On the Xbox 360, war is better than ever before. Its just as good as the PC version, and control is perfect.
If Erasmus gave pause to play the game, he would be delighted too. The graphics would help there, an easy starting point for this review. Put simply, they’re phenomenal, easily seating you in the bleakest of war zones with full rag doll physics and fantastic particle effects and volumetric smoke. Every cliché is adhered to, a chaotic action-packed atmosphere, with dramatic explosions and gunfire and heroic soldiers being picked off in the line of duty.
From bombers flying overhead and tanks running down totalled buildings and obstacles, the frighteningly real atmosphere of the original title has been amped up with Hollywood production values. This is war at it’s most blistering best.
And sure, the grand scale of the action will not make you relate much to any of your squad, even your own player (4 different characters stretching 3 different campaigns), but you’ll thank god that they are there and support you. When the private besides you gets a sniper bullet to the skull, another man will take his place beside you on the front line, and you’ll be thankful that they can draw fire away, as well as hold their own in battle.
In short, just like the original, teamwork matters. Keeping your men alive can help make the difference in a firefight, even if for only the selfish reason of them being used as human shields and diversions for whatever your strategy. The feeling of war camaraderie bolstered by smart teammates who work together, stick behind cover, use the environment to it’s advantage, give you orders and inform you of what’s ahead is even better than it‘s already impressive original.
But this smart AI comes at a setback. They know what is ahead because there is no other way ahead. Like the original title, the game relies on pathing the character exactly as the game intended, and there is almost nil exploration on the part of the player. You will play through every set piece as the game intended, hear every bit of dialogue as the game intended, you will never miss a piece of the action, or get lost in a back alley. The compass is almost not required, there is always one very obvious way to go.
The inaccuracy of actual WWII weapons are fully operational too. Using the left trigger will bring up a more accurate crosshair, and the left and right bumpers fire smoke and explosive grenades in that order. The right trigger is your main fire, and ammo is scarce, so holding it down won’t be in the gamer’s best interests. Finding ammo and guns off your corpses will replenish you with limited ammunition though, and a wide variety of authentic weaponry will be made available. From machine guns and sniper rifles, to firing from the hip to going for the up close shot, the game’s large array of guns and mounted weapons are powerful and accurate to history.
Grenades now play a larger role in your firefights too. Tapping the left bumper will throw a smoke grenade, effectively acting as a shield that lets you get the rush on your enemies. Some are smart and affix bayonets and come rushing, screams and all, but this method is almost always effective on surprising inattentive enemy forces. Smartly, your teammates will follow your lead, and help dispose of well fortified soldiers when you make it through the perfectly designed volumetric fog. And if the enemies start throwing frags into the mist, a grenade indicator will pop up showing you the direction of the frag and how close to it’s proximity you are. Occasionally, a teammate may throw it back too.
This realism is further heightened by the game abolishing health packs. Now when you are almost down for the count, the screen turns a hazy red and you need to take cover to heal. Much like Halo’s shield system, the gamer needs to remove themselves from combat in order to shake off their injuries and get back into the fray. This alleviates running back for some hidden health pack which magically instantly heals you and survives having an entire building fall upon it. It also keeps the action flowing, and you’re never out of the shooting for long.
Four player single screen has been added to the multiplayer from the PC version, as well as full LIVE functionality and fantastic online play. The game keeps up easily with the frantic shoot outs online, keeping a steady 60fps even in the most heated of firefights. Unfortunately, while the maps are superbly designed and offer a great variety in their presentation and hidden alcoves, they are too small for anything but a full team. Eight on eight player matches are great fun, but playing a two on two CTF will almost immediately lead to boredom as you search for one another. System link is also available, and up to sixteen players can be supported, which makes up for the lack of polish in small team online. We’re hopeful some more maps are designed to be later available which scale according to the amount of players. Its still one of the best online experiences out there, but the low number of players allowed and the large size of the maps means you’re some times spending more time looking for enemies than actually targeting them.
The sound is unmatched for almost any first person shooter. The constant shouting of battle hardened teammates, the constant barrage of ammo littering the environment and the excellent explosion and gun effects heighten the game’s gripping atmosphere. Gamers with Dolby 5.1 set ups will be particularly pleased with the war zone battling it out all around you, but even those with regular set ups will be engrossed in the war’s formidable surroundings. The speech and the dialogue is also particularly good, with characters playing right into the situation at hand and being voiced masterfully by actors with real conviction. Even the enemies actually sound as if they hunger for your blood. The sound effects play right into the excitement and tension that Call of Duty 2 is striking for.
Inevitably, Call of Duty 2 will have it’s detractors, pointing to better graphics and not much else. It doesn’t insomuch do anything new with the series, but helps refine everything that made the original great. If you scratch away the new graphical shine that the Xbox 360 version has received, you will see a last generation game there. But as a launch title for the system, you can’t expect everything. What you need is a quality game. Call of Duty 2 is proof that an old game tarted up too look better can actually benefit the game play. Whether that means more men on your side or better set pieces, or even just more powerful explosions, this is as close to war I’ve ever seen in a video game. Erasmus might just be delighted.