20.12.2005

While we’ve all played through World War 2 so many times we can throw our history books away by now, and while we’re all probably getting a little sick of these games, the fact remains that the best WW2 games out there are some of the greatest fps games on the market. And while sticking to the ‘if It ain’t broke, make loads and loads of them’ gaming maxim may make this World War 2 First Person Shooter sequel to game of the year Call of Duty feel a little too familiar, this is a game which blends utterly frantic, frenetic action with great visuals and a perfect atmosphere to create one of the most intense gaming experiences of 2005.Call of duty 2 follows the story (there isn’t really an actual story itself – we all know the deal anyhow)of soldiers fighting for the British, American and Russian armies. You start the Russian campaign as a raw recruit, throwing potatoes into boxes because grenades are too expensive, but before you can even finish your training, the area is flooded with German troops. Immediately you’re thrown into the thick of it, into what the game is all about; intense urban shootouts between large numbers of soldiers. There are tons of enemies, and you have lots of friendly soldiers fighting with you, and more replace the ones who die spawning offscreen and running to your position; this is a game where you genuinely feel in the thick of war. The firefights are so amazing, most shooters only have one or two of this kind of quality throughout their entire length, every single level in CoD2 plays out with this level of intensity and quality.The Russian missions see you fighting brutal territory battles in the streets of Stalingrad, the highlight probably a charge on a well defended building which you then have to defend yourself, dozens of enemies storming at you at once, and as a tank arrives you have to charge out and take it down. Finishing the first proper Russian mission opens up the British campaign, which takes place mostly in Africa. These missions play out largely in the same style – with a few twists. Some missions see you manning a tank in a convoy of tanks pushing forward against German armour positions. It’s pretty great. Progress eventually opens up the Americans’, and it’s absolutely amazingly ace. The firefights are so intense, you often find yourself simply overwhelmed, fire raining from all sides; yet somehow you survive and push forward, only to be pushed back. Playing CoD2 is a draining experience; the game is so intense.While very familiar to FPS players, CoD2 has a few neat touches that do set it apart from the crowd. For one, there are no health packs any more, you recover by taking cover and sitting still for a few moments. My first thoughts were ‘yeah, because being quiet and sitting still is an excellent cure for mortal wounds!’, but it works well in-game, you never find yourself at a hard spot without health and it’s no more contrived than running over a healthpack to jump to max health. Imagine the halo shield system minus the healthbar, it’s that kind of vibe.CoD2’s AI is no better than most other games out there, but a very smart touch is that your AI teammates advance and retreat when you do. This means you can stage effective charges against gun nests and clusters of soldiers, especially combined with the awesome smoke bombs which both look ace and offer great cover for charges. It’s a pretty amazing rush to charge through the smoke – literally unable to see anything besides your own gun – to emerge on the other side of the smokescreen, face to face with a dozen rifles. Of course, thanks to the AI, you have a dozen rifles behind you; bloodbath ensues. Moments like this happen all the time and it’s what makes CoD2 so great. It’s no one-man army here.Visually the game looks remarkably like a much more polished version of the original CoD, which is pretty much what it is – but that’s not to say it doesn’t look great. The character models are especially lovely and the smoke is simply stunning. There are much better looking games out there, but considering how many models there often are onscreen at once, this is an impressive achievement. The sound is also pretty great – all the weapons sound real and pack a satisfying punch, your fellow soldiers shout constantly – which is great for the atmosphere – and there’s a neat cinematic style musical score. Running the game on a AMD 4200+, Geforce 7800gtx and 1gb corsair RAM, the game ran at a constant 25ish fps no matter what was happening onscreen – with the visuals maxed out.It’s difficult to find fault with the game really; the obvious big one – it’s way too short, ranging between 10 and 15 hours depending on the difficulty you play on, plus the game feels a little overly linear and scripted at times – but it’s far too amazing and intense (first time round) for this to really detract from the experience. While the naysayers may complain that we’ve been here and done that, here has never looked quite so good and that has never been quite as jawdroppingly, adrenaline-pumpingly intense as Call of Duty 2 – by far one of the best single player experiences of 2005.

