Call of Duty 2 (Xbox 360 Update)

We return to the frontlines with Infinity Ward's epic WW2 first-person shooter.

This system works remarkable well. You will always progress in the game, but without the frustration of saving and loading all the time. The checkpoints are well spaced out and continuing from one of these happens quickly with very little break in play. There are occasions where you hit a point in the game where it's tough to get to the next checkpoint, but these are rare and don't seem particularly unfair, instead they encourage you to try different approaches problems.

Most of the battles, no matter what the objective given by the brass, involve taking or defending positions from the enemy. This usually involves a squad-based assault with the help of your AI buddies. There will be tens of these guys on the mission with you and on most they'll be replenished seamlessly from behind your lines as you play. You'll also be met with waves of enemy troops and you'll have to fight for every building, every room.

The battles are largely linear, with you often being filtered along narrow routes in otherwise large levels. At other times you'll find yourself in more open areas with a choice on how to proceed. Many events are scripted, but they work so well, and add so much atmosphere to the game that this hardly seems important. To aid you in your objectives there's a new gameplay McGuffin in the form of smoke grenades. These become very useful when faced with machine gunners, as a well placed smoke grenade can allow you and your men to advance without being seen.

So far, so funky, but the game isn't perfect. The new health/checkpoint system means that gamers are going to die as much, or feel as set back in their progress. With that in mind, Infinity Ward has ramped up the chaos of the missions to a high level, at times playing the game feels more like the original Doom, such is the level of chaos and number of enemies on screen. And although it gets the adrenaline pumping in a way few games can hope to match, some of the realistic gunplay of the original seems to have been lost.

You'll see technically better games on the market for PC at the moment such as F.E.A.R. but what Call of Duty 2 lacks in raw engine performance it more than makes up for in style and art direction. The levels look superbly detailed, especially if you can enable the high-res bump-mapped textures. The engine is very scaleable and owners of machines that aren't on the cutting edge will still find they can play and enjoy the game. The explosions and smoke add so much to the proceedings as doe the wonderful raw sound effects and the stirring orchestral score.

Call of Duty 2 doesn't quite match the uniqueness of the original. But is a great fun first-person shooter all the same. There are few games around as exciting as this, and although things do become a little too frenetic at times, it's a game worth some of your time, especially if you enjoy some online mulitplayer action. I can heartily recommend Call of Duty 2, it's not as strong contender for game of the year like the first game, but it's damn good fun none the less.

Update: Having now played the Xbox 360 version quite a bit I can add my thoughts on that version now too. The game is pretty much the same as the one you see described above so there's little point writing a new review. Graphically the game is the same, the major difference being that the game runs at a solid smooth 60 fps at all times. It's a wonder to behold on a widescreen TV with Dolby Digitial 5.1 support. The control pad works surprisingly well on the game and I'd go as far as to say that the Xbox 360 version is the better one.

However there's a slight problem with the multiplayer aspects of the game. It uses a matchmaking system on Xbox Live. There's no choice to set up your own room and invite some friends in. This makes the multiplayer parts of the game less appealing. That aside, if you have both a PC and an Xbox 360 and are wondering which version to get, unless you've a monster rig with a new graphics card, I'd go for the Xbox 360 version.