Call of Duty 2
November 27,2005 - The decision to bring the Call of Duty franchise to the newest, most powerful system on the market is a no-brainer. The prowess of the Xbox 360 is capable of pumping out the pretty visuals and graphic quantity necessary to provide a completely immersive wartime environment. While console gamers have enjoyed the Call of Duty franchise for some time now, they have yet to truly enjoy the game as it was meant to be played. The 360 gives console gamers the opportunity to see what PC gamers have been enjoying all these years. So strap up your boots, and load your weapon, because you are being shipped off to the most realistic war ever to grace a console.

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War has never looked this good.

The storyline in Call of Duty 2 is your same old WWII narrative. You are dropped into the combat boots of several different soldiers over the course of numerous different battles. You play as Russian, British, and American soldiers as the story unfolds in a variety of locals, from Stalingrad, Russia to the deserts of North Africa. Of course, you will be thrown headlong into a beach landing, but instead of Normandy, you will land at Point du Hoc, which lies right between Omaha Beach and Utah Beach. Point du Hoc is a 100-meter high rock cliff with numerous gun embankments placed at the top. Soldiers have to scale the cliff and take over enemy bunkers in order to secure the area. The intensity of WWII is captured perfectly within the story by using these real locales and situations. The authenticity of the action adds excitement and offers up an engaging battle from start to finish.

CoD2 plays very smoothly through the 10-hour long campaign. The smooth textures and fluid action provide a perfect arena for the intense battles at hand. Running and gunning through the battlefield is very fluid and you will pick up the controls extremely quickly, which is good if you plan to fend off the enemy attack. The Nazi soldiers attack from every angle imaginable, the streets are lined with gun embankments, the rooftops are swarming with Germans, and around every corner could lie certain death. Luckily, your squadron is there to help you out. Your allied soldiers will help you in any way they can. Thanks to CoD’s awesome battle chatter system, you will never be at a loss for strategy. Your friends will scream at you when a tank is rolling through, and they will give you hints as to where you should be going next. They call out enemy locations and gun emplacements as well. The chatter system really helps to keep you from getting lost in the madness, and it adds a lot to the ambiance as well. The chatter also helps give some members of your squad personality, and it is almost sad to watch as they go down in a blaze of glory.

CoD2 offers up a solid variety of weapons for your use in the battlefield. Everything from the bolt-action rifle to the Luger handgun is represented accurately. Each gun has their own strength and weakness, so you must choose wisely for the task at hand. The guns handle extremely well in battle. The aiming reticule is very small and nearly invisible most of the time, which seems like it would be frustrating, but actually ends up working exceedingly well. You also have the usual ability to look down the sights of your gun to increase your aim. This little feature really adds to the authenticity of the game, as you stare down the barrel of your gun into the eyes of the adversary. The addition of smoke grenades is great as well. These trusty buggers can be used to obscure the vision of enemy snipers so you can cross a field safely, or you can toss one into the street to obstruct a rival turret gun.

Even though a well-placed smoke grenade can confuse the enemy, the AI is by no means dumb. Baddies will do whatever it takes to bring you down. They will flank you, charge you, and sneak around behind you whenever possible. The bad guys also love to throw hand grenades, and use them to flush you out into the open where you will be instantly pelted with lead. Occasionally you will get some Darwinian moments form the enemy, as well as your allies, but for the most part, the game is as realistic as can be.

Once you tire of fighting endless numbers of Nazi drones, you can hop online for some great multiplayer action. While the online arena only offers a scanty eight players, the modes presented make it worth your time to log on. You have the usual capture-the-flag, deathmatch, and team deathmatch modes, along with search-and-destroy mode from the original CoD. All of these modes are great fun, but the best one by far is headquarters. This mode pits two teams against each other in a race to set up a radio box as their headquarters. Two points are marked on your compass and you must hold one of the two areas for a certain amount of time before you can plant the radio. Once the radio is planted, a small amount of extra time is needed to gain control of the area for your squad. After control is gained, you will need to defend it to increase your points. You can defend the radio for a maximum of two minutes. Sounds easy right? The trick is that your teammates cannot respawn during the time that you have control of the radio, so this makes defending the radio extremely intense. Losing a single member of your defending team can mean an easy overtake for the opposing force. The location of the radio spot changes approximately every two minutes so mobilizing your team and moving to the new location proves to be a key to success. If you happen to get on a team of players that are well organized, this mode becomes extremely addicting quickly.

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