Call of Duty 2 Review
Played on:
PC
I know there are some of you out there who are so sick of World War 2-based FPS games that you're just reading this to see how bad I think Call of Duty 2 is. And in my review of the expansion pack to the first Call of Duty, I said that something needs to truly change in this sub-genre if developers want to keep selling WW2 games. What I didn't expect is for the guys at Infinity Ward to do exactly that. Call of Duty 2 takes all the stuff that made the first game unique and then built a dozen extremely entertaining yet challenging missions around it.
If you haven't played the first Call of Duty yet, I'll sum it up for you: it's a mix of action-oriented, yet squad-based combat in the European theater of World War 2. You play in three campaigns as separate soldiers on the Allied side of the war. But the biggest thing is that each of these soldiers comes from a different country - the USA, England, and Russia. And if I were to sum up its sequel, it'd be the exact same thing, but this time around, Infinity Ward has truly shown themselves to be masters of pacing, suspense, and visceral action. It's all delivered in a tight, excellently crafted package that will blow you away.
In fact, the first mission is probably my favorite of them all even if it's by just a hair. You'll start out as a Russian grunt going through a crash-course in being a soldier. Since you were literally drafted a couple of days previously, today might not be the best time for you to see combat, but too bad. After a quick training session, you're thrown right into battle in the defense of Moscow. Shortly afterwards, the Germans make a huge push, which you and your piddly band of teenaged soldiers will have to defend against. The game does a great job of showing that determination, and not any kind of real training, was the only thing keeping the Russian soldiers standing. The Germans' final charge, and your subsequent counterattack after you repel them, is absolutely beautiful. And what you do afterwards - well - it's good enough that I don't want to spoil it.
Call of Duty already covered the defense of Stalingrad, but the sequel puts you in the shoes of a different guy doing very different things during that battle. You'll go more on the offensive against troops that are more mobile and definitely smarter than seen in most WW2 games. In fact, while there are quite a few situations in CoD2 that will have you defending against massive numbers, you'll still be fighting against some of the most intelligent yet fun-to-fight enemies that I've seen yet. Yes, they'll flank you, go for cover, charge, and do all the stuff that you've come to expect out of a game like this. But the game uses moderation and keeps you entertained, allowing you go to a little Rambo now and then just for fun.
This point can't really be skipped over, either - this is the most actual fun I've had in a WW2 shooter since, well, ever. While some of those elements seen in the more realistic Brothers in Arms games (like suppressing the enemy troops before charging them, or sneaky flanks) are included, they're not absolutely necessary to win. You can choose how you want to do a fight, and your own aim isn't made by the game to be so bad that you constantly have to rely on your squadmates to win every single fight. There are still plenty of battles you can win on your own, as long as you are aware of enemy movements and plan accordingly. You'll also need some great aim, and unlike Brothers in Arms, your rifle won't wave around everywhere. Less realistic? Sure. More fun? Definitely.
A new gameplay element added to Call of Duty 2 is a health system that is almost like what we saw in Halo 2 - if you get hurt, just get to cover for a few seconds, and your character will get his breath back and be fully healed for the next fight. It sounds really goofy in a game like this, but this is another trade-off of realism for fun, and I found that it makes for a much more enjoyable game. Instead of health kits constantly sitting around or you scrambling to instantly heal a gunshot wound, your guy just heals up. And instead of loading your last save every time you get shot a few times, you can stay in-game and keep going.
And that right there's my favorite part - I'm one of those people that quicksaves constantly and if I get hit a bit too much, I'll load my game. CoD2 keeps me going and I won't continue to quickload, all thanks to the regenerating health. Sure, if you want that higher realism where you'll get killed in one or two shots, there are the higher difficulty levels you can fiddle with, and grenades will still do you in immediately if you are close enough when they go off.
Speaking of grenades, the other important addition is a "grenade indicator". Now, when enemies throw a grenade, you'll get a little icon near your crosshair that shows when one's close and what direction it's in relative to you. Again, this sounds like the game's been made too easy, but this makes grenades less of an occasional surprise and more of a constant tool that the enemy will use to flush you out of your cover. It changes the way grenades are used by the AI and is something relatively new in my opinion in first person shooters.
While these additions do make the game easier, Infinity Ward has countered this by making fights last longer and with more enemies for you to have to take out. The end result is that there's still plenty of challenge to be had here, even on Normal difficulty, but you'll spend more time thinking about in-game tactics and less on that next health kit or that damned F9 key.
