Reviewed by Eva Cekanska
World War II is often thought of as the most destructive era of our history. Costing millions of lives and being the catalyst for the ever present nuclear threat, it is fascinating, revolting and downright exciting all in one. It admittedly takes a certain degree of desensitization for anyone to really enjoy playing a game based on an event which was nothing short of a bloodbath. However, desensitized or not, Call of Duty 2 follows in the enormous footsteps of its predecessor and delivers a stunning, realistic game which is guaranteed to keep your inner grunt satisfied.
There is an issue I feel I should make you aware of before you read about how wonderful and thoroughly enjoyable this game is. Although I loved Call of Duty 2, I have to warn you that it can slow down to a sub par crawl through the dense moments and I would caution you against buying if your hardware is not up to the challenge. This is something you will likely encounter and even more probably utter your fair share of curses because of. Consult the minimum requirements I listed at the bottom and if all is well, please read on!
Released in 2003, the original Call of Duty was received quite warmly by fans and critics alike. Consisting of a terrific, intense single-player and a fast paced multiplayer mode coupled with revolutionary sound effects, Call of Duty quickly became the MVP of the WWII shooter genre. Well, I for one am thrilled to report this time around is no different. The second installment offers the same great experience while enhancing it with varied missions, an emphasis on tactical and my personal favorite, the feeling of being just one soldier taking part in a far greater battle.
But I digress. Yes, Call of Duty 2 leaves no room for existentialism, but it does provide you with an opportunity to experience varying fronts within the war, each with considerably different challenges. Whether it is a German infested Stalingrad or the deadly shores of North Africa, COD2 delivers an authentic experience, including a chance to take on D-Day from a location other than the rather played-out beaches of Normandy.
I already mentioned that playing the game you will feel like a small part of a vast, epic war. This is made possible by highly intelligent and useful combat mates and equally impressive opposition. You will undoubtedly see your friends and enemies die and you will see them replaced by other soldiers. You will even witness the other facets of war unfolding before you, as the air and naval battles will be happening simultaneously.
Furthermore, Call of Duty 2 has eliminated my all time shooter pet peeve, namely, the never ending army of doom. We’ve all been there, right? You’ve been shooting for a half an hour and killed at least a few hundred of those guys and yet somehow more keep coming. Well, friends, no longer do we have that problem. The amount of enemies you’re faced with is reasonable in regards to location and point of battle. The allied troops will also be of much help; they are smart and capable, not just obstructing your path before joining the glorious dead. Now it is fairly important to note that you can probably get through the game in about ten hours at regular difficulty but I highly recommend a more difficult setting which is bound to keep you playing for much longer and to improve the experience as a whole.
A change in logistics that some may be put off by is the lack of a health bar. This time around your vitality is measured by what I’ve dubbed the red-eye system and what someone with a more sophisticated gaming vocabulary would compare to the Halo style health indicator. As you get shot the screen becomes increasingly more red – get shot repeatedly in a short period of time and you will perish. If you manage to escape and hide for a short period while your health will regenerate and you’ll be good to go. This system may not do it for some and I get that, but it works quite well in this setting. The gameplay is much smoother without needing to seek out medkits. Also, you’re much less likely to be caught in a cycle of ‘load and die’, where the autosave occurs at a point of inevitable demise. In addition, ammo is plentiful and the focus is entirely on the oh-so-real action.
The multiplayer mode is, of course, all kinds of fun. As with the previous title you’ll pick from deathmatch, team deathmatch, capture the flag, search and destroy and something called “headquarters”; which as the name suggests consists of you setting up your headquarters and the opposing team doing the same (or at least attempting to). I won’t go into it because I think if you have played multiplayer shooter games before, you are very familiar with the structure, and if not, all I can tell you is that its extremely fun and fast paced.
Do note that you are far more likely to have an enjoyable experience with CoD2 if you meet the recommended system requirements, which are a bit more demanding. But to recap, if you enjoyed the original Call of Duty or are just a fan of the Historical First-Person Shooter genre, this is the game for you. The game is nothing if not polished, brilliant enemy A.I., intense campaign and an extremely fun multiplayer make this a successful follow-up to the much esteemed original title.
The minimum system requirements are as follows:
System: Pentium IV 1.4GHz or AMD Athlon 1.4 GHz or equivalent
RAM: 256 MB
Video Memory: 64 MB
Hard Drive Space: 4000 MB
Other: Internet (TCP/IP) and LAN (TCP/IP) play supported, LAN play requires network interface card and latest drivers MB