Review : Call of Duty 2 [Xbox 360]

Review

Call of Duty 2

By Mr. Marbles
June 14, 2006 13:24 PM PST
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Xbox 360, meet Call of Duty 2, your Lord and Savior.

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Cheese'm biscuits! I hate to jump the gun here (what with it being one of the first launch titles of the new console generation), but Call of Duty 2 is a freakin' work of art. It is, without a doubt, the best-looking console game to date, and the most psychotically intense World War II shooter to boot.

Infinity Ward developed this sequel on the PC, yet knew that with the Xbox 360's tech specs, their baby would, at least, run like margarine on the new console. But I refuse to believe that anyone expected Call of Duty 2 to run like absolute butter on the 360. In fact, I'll even go out on a limb and say that, side-by-side, I'll take the 360 version over the PC counterpart. Have I gone mad? Perhaps--but for the price of a rig that you'll need to get the latter up to speed, the former actually somewhat justifies the $300-plus tag on the Xbox 360. And with 720p widescreen support, normal and specular mapping, dynamite particle effects, and lighting-fast load times, you might not even miss your mouse.

Let's backtrack a little. Prior to getting my hands on Call of Duty 2, my skepticism about the game was two-fold. First, by no means was I ready for another WWII shooter (in my opinion, the genre has been outplayed, overplayed, and beyond). And second, because the original Call of Duty on PC was arguably the best WWII shooter ever made, the bar was set extraordinarily high. But, as we soon found out, Infinity is not a one trick pony.

Back in the Thick of It
In the Call of Duty 2 single-player mode, you'll once again follow the Russian, British, and American campaigns from 1941 to 1945. The Russian campaign spans from snowy Moscow to Stalingrad, the British from Northern Egypt to Libya and Tunisia, and finally to Normandy in 1944 at the start of the American force's deployment on D-Day.

Like the first game, Call of Duty 2 is extremely chaotic, with nary a chance to catch your breath. Being in the field of battle, with bullets whizzing by overhead, can be overwhelming, so it's best to approach each situation in a station-to-station fashion--the game is tailored to and rewards standard FPS duck-and-cover play.

All the original Call of Duty gameplay mechanics are back, sans the bothersome health-pack pickups. Instead, Infinity opts for a Halo-like health regeneration system where seeking momentary cover completely restores any damage taken (you'll know when you're close to the bright light when a bloody border surrounds the HUD). This new feature curbs your old-school tendency to scour every room for extras, meaning there's more time to focus on actual game objectives.