Call of Duty 2 takes place more than half a century in the past during World War II. It is about as close as you can come to being there using today’s commonly available technology. I played on a crappy 19″ color TV provided by the military, so I didn’t get the full experience.
I plan to play through the single player campaigns again when I get home. The game is that engrossing.
You start off the single player campaign as a Russian private and you’re thrown into battle almost immediately after a very short shooting and grenade tossing lesson.
Everything about Call of Duty 2 is scripted. It’s so well scripted though, that I often felt as if the soldiers around me were actually thinking and breathing. Part of this effect is created by the game’s amazing graphics engine; which allows you to see the frost rising as men breathe in and out in the cold Russian winter. The sounds of battle are ultrarealistic as well. The troops around you talk and you hear radio chatter that give you hints about what is going on as well as explicit instructions.
Back to the scripting though. At one point in the game, I found myself out of the action, because I’d wandered backwards through the scripted sequences into an area where the action was already over. The game’s sense of “aliveness” had completely died. Everything felt static and two-dimensional. As soon as I hit an invisible map line, the chatter and living war environment picked right back up.
As you play through Call of Duty 2, you’ll find yourself playing the role of sniper, machine gunner, grenade lobber, tank driver and explosives expert in a variety of stunningly rendered environments.
Overall, the environments and the storyline are superb. From the beginning campaign in the dead of Russian winter to the final climatic scenes storming German fortified positions in France, you’ll die many times and watch those around you dying too. Until we have a Star Trek holodeck to play with, this is about as close as you can get to real war without losing the reset button. Trust me, the reset button in a good thing. War is a sobering experience.
If you’re a World War II history buff and action shooter junkie, or either one, this game is for you.
I’ll review multiplayer and update when I get back home from Baghdad.