Xbox 360
Gameplay: 9
Sound: 9
Value: 8
Reviewer�sTilt:10
Overall: 9.0
The Bad: No real story, lack of ragdoll physics means plenty of clipping, multiplayer is pretty lame
Verdict: Just when you thought WWII was all played out, Call of Duty 2 arrives to kick you in the teeth.
Back in 2003, developer Infinity Ward released what was considered to be the finest World War II shooter ever created, Call of Duty. That game broke a lot of new ground in terms of level design and artificial intelligence, making it one of the year�s best games. With that said, its sequel, Call of Duty 2, has a lot to live up to. So, how does this game stack up to its predecessor?
It completely tops it. Call of Duty 2 is everything a sequel needs to be. Featuring an outstanding campaign and plenty of entertaining multiplayer modes, Infinity Ward has created a true masterpiece. Sure, it�s nothing you haven�t seen before: MG42s blasting away at soldiers, that shellshock effect, or that Thompson. But Call of Duty 2 does it bigger and better than any other WWII game on the market.
I�ve played them all! Brothers in Arms? I hated it. It was too technical for my liking and lacked any sort of entertainment. Medal of Honor? That series got old after all the mediocre Allied Assault expansion packs, and don�t get me started about Rising Sun. Call of Duty 2 is simply one of those games that is so addictive and playable that it�s simply amazing. It�s arcade-style madness, but not that solo crap that Medal of Honor dishes out. In this game, you are a part of the war; part of a squad. It�s not just you against the entire Third Reich, although this game certainly has plenty of chaotic moments.
Take, for instance, the Russian campaign. The Russian soldiers are a group of inexperienced people against the highly organized German army. As you play through this section of the game, don�t be surprised if you actually start feeling sorry for the digital characters that are being rendered in front of you�their back-story is truly depressing. There is one part of this mission where you and your fellow comrades are bombarded inside a building and being attacked in waves of Nazis from what seems like every possible direction. It�s gripping, and without saying too much, it�s really only the tip of the iceberg.
The single player campaign is surprisingly long for a shooter. There are 27 missions overall, and some of them can be pretty lengthy. Best of all, none of the levels feel like filler or have you feeling a sense of d�j� vu. From the intense British tank missions to the frightening beach landing at Point du Hoc, Call of Duty 2 manages to immerse you in its world and really does take this once-tired genre to a new level of intensity while demonstrating the amount of life still left in this type of game. It�s simply an awesome success.
Visually, Call of Duty 2 is a huge success, especially on a high-definition widescreen television. Textures are impressive and sport a ton of detail, especially up close. Soldiers animate with such realism that it is almost like you are right there in the action. As clouds of smoke billow with unprecedented realism, chunks of dirt shoot in the air from bullets whizzing by you, and soldiers fall over and die next to you, you will know that this is a next-generation game. The only complaint is a lack of a real physics engine, which means that there are no ragdolls. It�s only a problem when you see bodies clip through a wall or weapons float in the air, although this is quite rare.
As with almost every WWII-themed game, the audio is very impressive in Call of Duty 2. Those who have dropped money on a decent sound system will be satisfied with the brilliant sounds of war and chaos all around them. Everyone in this game seems to have something to say during battle; often your troops will call out positions of enemies, and your foes will do the same in their native language. The battle chatter system works very well and is easily the best part of the audio presentation as it adds a new level of intensity to the background noise that was previously lacking in other games of this genre.
Call of Duty 2 features a multiplayer that doesn�t measure up to the exciting single player campaign. It only supports 8 players (that is not a next-gen number!) and does not include bots for whatever reason. The multiplayer maps are decent but the multiplayer modes tend to play it safe�that is, there isn�t anything here that is exactly original. The Xbox Live play features some major problems however. It is quite difficult to join a game due to dropped connections and other issues that will hopefully be addressed with a future patch.
Because of Call of Duty 2�s average multiplayer, there isn�t much lasting value to be found here outside of the single player campaign. It is likely that you will want to beat the game a couple of times and then the fun is over. So it�s really difficult to recommend dropping $60 on this game. That said, if you�re into WWII shooters and you think you�re up to the challenge of replaying the game on �Veteran� (hardest difficulty), you need this game if you�re getting a 360. This happens to be one of the best launch titles that the system has to offer and chances are it runs smoother and looks better than what your PC can do. It is a great piece of technology that makes WWII games exciting again.