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Best 360 Launch title... January 20, 2006In a way it is very similar to the original game. In other ways it is the most impressive game on the 360. The soldiers all feel and move like real people, and the AI is faultless. Shoot at someone, and miss, and they will hide, and will check if you are still aiming at you before coming into the open again.
Graphics wise, everything looks crystal clear. The blades of grass sway, the trees shed splinters when you shoot them and walls turn to rubble under fire. It is a total immersion in WWII.
Like the previous game the missions are set up into three campaings, each unique. The first is the Russian campaign - an excellent introduction to the game that gently eases you in - with it's claustrophobic settings, and snow white towns. Here there is a lot of sniping sections, and my only bugbear of the game is that when in sniping mode, the gun sways quite dramatically, and it's very hard to pinpoint your target.
The British campaing is next, and involves tanks. However, while tanks were the downside of the original, here they are easier to control. Very smooth driving, with ultra manic battlefields, there is an awful lot to do. I love having to empty a house of all targets before moving on, as you creep inside you won't know where your enemy is and gives the game a very personal feel.
Lastly we have the American campaign, set in France, and involves the D-Day landings. Although the landings have been done numerous times, it's nothing new, but the American section also includes the attacks on hill 400 - the most epic part of teh game. From the very start of that level, to the penultimate end, you will be under heavy fire, barricades, enemy attacks, snipering, tanks, trenches - it feels like the creators decided to really let rip with this finale, and bang everything together to make a truly real experience.
Even the on rails, vehicle sections are not limited, requiring you to jump on and off vehicles to clear the way ahead, or blow up a blockade. Getting behind a machine gun or cannon is also effective as you can feel the power of it as its rips the oncoming enemy to shreds. Some blockade sections are impressive, where you have to defend a standpoint until back up arrives. Although this is used probably one time too many, watching the clock tick down, and the tension rise up as you swathe your way through waves of enemy soldiers is particularly exciting.
With it's smooth physics, interesting gameplay, and can't put it down nature, Call of Duty 2 was a pleasure to play. I never felt so immersed into the second world war. Genuine emotional characters and storylines feed a game that is fresh and exciting. At times relentless (the blurring effects and slow down when you get struck by a near miss from a grenade or mortar are superb), and at times heart wrenchingly patriotic, it's incredible to believe that this is based on real events.
Move out soldier...
What a War November 22, 2005This is definatly my No.1 choice when it is released in December.
NEARLY BUT NOT QUITE December 5, 2005The frame rate runs at a smooth 60fps and the battlefield effects are without doubt the best I have seen for a game of this type.
Please make sure you have Dolby 5.1 to sample the magnificent sound effects,this is proibably the best aspect of the game effects.
I set my the 360 to output 1080i and the granular minute detail is fantastic with spectacular lighting and shadows graphically you will not be dissapointed.
I think what we are all looking for in next gen gaming is somethig different, yes the smoke and battle chatter system is great, something that could only be acheived on a console of this power.
Where the game runs into problems is the way it is set out as non thinking mans war game.
Way points are set out on your compass and you just follow the gold stars to acheive your missions (the game feels a little on rails at times).
What about destructable environments?? I would have expected this as a norm for a new machine that will take us into 2010 and beyond, however throw a grenade at a crate- and yes you guessed it it does'nt even move, the same goes for barrels etc which are in massive supply for you to hide behind.
This is my biggest hang up and is why it is 1 star short of the full 5.
A nice touch is the way the bullets make individual marks on the walls but when you are trying to recreate the feeling of an authentic battle experience it kinda falls away when you cannot blow up or even destroy anything behind flimsy wooden crates.
The load times are brilliantly short and I would advise starting the game on veteran difficulty to get the best experience out of it.
In short this is a great "game" of war with some tense moments.
The graphics are superb & rich, the sound is brilliant and the particle effects of the smoke are breathtaking.
The immersive experience is lost however when you notice the lack of destructable environments.
Buy it for it is the best launch title.
A little disappointing December 4, 2005Other graphical annoyances are the way dead enemies just pop out of existance after a while - even when you are looking directly at them. This just ruins your sense of immersion. At least the programmers should have waited until you are looking in a different direction or have walked further along the road before cleaning up.
The game is the standard Medal of Honor / Call of Duty fare. Very linear with no particular new innovations or insights into the formula. For example there is no addition of a split-screen co-op mode, despite this game relying heavily on you being part of a team of people. Not much additional balancing to levels would have to have been required for this feature to be added.