11.2.2008

The combat FPS is a fairly popular genre right now, though I have to admit to only recently catching up with COD2.It's an atmospheric WWII shooter set across a variety of different scenarios, from Stalingrad on the Russian Front, to desert warfare in North Africa, the D-Day landings and their immediate aftermath. For each scenario you take on the persona of a particular character and follow through to the end of that campaign.Graphics and sound are excellent - in particular the missions set around the D-Day Normandy landings. The landscape really looks the part, i.e. like something out of Hell - ditches and trenches linking bunkers amid a shell cratered wasteland.Gameplay is generally very good,though it has to be said probably 80% of the missions focus on urban warfare - clearing or defending houses and buildings before moving on. There is some variety in the shape of a tank battle where you act as driver/gunner and a couple of rail shooter sections where you are gunner on the back of a vehicle. Combat is intense, sometimes almost too much so. I did find the frequency with which the enemy assault you with grenades a bit wearisome as these represent an instant kill even just in range (it does seem this is a ploy to keep you moving). The AI is particularly good at singling you out when the field of battle is crawling with plenty of fellow Allied troops. I don't have a problem with the damage/health model but I do think there should be an Instant Save facility. The Autosave seems to trigger at random and nthing more frustrating than to spend 10 minutes pushing forward than to be taken out by a grenade or squashed by a tank you have been told to mine and have to do it all again.The campaigns are linear, you have to fulfill your objectives before moving on to the next. A little flexibility or a dynamic campaign engine would add to replay value as, other than getting stuck occasionally you need to follow a set path through each mission. Indeed some of the town levels barricade your route such that you can only follow a pre-defined route. Although you generally have a team of fellow soldiers you cannot give them orders or vary tactics e.g. set up flanking moves. Most of the time you as the player are on point and must push forward before they will follow.There are a few tactical inaccuracies. For example on the D-Day missions, you are tasked with clearing enemy bunkers. Now while not a particularly pleasant weapon to employ, historically considerable use was made of the flamethrower to achieve this. However the flamethrower is for whatever reason not available either as a player or AI weapon in COD2. This results in you effectively walking up to the front door and knocking - a tactic which usually results in your character getting perforated by machine gun fire or fragged by grenades, as indeed would have been the case in real life had you attempted this course of action! So if, as rumoured, WWII is back on the agenda for COD5 please give us back our flamethrowers!In conclusion an excellent game, unfortunately with a few niggles which prevent a 5 star rating.

22.7.2006

There's not many shooter's out there in the world which you could call beter than this. Nowhere was it mentionned that this game was supposed to be realistic and seriously if it was in that, if you got shot once in the leg or arm then you would die well what fun would that be? How many games do you know where you can actually be shot only once in a place like the foot and actually die? none! And yes, although this is by no means realstic in terms of how you die, it is the most realistic WW2 shooter out at the moment siply because of the design of each of the weapons and because of the landscapes of the battles.Infinity ward, a great company who helped make Medal of honor Allied Assault (in my opinion the best shooter to have ever existed)

4.11.2005

I don't usually put words in upper-case in my reviews, but I had to this time. I've been a long-time online FPS fan, right from the days of the first Doom, through Quake, through Medal of Honor, through Battlefield 1942/BF Vietnam, and Battlefield 2.Recently, after a brief period out of the country, I got my broadband sorted and looked for something new. BF2 was the first, and disappointed in many ways. I won't waste this review on why! I then bought Day of Defeat: Source and was very pleased and got back into the zone of things. Troubles aside, it was very playable.Then I bought Call of Duty 2. And I was astounded. My PC is up to spec, yet BF2 struggled to deliver. Day of Defeat: Source,

21.12.2005

Well what can I say about this except it really lived up to and exceeded the benchmark set by Call of Duty. I wasn't going to buy this as I hated the CoD mission packs with their unending enemy spawn. However I was lucky enough to get it as a freebie with my new PC.The unending spawn is back, but what has changed to make it so much more fun is the health regeneration. Get injured and all you need to do is duck behind some cover and in a few seconds your health is back up. I felt so punished for not being able to see through walls in the previous addons to CoD that this feature, whilst seemingly minor,

9.11.2005

I'm not a fan of the original Call of Duty or Its expansion pack for the simple reason that I find them to be too hard, expecting you to do too many things at once. I was in two minds about buying Call of Duty 2.To my suprise Call of Duty 2 is significantly improved in many ways. The music in the original got on my nerves alot, and thats the first thing thats been improved, its not over powering. Secondly, the graphics are fantastic, my aging radeon 9800 pro works well on the 1280/960 resolution, So its not too taxing on older graphics cards.Finally, the overall gameplay has been improved, introducing a new and very good health system, wherebye, when you get shot,

17.3.2008

I have only had this game since 15th of March, and already i can tell you that this is one hell of a game.Graphics wise EVERYTHING, from buildings, snow, gun design and characters look so amazing, even at low specs. If you zoom into walls, you can see very fine textures. wrinkles, and facial hair can be seen clearly.Gameplay wise, so far it seems pretty long. Many tactics can be used here. Enemies frequently use grenades which is very realistic, and even on the 2nd difficulty, it is still a challenge. In this game, theres no such thing as 'running and gunning,' not only will you look like a fool out there, but you will get taken pretty easily. Every move has to be planned out, and enemies are quite accurate.