While these additions do make the game easier, Infinity Ward has countered this by making fights last longer and with more enemies for you to have to take out. The end result is that there's still plenty of challenge to be had here, even on Normal difficulty, but you'll spend more time thinking about in-game tactics and less on that next health kit or that damned F9 key.
But let's get back to the campaign. After your stint deep in the dead of winter in Russia, you'll be whisked off to North Africa as an English soldier. You'll be fighting back against the German mastermind Erwin Rommel, and will turn that campaign around on him, push him East, and kick him off the continent. In the process of doing this, you'll need to fight in the streets of North African cities, and it's a real change of pace (and place!) from the Russian campaign. Battles are generally fought in smaller quarters, but there are still plenty of machine gun emplacements to worry about, as well as more enemies on rooftops and in windows to deal with.
There's also a tank mission to play in, where you'll be taking control of a smaller, faster tank than what Rommel's got - the only problem is that he's got a huge range advantage on you. That means a lot of high-speed charges with your tank-driving buddies into battle, and you will need to be nimble and dance between targets to keep the enemy guessing. It's a really fun mission and while it's still difficult, you will get to blow up plenty of enemy armor in the process.
Then you're back in Europe, switching off from the American side of things to the British and back again in the major invasion of France. Of particular note is the American level where you'll need to charge onto the beaches of France (in the famous Pointe du Hoc mission) and scale a vertical rock wall on ropes. The custom-created animations really make this battle work, because as you and your squadmates scale the wall, you'll see people get shot and fall, others tumble to the ground, and more. But it's not over once you get up top: Call of Duty 2 has very large battle areas compared to most WW2 shooters, and the battle rages on long after you've scaled the wall. This continuity works very nicely in some missions (especially this one) and I really liked not having to stop to load a new mission every ten minutes.
Let's talk a little about the visuals as well as the game engine. While Call of Duty was still based on the Quake 3 engine despite most of its code being rewritten, CoD2 uses a brand new engine and takes advantage of some of the newest DirectX 9 technology. You'll see this everywhere, from the uniforms that seem to have the look of real cloth (especially the coats on the Russian soldiers), to the water, to the brick walls that also seem to have a depth to them you don't usually see. Not only has Infinity Ward outdone themselves with regard to the art, but the animations and new special effects really add to the visual realism. Call of Duty 2 is easily the best-looking WW2 game out there.
You probably know what to expect out of sound in a WW2 shooter. Yes, you'll get to hear plenty of gunfire in the foreground and lots of explosions and gunfire as ambient sound. But this time, you're also going to hear much more in the way of troops talking. Both Germans and your own guys will talk about enemy movement and positions, and you'll need to listen to both if you really want the drop on the enemy. I don't know how to speak German, but I can hear where their speech is coming from, and that gives me clues as to where to expect their fire to come from.
Another important aspect of Call of Duty was its great use of music at just the right times to add that bit of emotion to a major offensive or a desperate defense. CoD2 pulls this off as well, and half the time I didn't even realize the music was going yet I was feeling its addition to the situation. You know a game's music is great when it has an affect on you yet you don't even notice it.
Even after the game's somewhat-short but highly fulfilling campaign is over, you still have multiplayer to look forward to. The usual Deathmatch, Team DM, and CTF modes are included, and a new mode called Headquarters is also there. This mode has both sides trying to establish a base, or Headquarters, while the other side has to try and destroy it and then set up their own HQ. It's a great mode because it forces players to come together to fight larger battles and focus on one key area at a time.
CoD2 includes thirteen multiplayer maps, four of which are old favorites from the first game, and support for up to 32 players. Voice chat is supported in-game, and sounds quite a bit like what you'd hear from the Counter-Strike games - the quality isn't incredible, but it's certainly usable. The actual online play I tried was smooth, lag-free, and the weapons felt just right. While CoD2's multiplayer won't be replacing something like Battlefield 2 any time soon, I still think it's worth a good couple of weeks of play before you shelve the game.
Despite my reluctance to go through yet another WW2 game, Call of Duty 2 really showed me that there's still plenty of stories to be told, new gameplay to be experienced, and great fun to be had left in this genre. The AI is better than ever and the action is the perfect mix of tactics and full-on gunfights - and the regenerating health system means I have to worry less about how much health I have left and more about how to take out the overwhelming numbers of Germans. Combine this with solid multiplayer modes and a near-perfect sense of pacing and style, and we have a definite winner in Call of Duty 2.
