Call of Duty 2 Hands-On - Battle Across Eurasia
We deliver our latest, in-depth impressions of Infinity Ward's explosive WWII shooter sequel as development on the game nears its end.
Infinity Ward takes you back to the European theater in its World War II shooter sequel, Call of Duty 2.
The Xbox 360's launch lineup may have been the subject of speculation ever since the nascent console was announced back in May, but one game we've always expected to see at release is Infinity Ward's World War II shooter sequel, Call of Duty 2. Activision affirmed that expectation recently when it showed us the latest 360 build of the game, which is nearing the end of production and is showing considerably more polish thanks to the last few months of development. The developer hasn't exactly reinvented the wheel with the game, but for the legions of fans who crave fast-paced, explosive combat in a WWII setting, we're fairly convinced the game is going to deliver.
The core gameplay in Call of Duty 2 isn't going to surprise veterans of the original game--or of most World War II-themed first-person shooters, for that matter. The missions are still lightly objective-driven and are still full of extremely intense shoot-outs. You've got all the standard equipment, such as frag and smoke grenades and a host of authentic period firearms, and you can use a weapon's iron sights to zoom in a little to get better precision. In fact, like the original game, we found that using this aiming mode was essential to success. Within the framework of the game, the designers have made a few additions that seemed to enhance the action. For instance, you'll be able to vault over low walls at the touch of a button, which takes the annoying guesswork out of navigating cover in the chaos of an intense battle.
During our demo, Call of Duty 2 was described by Infinity Ward as a "healthless" shooter, since you have no visible health meter onscreen, and you won't find any health pickups at all. Instead, when you take damage, the edges of your screen will redden, and you'll hear your character begin to breathe heavily. Take more damage and these effects will intensify to the point where it's pretty obvious another hit or two will kill you. The only way to get out of this danger zone to restore yourself to full fighting ability is to find some cover and avoid taking anymore damage for several seconds. Once you've rested for a bit, you'll hear your character gasp. Then the redness will fade, and you're essentially back to full health. Though some diehard players may complain this will make play too easy, we found it helped smooth the flow of the game considerably, as did the quick-save checkpoint system that immediately got us back into action (without any load times) at the last point the game had autosaved.
As in the original game, Call of Duty 2 gives you a lengthy single-player campaign that thrusts you into numerous heated battles all throughout Europe, Africa, and Russia. Again, you'll take control of three different soldiers--one each from the Russian, British, and American forces. Previous showings of Call of Duty 2 have focused on one mission, set in the Egyptian town of El Daba, but Activision gave us a look at quite a few other scenarios in the game, set in places like Tunisia, Stalingrad, and rural France. Each of the environments displayed the same attention to detail in architectural and cultural aspects as the original game, and the variety of locales should certainly help to keep the action fresh over the course of the single-player campaign.
From what we saw, the designers seem to have done a good job of varying up the mission objectives and action scenarios you'll encounter. One of the Stalingrad missions tasked us with following a communications wire that had been cut at several points, in addition to repairing those cuts--all while dodging enemy fire. Later in the mission, we picked up some sticky bombs and had to take on three enemy tanks, sneaking around them under fire to plant the explosives to demolish the tanks. During this level, we were fighting from windows on the second floor of a building, and an enemy tank fired a round that blew out a huge section of the wall just to the side of us. Another Stalingrad level focuses more on stealth, as it sends you and your squad creeping through a network of elevated pipes, letting you attack unsuspecting enemy guards from above.
Call of Duty 2 Quick Links
Summary | Reviews | News | Previews & Features | Images | Videos | DLC & Expansions | Downloads | Answers | Hints & Cheats | Forum | Check Prices
- GameSpot Score8.8great
Check Prices: $6.75 – 28.99
| Glyde | $6.75 | SHOP › |
| Deep Discount.com | $28.99 | SHOP › |
Related Content
Matches based on text similarity.
Images
Related Unions
- Activision
- Infinity Ward
- Historic First-Person...
- Release: Nov 17, 2005 »
- ESRB: Teen
Games you may like…
-
Call of Duty 3
(X360) -
COD 2: Big Red One
(XBOX) -
Medal of Honor: Airborne
(X360) -
Call of Duty Finest Hour
(XBOX) -
BIA: Hell's Highway
(X360)
Users who looked at content for this game also looked at these games.
See More Similar Games
0 Comments