OUR RATING: 7.6 VERY GOOD About our ratings

TANGIBLES: Gameplay: 7 Visuals: 9 Audio: 10 Value: 7 Quality: 7

Why you should buy it: Not Available Why you should rent it: Not Available

UNIQUE RATING: 7.6 SUGGESTION: N/A

First God gave us Medal of Honor. Then God gave us Call of Duty. Then the deities at Infinity decided that a sequel was in order. But as they coded the sequel with technical precision and a delicate, crafty touch, they failed to realize that gamers had been treated to fine World War Two shooters for many years. Gamers had become drunk from the Stalingrad, Omaha and Dunkirk battles. They wanted something new.

So key to Call of Duty 2’s success and failure is the fact that the formula hasn’t been tampered with. Much like Resident Evil, it’s a game that’s really not a far cry from its forbearers. The key gameplay elements are still intact, although the scenery is new. Fundamentally speaking, Call of Duty 2 is a solid action game. But it’s little more than this.

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Get back on the battlefield in COD2

Much of Call of Duty 2 hasn’t changed. But there are a few new gameplay nuances. For instance, you no longer have a health bar. Instead, taking repeated shots will result in the edges of the screen turning a brighter and brighter red. Your soldier will begin to grunt too and this all indicates that shelter is a necessity, or death will come swiftly.

This feature actually works. It lends the experience a Halo slant and also ensures you’ll run back to seek cover now and then, as in real life. Sadly, the enemies really don’t pose a huge threat. They’re not bad shots, but your soldier can take a ridiculous amount of damage on the easier difficulties. The game auto-saves your progress often, so you’re rarely on edge as in a Swat 4 or a Tom Clancy title.

And things just smack of the old Call of Duty. The sequel feels more like an add-on with improved visuals and different locales. The fact that Infinity Ward has spent less than two years on this game is rather telling in the circumstances. And although many will applaud the game’s adherence to the original’s formula, it isn’t conducive to a fresh, new experience.

But this is the problem with sequels. There’s not enough new. And although the developers have tried hard to create an illusion of free-formity, Call of Duty 2 is linear at heart. Sometimes you can complete objectives in a different order, but haven’t games been doing this for years? And ultimately you’ll be forced down a fixed path anyway, so what’s the point?

The biggest problem is that gamers have grown out of World War II shooters now. Although impressed in our hands-on preview of the game, enduring Call of Duty 2 for the duration of its singleplayer campaign indicate that story-driven experiences are the way forward. They just make things imminently more interesting.