk of the grenade and take cover without having to be prompted by some on-screen indicator. The indicator ruins the whole chaotic experience.
The level designs are brilliant. Choke points, mazes, wide open spaces, sniper towers. If it will be a challenge to get past, the game has it. Call of Duty 2 does a great job modeling the real life locations. City streets are cramped, buildings have multiple entrances, and roadblocks are perfectly placed. While there is still the point A to point B feel, the level does give the player some leeway on how to get there, which is a step in the right direction to a more open ended experience.
Visually, CoD2 is quite the treat. The models have more detail than the previous game, textures are vastly improved, and so are the effects. Explosions kick up dust and a nice strategic quality was added in the visuals. Smoke kicked up by weapons and smoke grenades actually hinder your view of the battlefield, which causes you to not know the location of the enemy, and surprisingly, vice versa. The smoke even contours around buildings, so you never see it seeping through walls. A good idea to see what the visuals might look like on a high end PC is to check out the Xbox 360 kiosks and imagine them being just a bit better than that. CoD2 brings out the best of the grit of war.
The performance is also very solid on my machine running with every piece of eye-candy turned on. I run an AMD64 3500+, GeForce 6800GT with a gig of RAM. While I don’t ever run a frame rate tool to test, I do use my own eyes (and to a lesser extent, if I get a headache or not) to determine the quality of the frame rate. I can say, not once did I slow down with all the pretty things turned on, so that is a good plus.
The audio portion is even more amazing. The voices in the game are exemplary, with Germans speaking German and each other nation speaking in their full accents. I still don’t understand why the Russians aren’t speaking their native tongue, but that can be overlooked. The other sounds are impressive as well. The roar of planes as they fly overhead, strafing your position. The pounding of artillery explosions, the anti-air guns, even your firearms, all of them pound out realistically. The sound brings you in to the full feel of war.
The replay of the game is also solid. While you will know where to go and how to best move along to your next objective, it is never easy. There is always a tough road ahead. Furthermore, CoD2 brings in its solid multiplayer experience to the table as well, rounding off a quality replay value.
Overall, Call of Duty 2 keeps the idea of the World War 2 shooter from being too stale. Bringing to the table solid gameplay elements, great visuals, and even better sound makes this game the culmination of the World War 2 FPS experience. The only significant drawback is after playing Call of Duty 2, you may never want to play a European Theater of Operations based WW2 shooter ever again. The other end of the world hasn’t been touched on enough, so the Call of Duty series may end up being on that and, and bringing in a relatively fresher view of the whole war. Until then, Call of Duty 2 is like the cherry to top the sundae. I highly recommend playing this quality title.
