The cinematic intensity of World War II is beautifully brought to life in the epic war game Call of Duty. At some points it does not even feel like you are in a game, it feels like you are right there. Whether you and your Soviet comrades are getting peppered by Stuka dive bombers while crossing the Volga river to enter Stalingrad, or spraying off hundreds of MG42 rounds into oncoming Germans. At some points you will ask yourself, "I can't believe actual people did this stuff", and be answered by a shell shocking mortar blast. It really makes you appreciate the brave soldiers who fought and died for our country.

You start off as a young American paratrooper of the 101st Airborne Division. After going through simple weapons training, you are packaged off to France to serve your country. Your first (real) mission has you jumping out of the plane in the early morning hours of D-Day. Your job is to go in alone, reassemble with your fellow paratrooper, light a beacon so the C-47 transport planes can drop off the rest of your squad, and secure the perimeter. Whether this sound complex or simple is your point of view. I will walk you through what I experienced in this mind-blowing chapter of Call of Duty. I landed on the ground, a little woozy for a few seconds after a rough landing. German trucks loaded with troops passed by on the highway little more than 100 yards away. My mission is to find the sergeant and light the radio beacon. As you walk along the forest path, you see light of a farmhouse up ahead. A German guard is pacing the grounds, waiting for something to happen. Today is his lucky day. You pump a round of your carbine's ammo into him, and search the farmhouses. You still need to find the sergeant. As you continue walking down the path, you see the sarge's body dangling from a tree where his parachute is caught. Now you are alone, in a forest, in enemy controlled territory, with an American outfit on. Scared yet? You must kill two Germans in a bunker up ahead to clear the way to the beacon in the middle of the field. As soon as the signal is up, you hear the roar of hundreds of C-47 planes. Then come the German air raid sirens. One starts up very close to you, which starts off another one, and starts a chain reaction all over Normandy. Five guys fall from the sky around you with parachutes. MG42s start pelting bullets from a small French house. Hit the dirt behind a dead cow and let the milk machine do the hard work. Just as you shoot a round into the gunner's head, a whistling bomb comes down and literally blows the house to pieces. A flaming wreck stands where you just saw a house full of Germans. This is war, and you are in the very middle of it.

There are three campaigns: the Americans, the British, and the Russian campaign. The official site may say there is four, but the fourth campaign is dubbed "the allied campaign" and you play once as your American, British, and Russian player. These could have easily been added on to the end of each country's campaign, but it looks better if it says four campaigns instead of three, I suppose.

The mission that felt like you were watching and living in a movie was the Russian charge at Stalingrad. You start on the far bank, hopping into an overcrowded boat with terrified comrades huddled beside you. As you cross the river, the officers blare out speeches of the greatness of the Soviet Union and how terrible the Nazis are. Stuka bombers suddenly dive from the skies, rattling the side of your boat with machine gun fire. If you look to the sides, you will see that every boat but yours was blown to pieces around you. I looked one way and saw a flailing Russian body flying towards our boat. Some of your less faithful comrades try to abandon ship, only to get shot up by the brutal officers. As you look around, you can see disgust on your fellow soldiers face's, and in the distance, the banks of Stalingrad. The city is absolute, utter chaos. You constantly get shellshocked from bombs, cut to ribbons by MG42s, and after you are through all that, you will die. Your buddies are doing the same thing you are, following your lead, running into the same troubles you have. This is the best part of Call of Duty: the comraderie.

Your buddies are always there to help you (exluding the British missions, which I will explain later). They provide covering fire for you, take hits for you, and will die to save a fellow soldier. Although they are always there to support you, it is usually you who does the most important task. Get a paunzerfaust and take out a tiger tank pinning your men down, or flank a German stronghold. One thing I don't understand though, is that the developer seemed to not want to take the risk of this, as most other shooters stick to the lone wolf idea. You, alone, are sent in to blow up anti-air positions on the Eder dam in Germany. All by yourself! You must fight your way through the interior of the dam, hundreds of Germans in there. This is not realistic at all. As in the other campaigns, it was not one man that won the war, it was millions. It even says this in the game's slogan. They are also very hard, and no fun at all.

As for multiplayer, it is fantastic. The developers seemed to have changed most of the single player maps to allow for a more fun multiplayer experience. Missions sometimes have been split into two or three maps, so you are never away from the action. One thing the creators did to avoid senseless and unfair spawn camping is constantly change the area where you spawn. You usually spawn right near your fellow soldiers, who are in the middle of a firefight. It is very easy to join the fighting.

My complaints for Call of Duty is that it can be extremely hard at some times. Even on the easiest difficulty, it can seem to be impossible at times. Sometimes the AI responds to situations the way it shouldn't. They can sometimes be seen just standing in the open, letting themselves get shot. I hope if this was a real war they didn't do that! Another thing not everybody may experience, but I did, was that it can be really stressful sometimes. Some people may enjoy this, and I like it in small doses, but I play a game for fun, not for the experience of pounding my keyboard in frustration. Just a few minor things place Call of Duty back a few notches, but nothing to damage this spectacular WWII shooter.

97% - A