Call of Duty 2

“Live as brave men; and if fortune is adverse, front its blows with brave hearts.” – Cicero

Stalingrad lies in ruins, reduced to rubble by heavy aerial bombardment. The fighting is intense, waging on narrow streets. Behind the Russian troops are guns waiting to kill any who retreat from the fighting. Ahead of them are the weapons of the Third Reich. To move back is to die at the hands of those once called comrades. There is no choice but to advance into the teeth of the German army, waging a desperate struggle.

Welcome to Call of Duty 2, the most intense and intelligent World War II shooter title on the market. Infinity Ward and Activision are responsible for this dynamic game – one which assaults the eyes and ears, challenges the mind and reflexes with each step taken forward in the maelstrom of bullets and explosives, and the chaos that is war.

“I have lost count of how many Germans I have killed so far, but I am certain it is not nearly enough.” – from the diary of Pvt. Vasili I. Koslov, 13^th Guards Rifle Division, December 2, 1942, in Stalingrad.

The streets are covered in snow, and breath hangs frozen in the -20 degree (Celsius) air. The Germans are swarming, armed with better weapons and what seems to be a better sense of tactics. On the Russian/Soviet side are a ragtag group of soldiers who seem to find fortune in their attack rather than use any strong tactical element. But those are your comrades and they will shout out information you need to survive this ferocious encounter.

After a skirmish that has you demolishing a building full of Germans, the Russian campaign moves into a “simple” repair field-phone lines mission – one that highlights how each of these missions moves into another within the level. You follow the line and fix breaks, obviously with resistance from the Germans. But once you repair the final break and contact the command, there is a surprise waiting for you. …

“Panzers spotted in your area. Hunt those bastards down. Good luck. Out.”

Resist the urge to ask what medication they are on. You have a weapon with limited ammo and are picking up dropped weapons and ammo along the way, and now they want you to run up and plant explosives on the side of a German Panzer – one that is moving and using machine guns to discourage such behavior.

Therein lays one of the new elements of CoD2 – or at least an element that really has been boosted with this title, and that is the smoke grenade. You can lay down some smoke and wait for it to engulf the street and then try to find the tank through that pea soup. But don’t expect the tank to sit there and wait for you. The AI on the game is smart and that tank is likely to move to try to clear itself from the smoke.

And smoke presents its own hazards. In the thick fog it can be tough to tell friend from foe and yes, you can kill a comrade-in-arms, which will result in a quick message that you failed the mission.

The game, much like the original, tracks Russian/Soviet missions, British in North Africa and American missions, and even includes a tank battle, though the enemy tanks do not seem as smart as the soldiers and do not necessarily always move to avoid allowing you to line them up in your sites. The game begins with the Russian missions, but you can use the interface to jump to the British scenarios or the American. However, you do need to unlock the American missions, and the other missions within the theatre sequences (Soviet and British) are not unlocked until you have completed the previous mission in the thread. The British scenario begins with the Battle of El Alamein and subsequent missions are unlocked from there. However, jumping around does cause players to lose progress in a previous mission thread.

Suppression fire is recognized in this iteration of the game and is a very handy tool, when it is working for your side. It allows flanking maneuvers – yep, told ya the AI was smart – and can pin down the enemy, or you, so that grenades can do the dirty work. There is a grenade indicator that will let you know when you are in danger of becoming kibbles and bits, but where you move can be tricky.

The game does support multiplayer over servers, and players can set up their own games. Deathmatch, team deathmatch and capture the flag are the standard modes you will find, and the action is often intense and quickly paced.

The control scheme for the game is intuitive and players should not have any problems in making their way around the game. Pop-ups on the screen will let you know when you can accomplish an action, and the rest is skulking, keeping your head down and laying waste to as many of the enemy as possible. The audio for the game is quite impressive. The opening musical score is grand and in many ways underscores the experience awaiting. There are a far amount of repetitious phrases that can become annoying but considering the tempo of the game, after a bit you can tune those out.

Graphically, CoD 2 if a masterpiece. Peripheral elements are impressive to see (you may catch, out of the corner of you eye, a charging soldier suddenly have his helmet fly straight backwards as he stutters and then falls to the ground), and the animations are very good. The effects and dynamic lighting give the game atmosphere.

An explosion nearby and you are knocked to the ground, dazed, somewhat senseless. The world is somewhat hazy and the sound is all but gone. You wonder if you are dead, and then a German soldier comes over to you, ready to finish what the explosion started. As he raises his weapon to bludgeon you, you regain enough of your senses to turn your weapon toward his chest and fire off several rounds. Surprise! 

CoD 2 is a remarkable World War II shooter. It is a thinking-gamer’s shooter, in many ways, which – while it has reflexive elements – asks you to consider the tactics of a situation in order to survive. There are some games on the market that seem to have a bullet-per-body count – reach the number and the enemy dies. In CoD 2 where you shoot them is important. Headshots never have targets jumping back up to shoot again, but sometimes you have to take what is presented. Like most shooter titles, if you camp, you will be found and usually the result is not good.

Every aspect of this game is well crafted.

Gameplay: 8.8
The controls are intuitive, and the game is very easy to get into. The diversity of the scenarios, not in tempo but in setting, makes this a terrific shooter. There are some load times, but they are set-ups to the levels and missions often take on a variety of overlapping missions until you finally finish the level. There is some linearity in that if you die and restart, you will know where pockets of the enemy are generally located, but you can take a different tact in attacking them.

Graphics: 9.4
While some of the elements are a little forced looking, like the bomb placements and packages you attach to tanks, until you see holes punctured in a pipe you are standing in by bullets, and traces of light following up, you have not been treated to so glorious a bit of eye candy in a war game. The collision paths can get annoying, especially when you are working toward a spot and an NPC squad mate runs in front of you, not only ruining your line of fire, but blocking you from your immediate goal. Still, better to have collision paths than clipping problems.

Sound: 8.8
Some repetitious phrasing can get a bit tiring, but the tension, carried forth by a terrific musical score, and the punctuation of gunfire and explosives make this a treat for the ears. Go ahead – crank the volume on that surround sound – you will not be disappointed.

Difficulty: Medium
There are difficulty settings that enable you to fine-tune your gaming experience, but if you're online, you better bring your thinking caps and your reflexives. The single-player is very much a cerebral exercise, playing out like chess save with bullets flying madly about.

Concept: 9.0
The graphics have been tweaked, the AI has undergone changes and the result is a game that is not only thoughtful, but highly entertaining, in both the gaming sense and visual sense.

Multiplayer: 8.8
It is reflexive, it is fun and yes, it is much of what you already know – deathmatch, capture the flag and the like. But hook up and you will have a great time, especially with the introduction of the smoke grenades and how they can turn a street into a nightmare.

Overall: 9.0
This is a very satisfying and enjoyable game, full of tension, chaos and war’s horror, but with an intelligent AI and terrific visual elements. While the game is somewhat linear per mission level – if you die and respawn, you will know where you have to go and generally what is waiting for you – how you approach each obstacle is up to the player. You can go the frontal assault route (in some cases), or leave that to your allies while you take a more circular route, sometimes flanking enemy positions. Not just a worthy successor to the original title, CoD 2 advances the franchise. It is bigger, better and a whole lot of fun.