Call Of Duty 2 review?

[Logan]

Is it too late for a game review for this game? NEVAH, I say!

I just finished this game and was impressed. It's been awhile since I found a game that didn't bore me in the first hour or so, and I decided to do a lighthearted review. Just a quick rundown on everything good and willy-nilly about the game.

Now…I’ve never actually done a game review before, so forgive me if I don’t do it a certain way or if it’s too short or too long. Also, I won’t be rating it with a number. Siskel and Ebert gave a thumbs up or a thumbs down, and video games are nothing but interactive movies in my opinion. You can’t put numbers on these things and to give it a number would be way too detailed a view of my personal “opinion”.

Let me start off by saying that I’m particularly biased in regards to WWII games. My grandfather (who helped raise me) was a World War II veteran. He was a medic and was present for the Normandy Invasion, and EVERY other major American WWII European campaign except one. He missed one campaign while recovering from a knee injury received in France when a fellow soldier landed on his leg as they were jumping out of an ambulance when they saw a German tank roll around the corner ahead. I saw pictures of the ambulance afterwards…man those tanks could mess some stuff up.

However, I will admit that I wanted the game to draw me in and I was not disappointed. It wasn’t long before I was gritting my teeth and diving for cover or emptying my clip on German soldiers, only to resort to bashing them with the butt of my rifle when I pulled the trigger and heard a “click”. There were moments when I could have sworn I had just a tiny little taste of what my grandfather may have experienced, and there hasn’t been a game that did that since Medal of Honor: Allied Assault. By the way, I will be mentioning MOH:AA a LOT in this review…simply because I compare all WWII FPS to it.

The controls were straightforward and honest. They didn’t go crazy with the commands, causing you to do the Curly shuffle when all you wanted to do was duck, change weapons, and reload. I found the feature allowing me to jump over fences and windowsills rather useful at certain moments, yet bothersome at others (namely when in a firefight…which was the majority of the time...) but it wasn’t enough of a gripe to turn me particularly against the game. I swear that even wearing a pack with WWII era equipment on and a Thompson strapped to my back that I could hop a fence or out of a window faster than that. I also noticed that Germans seem to be invincible when jumping over obstacles. It’s a good thing the Europeans were big on hedgerows rather than fences, because if there’d have been more things for the Nazis to climb, they’d have been invincible.

The sound effects were awesome. The explosions seemed to have a good amount of bass, and the weapons all had a unique sound. I have heard a Thompson fired before, and they make a very unique “splut” sound as they fire and the shell is ejected, and this game makes an accurate representation. The music is strong when it’s present in COD2. I personally feel there should be MORE of it. Nothing sets the mood like a properly placed score. As with the console version of Medal of Honor, I was playing through a particularly hairy part in a French city, with some British troops all around me. There were bullets flying through the air and the sounds of men dying and a woman’s voice with some orchestral music was setting the mood for the most tragic feeling I could ever imagine. It was horrible, yet so very perfect. The same goes with when your character was walking around inside of a German train station or naval yard. A very “German” sounding march theme would play, making you almost feel as if you were Indiana Jones come to snatch the Ark of the Covenant or the Holy Grail from the evil clutches of the ruthless, 5 o’ clock shadow-touting Nazis. Anyway, more music while fighting just to set the mood is needed. Like I said before, it’s an interactive movie! Nothing overbearing, but just something in the background would have done wonders.

Now for the actual GAME. There are occasional moments in gaming that you think back and smile while remembering. To name a few, When I found my first sword upgrade in Legend of Zelda, when I had maxed every weapon and magic power in Secret of Mana, when I beat Emerald Weapon in Final Fantasy VII, or playing levels like the one in Medal of Honor I mentioned before, seeing my first newly designed Imp in Doom 3, and playing catch with DOG in Half Life 2. Call of Duty 2 actually HAS one of those moments (for me at least). In the level fighting for the train station, making my way through the pipeline, firing down on Nazis and having bullets cut through the pipes at me, wondering when the next shot was going to get me, and having the most EVIL grin while firing down upon those jerks who were trying to kill my Soviet comrades. As for historical accuracy, I can only hope they did our brethren from across the sea justice. I will actually admit to being quite partial to the British campaign and fighting alongside prrrrivaeate MacGregor. Althoo, I weel also admeut to getting rathaer annoyed with hearin aboot how much of a buggar those MP fourtee tuoos are! There were a couple of times I really wanted to change over to the Nazis to kill Private MacGregor.

I thought that COD2 was VERY well done…although (don’t shoot me for this) I would have really liked to have seen the war from the perspective of the French. Now, before we start making jokes that a game of dropping your gun and raising your hands in the air or seeing how fast you can run away wouldn't be any fun, think about the French resistance and how much actual espionage they had to practice. SERIOUS fun if you ask me. A bit of Cloak and Dagger never hurt a game when done correctly.

To close, I will apologize again for this stream of consciousness review, but I really wanted to try my hand at it and maybe take a lighter hearted approach to it than these guys I see giving games a 7.2 or a 9.3. The number system was a stretch to begin with, but bringing decimals into it? Be more creative, people! Basically, I would not hesitate to recommend Call Of Duty 2 for a buy it and play it game. Good controls and gameplay and gives a decent respect to the greatest generation of all time. Slightly weak in the areas of music and character interaction, but these weaknesses are more than made up for in areas such as mood, storyline, and how well you can immerse yourself. I can not make a comment as to the A.I. because I was so absorbed into the game. Very well done and a thumbs up from me.

I can only hope that in the early 1940s there wasn’t really some poor red-headed guy who ran around Africa sitting underneath windows occupied by German machine guns yelling over and over about how much of a bugger they are. I imagine he would have gotten shot rather early in the war.

[Pitch]

Thanks Logan.

I had mixed feelings about CoD2.

The AI just wasn't convincing enough for me. Having just played Brothers in Arms, I found the AI to be very scripted. And the whole jumping over the fence with my Nazi invincibility shield active annoyed the HELL outter me. The tank battle was way undercooked too, didn't really see the point in adding it in such an insignificent 10 mins of the game.

I did enjoy the American level where you need to take and hold the village however.

As I said before, the AI in Brothers in Arms was many times better and the game just felt better over all, BIA was less of a shooter and more of a War.

CoD2 is a worthy successor to CoD, but it really needed something new, to me, it seemed to expand on the orignal, then try to improve it, which is al very well, since CoD was a good game, but I really would have liked to see a breath of fresh air added.

I find my self comaparing it alot to BIA, but I would have to say, I enjoyed BIA quite a bit more than CoD2.

Just my $0.02

[aghastpumpkin]

I like the AI, I think it's easily intelligent enough. The battles are a lot of fun (I'm still in the Russian Campaign) and it puts a smile on my face. If it can do that, it's good enough for me.
The graphics are also quite good.