What is so special about World War II that game developers are inspired to create more games based on this war, when it's been done over and over again? Could it be the intensity of the non-stop action? Maybe it's the insanity of explosions everywhere and not knowing when, or if, you'll die. Well, Call of Duty takes both these factors and multiplies them by 10. Call of Duty focuses mainly on the idea of working as a team. Whereas in games like Medal of Honor: Allied Assault where you were by yourself a lot and pretty much took on the whole Nazi army alone, Call of Duty introduces the idea of being just an average soldier in a huge war. You're almost never alone, and in the larger battles you really do feel like just one small soldier among thousands.
In Call of Duty you get to play as the Americans, the British and (something you don't see very much in WWII games) the Russians. Playing as the Americans, you are parachuted behind enemy lines in France on the morning of D-Day. After walking a short distance, you notice that your Sergeant is dead and hanging in his parachute in a tree. You pick up his equipment and move into an open field. You need to place a small radio beacon in the field, and this is where the action all begins. Everything is very quiet, and as soon as you put the beacon in the field, all hell breaks loose. The German air raid alarm starts sounding and as you look up into the night sky, you notice a large number of your planes flying overhead with tons of fellow soldiers parachuting out to join the battle with you. The night sky is filled with explosions, and your journey to retake France has only just begun.
Next, you take part in the British campaign.You begin the British battles in a small glider with your squad during the night. After a hard landing behind enemy lines, you regroup with your squad. There are a large number of Germans guarding a bridge, called "Pegasus Bridge". Throughout the night you have to capture this bridge from the Germans in a fierce firefight. The next morning, the Germans counterattack, and suddenly you're on the defense. While defending the bridge and destroying a number of tanks, you need to wait for reinforcements to arrive. From here you continue to a mission where you need to destroy a dam, and in the last British mission you must infiltrate a German battleship in order to sabotage it.
The last and final campaign in Call of Duty, is the Russian campaign. The Russians are rarely seen in WWII games, but they played a large part in winning the war. From a scene take right out of Enemy at the Gates, you start out as a Russian Conscript crossing the Volga River to retake the Russian capital city, Stalingrad. Explosions and bullets are flying everywhere, and German Stuka bombers are flying by destroying what they can. In many epic scenes, you must make your way up the hill of Stalingrad, and retake Red Square with hundreds of your fellow comrades. Soon you advance to sniper division, and push the Germans out of Russia. The battle of Stalingrad is the most intense scene in Call of Duty. It makes the D-Day mission in Medal of Honor: Allied Assault look like a walk in the park. At the end of the Russian campaign, you conquer your last mission, Berlin. You must drive the Germans out and wave the Russian flag on top of the Reichstag.
The sound effects really bring out the true quality in Call of Duty. Every authentic gun has it's own unique sound, and every explosion can be heard in the distance. It sounds unbelievable when using a 5.1 sound system. When playing a mission like Stalingrad, you can hear every bullet whiz by, every explosion all around you, and the constant, non-stop firing of the German machine guns.
The AI is some of the best seen in a WWII game. Your soldiers will effectively take cover behind any object when being fired upon and will look around corners to fire back. If one of your team mates takes cover at a spot where you want to be, you can just press the "use" key on them, and he'll move to a new spot. They also take good cover when reloading. However, there are a few minor bugs in the AI. Sometimes they can just lose their mind and run straight into oncoming German machine gun fire.
Conclusion
Overall, Call of Duty contains some of the most intense and insane gameplay ever seen in a WWII FPS game. The only thing is, there's not enough of it. The whole game lasts around 7 hours, which is relatively short when compared to other games. But even though it is not long and you are longing for more action at the end of the game, for those 7 hours you're playing a stable, high quality game that will amaze you. And to keep you entertained a little bit further, you can always play multiplayer. The multiplayer aspect has the traditional game modes seen in almost every FPS game, but also introduces some new modes as well. I think it's about time the Medal of Honor series stepped aside and made room for the Call of Duty series. Infinity Ward has definitely brought something new to a genre that's been overdone.
In Call of Duty you get to play as the Americans, the British and (something you don't see very much in WWII games) the Russians. Playing as the Americans, you are parachuted behind enemy lines in France on the morning of D-Day. After walking a short distance, you notice that your Sergeant is dead and hanging in his parachute in a tree. You pick up his equipment and move into an open field. You need to place a small radio beacon in the field, and this is where the action all begins. Everything is very quiet, and as soon as you put the beacon in the field, all hell breaks loose. The German air raid alarm starts sounding and as you look up into the night sky, you notice a large number of your planes flying overhead with tons of fellow soldiers parachuting out to join the battle with you. The night sky is filled with explosions, and your journey to retake France has only just begun.
Next, you take part in the British campaign.You begin the British battles in a small glider with your squad during the night. After a hard landing behind enemy lines, you regroup with your squad. There are a large number of Germans guarding a bridge, called "Pegasus Bridge". Throughout the night you have to capture this bridge from the Germans in a fierce firefight. The next morning, the Germans counterattack, and suddenly you're on the defense. While defending the bridge and destroying a number of tanks, you need to wait for reinforcements to arrive. From here you continue to a mission where you need to destroy a dam, and in the last British mission you must infiltrate a German battleship in order to sabotage it.
The last and final campaign in Call of Duty, is the Russian campaign. The Russians are rarely seen in WWII games, but they played a large part in winning the war. From a scene take right out of Enemy at the Gates, you start out as a Russian Conscript crossing the Volga River to retake the Russian capital city, Stalingrad. Explosions and bullets are flying everywhere, and German Stuka bombers are flying by destroying what they can. In many epic scenes, you must make your way up the hill of Stalingrad, and retake Red Square with hundreds of your fellow comrades. Soon you advance to sniper division, and push the Germans out of Russia. The battle of Stalingrad is the most intense scene in Call of Duty. It makes the D-Day mission in Medal of Honor: Allied Assault look like a walk in the park. At the end of the Russian campaign, you conquer your last mission, Berlin. You must drive the Germans out and wave the Russian flag on top of the Reichstag.
The sound effects really bring out the true quality in Call of Duty. Every authentic gun has it's own unique sound, and every explosion can be heard in the distance. It sounds unbelievable when using a 5.1 sound system. When playing a mission like Stalingrad, you can hear every bullet whiz by, every explosion all around you, and the constant, non-stop firing of the German machine guns.
The AI is some of the best seen in a WWII game. Your soldiers will effectively take cover behind any object when being fired upon and will look around corners to fire back. If one of your team mates takes cover at a spot where you want to be, you can just press the "use" key on them, and he'll move to a new spot. They also take good cover when reloading. However, there are a few minor bugs in the AI. Sometimes they can just lose their mind and run straight into oncoming German machine gun fire.
Conclusion
Overall, Call of Duty contains some of the most intense and insane gameplay ever seen in a WWII FPS game. The only thing is, there's not enough of it. The whole game lasts around 7 hours, which is relatively short when compared to other games. But even though it is not long and you are longing for more action at the end of the game, for those 7 hours you're playing a stable, high quality game that will amaze you. And to keep you entertained a little bit further, you can always play multiplayer. The multiplayer aspect has the traditional game modes seen in almost every FPS game, but also introduces some new modes as well. I think it's about time the Medal of Honor series stepped aside and made room for the Call of Duty series. Infinity Ward has definitely brought something new to a genre that's been overdone.
