Call of Duty 2

Written by Troy Matsumiya  on September 19, 2005

First Impressions: Duty is calling, and she's looking hot.

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I'm going to need a cold shower after writing this preview because I am so tingly with excitement Ц after all, the long anticipated sequel to Call of Duty is almost here. Woo!

Original developer Infinity Ward is back to give us another round of intense WWII FPS goodness for the PC and Xbox 360 (as a side note, Call of Duty 2 should not be confused with the sub-titled Call of Duty 2: Big Red One which is a completely different game being developed by Treyarch and Gray Matter for current generation consoles only). The developers are promising that the sequel will improve upon the original in every aspect Ц a boast which is not to be taken lightly, considering many gamers rank CoD as one of the best FPS games ever.

The first and most obvious area of improvement is with the game's looks. Using a brand new proprietary engine developed in-house, CoD 2 is simply gorgeous. From the highly detailed normal mapped characters to the intricately recreated weapons bearing realistic wood grain, metal shine, rust stains and even serial numbers, this is a game that will make PC owners want to upgrade their components and make Xbox 360 owners the envy of their friends. Of special note are the amazingly realistic particle, smoke and explosion effects that are like something out of a Hollywood special effects studio. Combine that with support for a ridiculous number of onscreen NPCs blasting each other away and you will have to fight the temptation to just sit back and watch things unfold around you Ц otherwise you'll run the risk of getting a ventilated head courtesy of some Nazi meanie.

Although you will need the latest components to appreciate the game's true beauty, PC owners shouldn't despair that they will be forced to shell out more money in order to play this game. The developers are fully aware that only a fraction of PC gamers can afford the latest and greatest, so they are making sure the game will run smoothly on lower end PCs. Naturally, it won't look as good, but it is doubtful that gamers will care once they get into the action.

And boy, will we get action. Lots and lots of it. The CoD franchise is synonymous with incredibly intense, cinematic action designed to make you feel as if you are actually in the thick of battle. Needless to say, this style of gameplay returns with a vengeance. A good example of this is the incredible Point du Hoc level, which is the Saving Private Ryan/Medal of Honor: Allied Assault Normandy mission that has essentially become de rigueur in all WWII games. You will be able to play through the Point du Hoc assault, a real D-Day mission where the Allies had to storm the beach to take out six massive guns that were not only capable of firing 155mm shells 10 miles away, but more importantly covered both Utah and Omaha beach. And as if storming the beach wasn't difficult enough, making it even worse was the fact that the troops had to scale a 100-foot cliff while the Nazis rained machingun fire, grenades and mortars down on them.

You will start the level in a rocky landing boat while your fellow soldiers talk nervously or get seasick. Once the boats hit shore, all hell breaks loose. The landing boats fire grappling hooks out of cannons so that the troops can climb up the cliff, but many don't even make it to the shore. As soon as you step on the beach an enemy mortar hits near you. You then experience a Saving Private Ryan moment where time slows down and all sound is muffled as you watch your squadmates get cut down by brutal machinegun fire. A fellow soldier drags you to safety and you eventually regain your senses and make your way to the cliff. You start climbing and see a squadmate above you get shot and fall, knocking another soldier off the rope. They barely miss you. You resume your climb and finally reach the top but once there, you discover to your horror that the guns on the cliff are actually decoys; the real guns were moved and you have to find them Ц quickly. Not surprisingly, this mission is extremely intense with an frantic amount of gunfire, yelling, screaming and a thousand things going on at once Ц in other words, a typical moment in the CoD world. Wow.

Unlike the original, the gameplay will be much more open and less linear with multiple paths and objectives. This is welcome news, especially considering the levels will be about 50% - 200% bigger than the original. And it's not just the levels that will be more open and flexible; how you progress through the game will be up to you as well. CoD 2 will use a new УvignetteФ system that lets you choose which path to take through the game, allowing you to pick from different missions or vignettes rather than follow a preset level sequence common in most games. You will be able to use the vignette system after you complete 1941, which unlocks 1942 and let's you choose from various Russian, British or American campaign missions from that era; you can play the entire campaigns from beginning to end, or jump around between them for a little variety.

The vignette system also reveals that CoD 2 will continue the tradition of following separate characters in each of the main Allied armies, which will include Pvt. Vassili Ivanovich Koslov of the Russian Army; British Sgt. Davis of General Montgomery's 8th Army; Tank Commander Welsh of the British 7th Armored Division, also known as the legendary Desert Rats; and Corp. Bill Taylor of the famed American 2nd Ranger Battalion. (This is in contrast to CoD: Big Red One, which will follow one character from the renowned Fighting First Infantry Division throughout the entire game.)

To reinforce the franchise's tag line, Уno one fights alone,Ф your squadmates' AI has been improved significantly. They will now understand and execute fire-and-maneuver, suppression and flanking tactics, will actively seek cover, and will be fully aware of what's happening around them. In fact, they will call out warnings about a sniper in a second floor window, or three enemies behind a car Ц and yes, they will actually be that specific. Infinity Ward recorded over 20,000 lines of battlefield dialogue to give us these eerily realistic warnings. Cool!

But unfortunately for the Allies, the AI improvements go both ways; the enemy AI will be just as smart and perform the same tactics on you, so if you are getting pummeled by machinegun fire from one direction, you should expect some Nazis are attempting to flank you from another.

Vehicle combat returns with a tighter and realistic integration with infantry. You will be able to ride on tanks as well as control them, but being inside will be much preferred as the tank combat missions are promising to be even more intense than ever. And although fans have been asking for air combat, Infinity Ward wanted to keep things focused on the ground campaign, so there will be no aircraft that you can control. But don't fret; the battles you will fight in Stalingrad during the winter of 1941 when the Nazis came within 20 miles of Moscow, and in North Africa where Montgomery's 8th Army duked it out with Rommel's Afrika Korps in Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, and at the famous battle at El Alamein will make you forget about some silly airplanes.

As expected, each level will be recreated to look exactly like the actual battlefields. The franchise's renowned attention to detail is so passionate that the developers tossed entire levels in France because they discovered the actual locations were different than what they designed. Now that's dedication to your craft.

New weapons include the G43 and SVT40, and the realistic aim down your sights feature returns. A new feature when you use a sniper rifle is the ability to hold your breath to steady your aim; when you do so, you enter into a state of concentration where the sounds of battle will fade and you can hear your own heartbeat. It's small touches like this that really help pull you into the cinematic experience.

Speaking of which, the tradition of breath-taking cinematic scores will continue with the news that Graeme Revell, who scored The Chronicles of Riddick, Pitch Black, Collateral Damage, Sin City, Titan A.E., both Crow movies and dozens more will be scoring CoD 2. Nice.

Not much has been said about multiplayer since Infinity Ward is keeping things close to the chest at this point, but rest assured that we will be able to frag our buddies online. Expect the old standards deathmatch, team deathmatch and capture the flag, with possibly a few new gametypes as well.