4.7.2007

I've never played COD1, so I'm not about to compare this game on what it could have been, or should have been. I'm going to review it on how it IS.Single Player: You don't need to have played many FPS games to know pretty much exactly what's gonna happen, the single player missions are linear (but then, they have to be) and action packed (lots of grenades, violence) but I still think they could have done a little more to immerse the player in the action, I just never feel adrenaline or panic, I just know that if I stand up and shot blindly with my weapon, most of them will be dead, or I will be. It's a little short of tactics, shall we say..But why not turn it onto a harder difficulty?

23.1.2006

We have really enjoyed this series and CoD2 is no exception. After 'wasting' hours on HL2 I was wondering how any new FPS would stand up. Quake 4 was a let down but still fun c.f. Doom3.Anyway I got CoD2 for Xmas and finished it in a couple of weeks. Reviews here had warned it was going to feel on the short side. By rationing myself it proved a worthwhile experience and VFM.The campaigns are varied and enjoyable. The new health scheme is a PITA first but you get used to it. Makes the game more challenging too. A lot of fun with smoke and frag grenades except when they lob them back at you. Some of the enemy reactions are amazing. Not the same old death sequence every time - sometimes they look startled.

4.1.2006

Okay lets get something straight:If your looking for a tactical old fps then save your money and buy Battlefield 2If your looking for some quick action, fast moving, crazy warfare then get the game.Admittedly it isn't as tactical as some other fps's but if you play it on hardest you find yourself thinking alot more about tactics than on the easier difficulty levels.The Multiplayer is again not supposed to be a tactical challenge but instead just fun. the Multiplayer mode doesn't have a Punkbuster but you will find servers will kick players suspected of cheating, i think people are just being paranoid when saying there is major cheating goin on!The game has the best graphics ive seen in a WW2 based game,

19.11.2005

Ok, so im a FPS fan big time, but at the minute games have got just a litle dull ( bear in mind ive been playing for 15 or so years), and the genre just a little tedious. F.E.A.R offered some differences in the shape of improved AI and good graphics are always welcome.Regardless i still find myself at times walking through games hoping for something to happen, doom 3 springs to mind.This game has many competitors, world war 1 and 2 being the style of many games these days. Why i dont know. But just how good this game is is hard to explain.Let me try. In any FPS you run around trying to shoot the enemy before they do you, usually let down by your squad (if any). No change here.

9.12.2005

The first call of duty, for me, was the first game that I thought to myself WOW, this is what a computer game is meant to do!! I found myself emmersed in the action and I completed it in a day and restarted it the same day!!Call of duty 2, has also done the same. The game play is fantastic and in my opinion improved from the first. Many people have moaned about the new health system and the removal of medi packs, however, the game is better for it. also you no longer get to save it where you want, but it auto saves after every key moment, again people have moaned about that. But it just keeps the action moving.The graphics are very good. I was unsure whaether to buy this game at first because iv only got a laptop,

12.11.2005

CoD was hailed as the best game of last year, and this year I think that CoD2 will grab the title once again. On first impressions, gamers will be amazed by the stunning graphics, real-life footage and attention to detail, which is an improvement on the previous.Gameplay interaction has been improved, with tonnes of weapons and the facility to play multiplayer on-line is recomended for the more experienced gamer. The game is staged over certain campaigns of WWII starting in the U.S.S.R then into North Africa with the British, then France and Germany with the Americans. Each level of the game is challenging and diverse which will make it hard to realise that you do have a life away from your computer.As an experienced gamer,

23.6.2006

The first thing that got my attention with this great game was the sound, I really felt as though my fellow soldiers were with me and that battle was just around the corner! The sounds are extremely believable, the graphics are smooth and fast and the missions difficult enough to challenge but no so difficult as to frustrate. Also the four levels of difficulty really allow the player to play at a level that suits them.The missions themselves are enjoyable, (although some of them are very similar)there is a reasonable amount of weapons to choose from and the chance to use tanks, half-tracks, Anti-air guns, sticky bombs etc allow for a wider gaming experience.

13.9.2006

After playing the original Call of Duty and visualizing the story i thought Call of Duty 2 would be just a flashier version with a similar and blunter story.But i thought i would give it a go, no harm eh? I then realised i was very wrong.This game from the start had me sucked in straight away, the cinematics, the realism, the AI and sound all grasp you like no game has ever done before, plus to top it all off the graphics are sublime.Each scenario starting with character interfaces and seemingly impossible tasks make this game the cream of the crop.For me personally, the story line is the most important factor of a game and believe me this game has one oscar winning storyline.The cherry on the top for me would be fighting along side Cpt Price again,

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