Not fun. As simple and uninspired as a WWII game can be.
I was very excited for Call of Duty 2 to be released, and was impressed with its gorgeous visuals and sounds, overall good presentation, and mostly its intense and action packed gameplay. However, I didn't plan on buying it because it simply wasn't an original enough experience to spend 60 dollars on.
Then mother bought me Call of Duty 2: Big Red One for Christmas.
So where do I begin... pop in the disk and Big Red One dumps you unceremoniously into the boots of.... someone... I didn't really pay attention. It doesnt matter. The game doesn't even do you the favor of telling you where you are... who you are fighting... or even how to play. Took me forever to figure out that the directional pad was used to switch weapons. And for some unexplained reason they decided to put grenade on the X button and reload as I think the black button... opposite of how it should be so I keep throwing grenades right into my own people... who are too stupid to throw it away or even run away from it.
Really nothing about the AI is special, or even at all good. Your men will constantly get in your way standing in doorways or running blindly into enemy fire. You really dont even need your troops, as the enemy AI is not any better. They will not take any measures to take cover and can be easily taken out.
There are so many other little things wrong with this game that just ruin the fun. One thing that really annoyed me was that your character could not open any door in the game. You had to wait for somebody else to come and kick down the door for you, which could take a while. Kicking down the door was cool the one time in Call of Duty 2 that it happened, but waiting for it at every single door is just rediculous. As you go on the game does not even do you the favor of tell you who you are fighting and why. Took me until I picked up their guns and listened to them talk that I realized I was fighting Italians and not Germans.
With that aside I'll get started on gameplay. It's worthless. Basically you stand in one place behind some cover and shoot at all the randomly placed bad guys shooting gallery style until they are all dead and you can move on to the next gallery. It seems at times rather difficult to properly aim at an enemy. Usually I just picked one out, lined up my crosshairs on where they popped their head out every single time and waited. A few scriped sequences are pretty cool, but definitely are not enough to save the game.
Graphics did not seem any better than in the original Call of Duty, and I thought some of the weapons actually looked less realistic. The sound was decent, but nothing to get excited about, especially compared to Call of Duty 2.
Overall, I could go on for another 5 pages about all the things that are wrong with this game, but I think by now you should get the idea. If you are really desperate for a good WWII game but do not own an xbox 360 or a decent computer, check out Brothers in Arms instead. If you are really opposed to that style of shooter than make sure you rent Big Red One before you pay 50 dollars for it. You might even be able to beat it during the rent... not a very long game at all.
4.6 from me.