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| Call of Duty 2 - Amazing |
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For the past week, yours truly has been playing Call of Duty 2 quite religiously. Now I wasn't all that impressed with Call of Duty 3 (on any platform) so I didn't have high expectations for Call of Duty 2. Its just one of those games I never got around to playing, not even on the Mac.
Call of Duty 2 is a World War 2 shooter that focuses heavily on cinematic action and relatively large-scale battle sequences. The levels are heavily scripted, although the game does a fair job of hiding this. While you're pretty much boxed in to moving throughout levels in a fairly linear path, you never feel cramped or crowded in this game. And to point this out right now, the Graphics in this game are amazing.
Mom, look at – ahhh!
I was never too impressed with the original Call of Duty's graphics, so when I heard that Infinity Ward was using the graphics engine I wasn't too optimistic about this game's graphical amazingness (amazingness is now a word). Never fear: IW really ran their old engine through the Next-Gen Mill and introduced a plethora of effects like bump mapping and better all around lighting. Seriously, you can zoom in with your binoculars on some guy's helmet and look at the metal contours.
But while things like wood, metal, dirt, and grass have all received makeovers I was a little disappointed by the character models. They've definitely seen improvements over the original title but the character skins and textures seem a little too washed out to be realistic.
One amazing graphical effect I simply must point out here is smoke. This game is well over a year old and I have yet to see smoke that looks as good as this game's (except in Call of Duty 3, of course). From far away it really looks spectacular, almost to the point of distraction. I found myself wanting to throw smoke grenades solely for the purpose of looking at the pretty smoke.
Man, dad's gonna think I was smoking again.
Tactically the game plays very well. The health pack is gone, replaced instead by a rechargeable health system akin to Halo, but almost invisible. There is no "shield bar" or anything ridiculous like that. This game is intent on punishing players who get caught out in the open, and if you try to play this game like you do Halo you won't last long. Duck, cover, and shoot and essential tactics, although not so much so as in a game like Gears of War.
The weapons set is your standard World War II fare; I realize there can't be much innovation in this part as this class of games is trying to accurately represent history. The day I see a Railgun in Call of Duty is the day I quit playing the series. All in all the weapons are fun to play with and well balanced and sport a decent amount of power. You can carry two weapons at a time, and I recommend carrying an SMG of some flavor (I prefer the Thompson but the clip is fairly small, and there isn't much in the way of ammo lying about for it) and a semi-automatic rifle that you can reload quickly. I like the Garand best but it ends up being a pretty rare weapon. Avoid the bolt-action rifles and you'll do well.
I wonder what time American Idol is on.
The Storyline stays pretty interesting, although it isn't anything we haven't seen in previous World War 2 titles. Granted, there's only so much history that we can play before we run out of material, but some of the levels do feel a little repetitive. That said, the game makes up for it by making them loads of fun to play and overflowing with ambient action. The game follows in the steps of the original Call of Duty by having you fight in three different theatres of the war: the war in the East with the Soviet Union, the war in Africa as British soldiers fighting against Rommel's Afrika Corp, and in France as American Army Rangers. There is, of course, the complimentary D-Day assault, although in this game you scale cliffs and charge across German territory blazing with machine guns. *Insert pretty smoke grenades here*
Most of the missions build on each other, especially in the American campaign. For example, in the D-Day assault you capture a large expanse of ground only to have to defend it against a German counter-attack a level later. This will sound a little disjointed but that level is FUN. It manages to create a certain level of desperation as you're constantly forced to fall back among your hastily erected defenses, until finally you're left with nowhere to go and the Nazis just keep streaming toward you. This is why Call of Duty remains a cut above other World War II shooters: epic.
As far a final word on story, Infinity War did a great job of capturing the emotion of war. You'll feel for every soldier you lose, especially those that have been fighting alongside you for several missions. Deaths, while not disgustingly real, are a bit more involved than other games. Soldiers will scream with realistic pain and you'll hear the thuds of bullets slamming into their bodies. Immersion!
Wait! I left my gun on the ship!
The sound in Call of Duty 2 is nothing short of amazing, especially when hooked up to a decent sound system. Bullets zip past your hear, lieutenants bellow at you from behind while using your body as a shield, and tanks rumble past all in brilliant 3-D sound.
The voice acting is also top of the line for a game like this. While some of the phrases get a little repetitive (MG42!!!) you'll get on the ground feedback as to what your squad is thinking. If a soldier spots a Kraut, he'll call it out and often tell you where the enemy is at as well. Occasionally officers will also supply you with tactical advice like, "somebody drop a smoke grenade over there".
A lot of sound in this game is ambient, and I've found the soundtracks to prove it. In addition to any music, there is an entire audio file filled with the distant crack of gunfire and explosions. Airplanes will fly overhead for no other reason than that they can (immersion!) and sound very real. Sound gets a 10/10 from me. Advice: crank it up!
Uhhh, now might not be the best time buddy.
Call of Duty 2 is an amazing World War II shooter that delivers on every front (no pun intended) that I demand shooters to deliver. It offers tight gameplay with beautiful, cinematic levels and realistic sound and graphics to immerse me in the gameplay. I loved every minute of this game and if you haven't picked up yet you should certainly consider doing so.
Buy Call of Duty 2 From the MacGameStore!
Posted on February 14, 2007 at 8:28 pm
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