First Encounter

In much the same way allied troops stormed the beach at Normandy on D-Day in 1944, the original Call of Duty for Xbox® thundered onto the console scene in 2003. The World War II first-person shooter par excellence went on to win more than 80 Game of the Year awards that year. Naturally, anticipation is high for the soon-to-be-released Call of Duty 2 —an Xbox 360™-exclusive.

I managed to score some hands-on time with the game, a completely different iteration than its Xbox cousin Call of Duty® 2: Big Red One (although that title is a guaranteed smash in its own right.) After battling through North Africa’s blood-soaked sands and Stalingrad’s snowy streets, I can happily report the following: The experience is so immersive that you don’t play this game as much as actively enlist.

Once more unto the breach.

Thank developer Infinity Ward for its determination to differentiate the title from others in the genre, e.g. Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood and Medal of Honor Rising Sun. For starters, there’s no health bar to mar the action on-screen: get hit, and the display turns red around the edges while your character begins breathing harder. From this graphical feedback, it quickly becomes obvious when a few more shots (or one good bullet to the head) will put you down for the count. Recovery doesn’t require collecting medkits or health packs; to regain energy, you must instead find a few seconds of peace during battle. Temporarily ferret yourself away from point-blank encounters with screaming Nazi foot soldiers and machine gun nests, and health slowly regenerates.

Missions are also bigger and more involved—some three times larger than those encountered in the program’s predecessor. An open-ended mission structure, split into scenarios that alternately see you taking command of American, British, and Russian troops, serves the single-player campaign well. Additionally, every stage includes multiple objectives—such as seizing strategic positions, repairing cut phone lines, and sneaking past enemies to plant explosives—that can be tackled in loose order. From an overarching perspective, you’ve got the freedom of choosing which assignment to take on next as well. Every year you progress through the storyline, the more missions that open up based upon your particular choices. Good luck getting the job done, though; enemies are smarter than ever.

Born in the USA.

Yep, you heard right—the bad guys will set up ambushes, attempt flanking maneuvers, and even recruit help from reinforcements or other patrols they encounter while searching for your sorry behind. Thank the sheer amount of power built into the Xbox 360 … the machine’s multiple processors allow for enhanced artificial intelligence across the board, even amongst your own squad. Listen carefully: The chaos of battle doesn’t just come across via surround sound shelling or the noise of bullets whizzing past your ear. It also plays out in the form of teammates' screams, as allies yell out context-sensitive chatter. With over 20,000 lines of dialogue available to them, buddies now take the initiative, letting you know when enemies are near, specifying sniper’s positions, or just providing a heads-up when they’re reloading. More than anything else, the shriek-strewn din helps immerse you in the combat experience.

Tanks for the memories.

Far be it for me to play down the breathtaking visuals, which actually affect the course of play as you pursue scenarios spread across France, Egypt, Tunisia, and other exotic locales. Swirling snow flurries and dust storms whip through war-torn indoor and outdoor environments, obscuring one’s view. Smoke grenades produce billowing clouds of steam that provide impromptu cover as your squad sprints past enemy blockades, all the while listening to slugs sing out and adversaries howl with frustration. Sections of wall collapse beneath artillery fire, opening to give you a glimpse of German officers whose heads can be blown off simply by looking down your rifle’s sights and squeezing the trigger. Believe you me … you’ve never encountered an exercise in military madness this intense. All I can say is beware of flashbacks.

Level design already appears outstanding too, with the ability to fight on foot, or from within vehicles. Hurl hand grenades through windows, swing around through back doors and mop up whatever opposition is left. Tiptoe up stairways in search of secret documents, empty clip after clip into seething enemy battalions, or just take control of an unstoppable tank. Featured sequences alternately see you blindly rushing through alleyways and face-first into equally surprised rivals, traipsing through trenches, and sneaking around enemy encampments during raging thunderstorms. You never know what’s going to happen next—or when a friend’s covering fire will be the only thing that stands between you emerging whole or becoming Swiss cheese.

It’s every man for himself in multiplayer.

Multiplayer shouldn’t disappoint either—after all, the game supports up to four would-be soldiers in split-screen mode, or 16 couch commandos via Xbox Live®. Deathmatch and team deathmatch options are a given, letting you practice your aim on actual humans, and get a feel for making tactical decisions on the fly. Further additions to the roster include capture the flag, search and destroy, and other options, ensuring that a sizable selection of head-to-head and cooperative choices are up for grabs. The upshot being, naturally, that replay value is at a serious premium.

Uh… Shouldn’t you be riding off into the sunset?

It’s okay to be excited for the game’s impending November launch—I know I am. Millions of Xbox 360 owners will surely be floored when Call of Duty 2 ships. If you’re wise (or even remotely interested in history, military affairs, or just an ass-kicking, action-packed good time) you’d do well to count yourself among them.

Article by Steve Richter