The only significant change is a major retrograde step in my opinion. There is now no health meter and no health pickups. All you have to do when you are hurt is move away from the action and miraculously you recover (a la Halo). This substantially changes the method of play. In the old MoH/CoD games, it was important to move forward carefully killing guys at range where possible in order to preserve your health. Now the approved tactic is to charge in, do some damage and then run back around a corner to 'recharge', repeat ad infinitem, ad nauseum. Now which method sounds more realistic?
For all that though, CoD2 is quite a fun game and does have some impressive features - the enemy AI is quite cool and the sound design is excellent, from the weapon sounds to the sound of brushing past a bush, I've never had a game sound so good. Your squadmates can also give you some genuinely usefull hints 'He's on the second floor of the grey building', 'Enemy troops behind the trolly', etc. However their stock phrases are appalling limited - if I hear 'I got one, Vasili!' once more, I think my Wireless controller will be thrown at the speakers!. These stock phrases are also over-used meaning that important messages can get lost in the chatter. I suppose that this simulates the confusion of a battle, but it is rather annoying.
I just can't help thinking I am stuck in a timewarp, playing the same MoH game over and over since 2002 with slightly better graphics and sound effects each time.
Call of Duty 2 - The Review December 26, 2005The game as you know is set during World War 2, spanning the period between 1941-1945. During that time you will take on the role of three men who fight against the Nazi war machine for their respective nations: Russia, Great Britain and the United States. Each set of missions is deeply varied and engaging, ranging from all out assaults on German positions and defending key locations to the use of armoured vehicles such as tanks and troop carriers. The Russian campaign concerns itself with the defending of the motherland from Hitler's invasion in 1941, the British campaign deals with the Desert Foxes and the allied battles in Africa and finally the United States campaign deals with the D-Day landings and the push into Normandy by Allied forces. I don't wish to give too much away in terms of story but it is well presented in diary format from the solidiers and well put together narration and slide presentations before each mission.
The graphics are of course what you come to expect from the next generation of gaming, superb all round. The Russian campaigns in particular demonstrating the power of the X-Box 360, facial details are excellent, snow particles kick up around you as shell and mortar fire rains down and the soliders breathing in the cold Russian winter air creates a mist giving away enemy locations (as well as your own) The surroundings are also quite beautiful, in particular the sheer colossal size of the D-Day landings, it's quite breathtaking sometimes when you see all the action unfolding on screen, ships out to sea bombarding German gun placements, warplanes screeming overhead whilst on the ground troops pour out of landing craft, it makes you really feel like your part of the whole experience. Okay so it's not as historically accurate as Band of Brothers for example but it is far more action intense.
Despite the sheer size of the landscapes you are fighting in each mission does pan out in a slightly linear fashion which is a tad disappointing. To be fair the developers have included multiple routes in some missions, (the British ones especially) but I can't quite help feeling sometimes that it's like walking down a pre-laid tunnel. That is my first and probably only significant gripe with the game but I feel it should be mentioned as this review should be fair and impartial.
The sound quality is unbelievable, even if you don't have Dolby Surround Sound it is a joy to listen too. I am lucky enough to have a Surround Sound System in my room and it really does crank the experience up another notch. Screams, cries, whistles, gun shots, ricochets, they come from every direction and from every angle. When the action really heats up, the noise is deafening and sometimes the use of sight and sheer nerve is the only thing keeping you alive. The speech is well done, the Russian campaings are of course in English but most of the characters sound like they're extra's in a James Bond movie, once again British are portrayed as ponce's with no accental variation whatsoever but who cares really? Your there to shoot Nazi's, not listen to endless chatter.
For the most part you travel in a squad or company, your company are reasonably intelligent, shouting for assistance and returning the favour when things get a little hairy your end. They're not too bright though, in one instance my company threw down a smoke grenade to cover they're tracks. Nice tactic you'd think, well not if they sit there and wait for the smoke to clear and then move along (Hence mass death) luckily your platoon does get replenished over the course of the game. Particularly when you pass through each checkpoint, so again, only a minor annoyance.
There are four difficulty settings: Easy, Regular, Harderened and Veteran so there is enough longevity there for your cash.
Speaking of longevity this brings me onto the mulitplayer, anyone with X-Box Live will love Call of Duty 2 online, it's excellent, no lag time and at least 16 players in one game. Games range from the standard deathmatch and team deathmatch to the rather more cooler games such as defending key locations, all in all an excellent experience that enhances the game further.
Closing comment - A must buy game that is definately the pick of the X-Box 360 launch line up. It's intense, atmospheric and wonderfully detailed. As close to war as I'd like to get.
Crossy
See you online soldiers!
Graphics 5/5
Single Player 4/5
Sound 5/5
Multiplayer 5/5
Overall 5/5
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