Call of Duty 2 The Big Red One is yet another World War II game to arrive on Xbox; as if there weren’t enough already. This time players can take control of an American soldier as part of the war effort in Northern Africa amongst other regions of Europe. What this means as a player is you get to fight along side many troops in a first person shooter attack on the senses where you are thrust in to the heart of the battle. Players had also better get used to shouting because in this game there is plenty of shouting!

Gameplay

Like its PC counterpart Call of Duty 2 places the player into the heart of intense battles whereby it’s not only you verses the enemy but you and several other soldiers. At the beginning of the game you are treated to an epic battle where there are many soldiers running all over the battle field in one big push on enemy positions. The sense of scale is excellent here as you feel part of the greater battle when accomplishing your own goals. The battles that you do have are also team based as you will have several soldiers in your unit working alongside you. Sadly you do not have direct control over their movements but at the same time they will act and react to the action as it occurs. On many occasions and to obviously create an exciting experience as possible; it is usually the player character that will often act as the lead or to trigger the next phase of attack. Players do then have the option to sit back a little rather than going in for the kill like a lone soldier with a death wish. The enemy AI puts up a reasonable fight and remains mobile rather than standing at taking shots which adds some needed challenge to proceedings.

The game features a wide range of period weapons ranging from Bazookas, sniper rifles, machine guns, rifles and mounted weapons. What is unique about each weapon is that when precise aiming, the sights displayed are different for each weapon. Players are only allowed to carry two weapons and grenades at a time but there are usually loads of guns dropped by the fallen to pick up should you require a different tactical approach. My favourite all-round weapon was the famous M1 Garand rifle, as this offered powerful damage, great accuracy, a decent rate of fire and clip size. More often than not you are required to change tactics from say long range combat to close quarters. The Garand isn’t so good in close quarters so it’s always wise to carry something a little meatier for the up close moments. Although these tactics are rather simple it’s good to be able to choose a weapon that is suitable for the player and the situation they are in.

In COD2 you have a fine assortment of missions set during daylight hours and night time as well. However there are some missions which put the player into the driving seat of a tank for example or even the gunner in a bomber. The bombing mission was very intense and although quite simple in its premise (point and shoot at fighter planes); it made a nice change to running around in first person during the ground based missions. Completing missions range from quite easy to very tough and players will find that the compass which shows your waypoints to be either very useful or a pain (for those that prefer to explore without their hand being held).

Graphics

The graphics are not the best graphics to be seen in a first person shooter on Xbox but the sheer scale and on screen action that occurs before your very eyes is visually impressive. The numbers of troops that are on screen is highly commendable and makes for a better playing experience as this makes you tend to forget things like ugly looking textures and such like. The graphics are as gritty as the death and carnage that occurs and there are some cool looking death animations on offer as well; especially when you see allies being blown up by one of the game’s impressive explosions.

Sound

The sound is full on all the way and as I mentioned earlier, there is a lot of shouting whether that be cries of pain to the barking of orders from a commanding officer. The voice acting is reasonable and with all the noise of war going on sounds like what one could imagine a war zone to be. Gun sound effects are also what I would imagine to be spot on and the general ambience captures the flavour of war.

Longevity

The single player campaign is of a reasonable length and one that does beg to be played more than once due to the sheer intensity of the missions; I’m sure most people will have their favourite moments in the game which can be replayed at anytime. There are several difficulties to choose from when starting a campaign which is also great for the replay value. There are a number of character bios, art and movies to unlock as well. For those connected to Live then you can embark on some online modes such as Domination, Death-Match, Team Death Match and Capture the Flag. These are also available via system link as well.

Overall

There are a number of WWII inspired games on the market and Call of Duty 2 puts the player right into the heart of the periods combat. There’s a lot to like about the game and not so much to dislike other than the graphics being a little simple and the game play being a pretty linear scripted experience. Call of Duty 2 on Xbox is a welcome addition to the first person shooters on offer and whilst it doesn’t do anything radically different from what we’ve seen before; remains an intense and exhilarating ride across Africa and Europe. The game is fun and well worth a play if you are into all things war.