11/14/05 >> Call of Duty 2 (PC)
Genre: First-person Shooter/WWII
Call of Duty 2 has been one of the most anticipated games of 2005, and it didn't disappoint. Building upon the already huge Call of Duty franchise with a new engine and great looking new graphics and AI, the game looks set to be one of the games of the year. Call of Duty 2 is set in the Second World War and allows you to play through previously un-seen battles from 1941 through to 1944 as the Russians, British and American forces. Developed by Infinity Ward, it builds upon the original game and adds an even more cinematic feel which make the player feel like they're taking part in a war movie, if not the actual war itself.
Gameplay
Call of Duty 2 plays in almost exactly the same way as the previous game with a few new additions. Firstly the graphics engine has been completely revamped allowing for some extremely good looking textures and models, rivalling most of the new games on the market. The AI has also been greatly revamped and although there are a lot of parts in the game which are obviously scriped, the enemy soldiers will move around in their own ways using tactics like flanking and throwing grenades. The battle chatter system also adds a new feel to the game with your soldiers calling out information about enemy locations which helps a lot in the heat of battle.
Apart from the new minor tweaks, there is nothing new about the gameplay in comparison with the original Call of Duty, although it does have a more arcade feel to it now that grenades are thrown with a separate button and are not classed in an extra weapon slot, and the fact that the health system has been changed. You no longer have a health bar which will be emptied by taking damage, and replenished by eating health packs. Instead, you don't have a health bar, your health will regenerate if you take cover and you'll die by taking a lot of damage in a short amount of time. It takes a bit of getting used to, and in theory does spoil the game, but on the other hand, you'll learn to love it as you play through some of the extremely tough missions later on in the game.
Graphics
The graphics in Call of Duty 2 are some of the best out there. Providing you have a super computer and can run it maxed out. To be honest the graphics don't look too bad even on lower settings, and the game comes bundled with a few neat options allowing older machines to run the game with some of the new features disabled. This can be done by forcing DirectX 7. This will remove a lot of the high tech new features that make Call of Duty 2 look extremely realistic, but will greatly improve the frame rate of the game. DirectX 9 contains a lot of new features like bump mapping which make objects and especially characters look as realistic as I can remember from any games lately, however it is very demanding, and even with a rather good PC, you'll probably have to put up with a constant 30 frames per second as you play through single player if you want to run it maxed out. There are plenty of screenshots out there showing off the graphics, so they don't need too much explaining, but they are greatly improved in comparison with the previous games.
Sound
The sound is one department in which Call of Duty 2 can't be beaten. It has some of the most realistic World War Two weapon sounds heard so far, some emotional music and the battle chatter system which adds a whole new dimension to the game. There are literally hundreds of different things each of the characters can shout and they'll all help immensely as you play through the game. The game also includes some extremely realistic footstep sounds with different textures and ground types that can instantly be recognized, such as splashing through a muddy puddle, or trudging through snow.
Play Time / Replayability
Call of Duty 2 should take you about ten to fifteen hours to finish it on Veteran. I wouldn't like to estimate the time on easy, although it would probably be closer to six to eight hours. You've really got to play it on Veteran to get the real feel of the game, but having said that, the game is ridiculously hard on Veteran and you'll sometimes spend hours stuck at the same checkpoint. If you want the game to be challenging, but fun and not frustrating then you should play it through on the second difficulty, or maybe a bit higher. Easy is ok for new players, but it makes the game play much more unrealistically and you'll enjoy it a lot more by playing through on hard and really having to fight for those objectives. There is a slight problem with wanting to play on Veteran though, it's all well and good to be a hardcore gamer and want to prove something to yourself by finishing it on Veteran, but take it from me, it's probably not worth the frustration you'll go through on some of the harder missions, in particular the later American missions, especially 'Silotown' which had me stuck on there for a good two or three hours with no chance to do anything because of the amazing accuracy that the enemy soldiers have. The game contains a great multiplayer which plays very much like Counter Strike.
If you've played Call of Duty 1 you'll notice a big difference with this multiplayer. It plays more or less the same as the previous game, however weapon recoil has been reduced greatly, and all guns do more damage. With rifles you'll pretty much kill in one shot every time, and it'll only take you three to five shots with an auto for a kill. One shot in the head will work with any weapon. All of the maps are very small too, so the rounds are over pretty fast. The multiplayer is extremely fun in my opinion and is way better than CoD and UO's although there are a few problems. Infinity Ward thought it would be a good idea to ship the game WITHOUT any anti cheat support. And guess what? In less than three days after it's release, there are already hundreds of cheaters running around with aimbots ruining the game completely. IW really screwed up on this and in my opinion they have really let the game down with their stupidity. Even with PunkBuster on CoD UO, there are still hacks slipping through, and for whatever reason they decided to include NO anti-cheat support on CoD2. It's really laughable at how ridiculous that is, however I'm sure in a few weeks, or more likely months we'll have a patch that includes some anti-cheat support, but that could already be too late with the number of people deciding against buying the game because of the ever decreasingly fun multiplayer. I for one will still be playing multiplayer for a good few months, so the replay value is huge.
Final Thoughts
Call of Duty 2 is undoubtedly one of the games of the year. It's by far the greatest WW2 game out to date and will be for a long time. Single Player is extremely fun and very cinematic, and Multiplayer will be great once they decide to disallow the use of hacks. This is definitely a must buy for any WW2 FPS lovers, however make sure you have a pretty good gaming machine or you won't enjoy it as much as you might have.
Positives
+ Single Player is extremely fun and takes a pretty long time to complete.
+ Multiplayer is very addictive, and even new players can jump straight in and not do too badly.
+ The sound effects are amazingly well done.
+ The graphics are fantastic on a good gaming machine.
Negatives
- Single Player is almost impossibly hard on Veteran, and you'll get more frustrated by it than satisfied that you've finished it.
- Multiplayer is ruined because of the lack of anti-cheat support. This really lets the game down an awful lot.
- Unless you have a super, super computer, you won't be able to run the game on max settings with no slowdown. Even great gaming PC's will have a poor frame rate in Single Player.
- A lot of the Single Player missions are repetitive, but the contexts are different, so it's not as bad.
- Once again, Multiplayer is nowhere near as fun as it should be because of all of the cheaters.
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Game Score: 8.6
Reviewed By: Simon Elliott
