Let me talk about the graphics first. Overall this is a very tight looking package. Textures, normal mapping, the works. It ranks up there with the F.E.A.R.'s and Half Life 2's of the world. The only problem is that the game slows down (on pc, no slowdown on Xbox 360 version) when alot of smoke is on screen. But when your in the smoke, you dont notice much because you cant see that well. A great looking game all around.
The sound in the game is good as well. There are a couple of problems, but for now Ill stick to the good. The voiceovers are top notch. They are done by many actors from the Band of Brothers series. Its funny, you can notice that its Malarky, Garneir, Pencala, and others voices in the game. Adds a good feel to the sound. The battle sounds are great also. Guns sound great for the most part, and explosions and what not all sound great. Music is great as well. There are a couple of problems with the sound though. One, the battle chatter system always sounds like your fellow soldiers are no more then 2 feet away, when, like on the Pointe du Hoc level, your 100 feet ubove them. This takes away from the realisim of the game for me. Also, the Thompson and M1Garand sounds arent that good. Thompson sounds week, unlike the powerful .45 cal ACP round it fires. The M1 sounds to crackly also, where the actual gun sounds more popish, in terms of gun sounds.
One good thing about the game is that all the levels are intense, from start to finish. It never lets up. The only thing is the health system. It is very reminesent of the Halo 2 health system, but without the Sci-Fi setting. The realisim was undercut here as well. I was kind of dissapointed they went with more of an arcade like feel with the health. I think they should have made a medic that you could get health from as well as the health packs. This would have also kept the pace of the game up, without the backtracking for health like in the first.
If you arent sick of FPS, or WWII games, go pick this one up. If you like arcade feeling WWII games, this is the game for you. If you want realisim, this probably isnt the best choice for you. Get the first Brothers in Arms if you want realisim. If you like intense, frantic, out of controll squad based combat, pick this one up as soon as you can. The Collectors Edition, in my opinion, is worth a little extra chedder.
Presintation. 8.5The game is presented well, some slowdown hurts though.
Graphics. 9.5One of the better looking games out there right now, Especially if you have a good computer.
Sound. 9.0Sounds great, some design problems and lackluster gun sounds for Thompson and M1, but otherwise great.
Gameplay. 9.5Incredibly intense and lots of fun. Very arcadeic, and not realistic, buts lots of fun.
Lasting Appeal. 9.5Single player has lots of replay, Multiplayer is a blast also.
Overall. 9.2
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First off, this review is based only on the Single Player version of Call of Duty 2. I only play Single Player. I don't play Multiplayer. I have played all the Single Player Missions in Call of Duty 2 all the way through. So what do I think after playing Calling of Duty 2? Only this is by far the best "First Person PC Shooter" game out there.Before I played the full version of Call of Duty 2, I played the Single Player Call of Duty 2 Demo (You played one of the British soldiers against the Germans during the North African campaign in November 1942). I was disappointed in the demo. You can't jump over walls or enter most buildings in the demo. You can't fire the German 88mm guns (4 German artillery guns) in the demo. The Call of Duty 2 demo is linear. I thought the full version of Call of Duty 2 would be the same. Boy, was I wrong. Do not judge the full version of Call of Duty 2 by what is on the demo or how it is played. First of all, most of the Single Player missions in the full version of Call of Duty 2 are non-linear. Second, you can jump over walls and enter most buildings in the full version. Third, you can take over and fire the German 88mm guns in the full version. You can take different approaches to accomplish different objectives in different missions throughout the full version game. This makes the game very replayable so you can play different missions over and over again and try different approaches to win missions.
The Single Player Missions are divided up so that you play the Russian campaign first (1941-1943), the British campaign next (1942-1944), and the American campaign last (1944-1945). All the Single Player missions take place in either Europe or North Africa during World War II.
I am really impressed with this game. I just love the new damage/health system. No more looking for medical kits throughout the game. I always thought that in "First Person Shooters" games it was really stupid to waste time looking for a medical kit to try to stay alive. In real war, you don't find medical kits laying all over the ground.
The graphics are really good and the amount of detail in the missions are unbelievable. For example, the amount of detail put on the German tanks and the German halftracks are the best I have ever seen in a PC World War II game. The uniforms and weapons for both the Allied and German troops are very detailed. I have never seen more realistic fires burning from vehicles and buildings than in this game. This game has got the most realistic smoke I have ever seen.
Okay, you want realism. Check out all the dead animals (Especially all the dead cows and horses laying around on the ground with flies buzzing around the corpses) and all the dead German and Allied soldiers laying all over the ground.
The sounds in the game are great. The weapons sound real good and so does the voice acting. You can hear the sound of distant gunfire constantly throughout the whole game.
The AI is really good in this game. The German soldiers hide, attack, and retreat when they need to and so do the Allied soldiers. I remember when I threw a grenade at some German soldiers and one of the German soldiers actually picked up the grenade and tossed it back at me. I couldn't believe it.
I read a lot of books about all the actual missions that took place during World War II and guess what? The Single Player Missions in the game are the same as the missions that actually took place during World War II. The game developer (Infinity Ward) did a very good job recreating the actual missions from World War II. After playing Call of Duty 2, I would have to say this game deserves the "PC Game of the Year" award. This game shows what real war is about. World War II Veterans would be impressed with this game.
I can't wait until the Call of Duty 2 Expansion Pack or Call of Duty 3 comes out. I can honestly understand now why Call of Duty 2 is one of the main titles to come out for the Xbox 360. Call of Duty 2 is a totally awesome game which I would highly recommend to everyone to go out and buy. You won't regret it.
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"Call of Duty" lovers will be eagerly awaiting the arrival of another "United Offensive" Expansion pack after finishing this stunning WWII fps. In 2004 the next best single player shooter to "Half-Life 2" was "Call of Duty 1". Needless to say COD2 brings us yet another damn fine sequel effort to rival anything else on the shelf. COD has firmly taken over where "Medal of Honour: Allied Assault" first got our attention in trying to recreate the "Saving Private Ryan" experience for us all. The COD series is built on the same concept as MOH except there is more action, more high-octane moments and a very different type of enemy AI. COD2 has upgraded the enemy and platoon squad AI from COD1 so that your comrades can identify the enemy and instead of scripting each action sequence as in COD1, COD2 depends on AI so that a rerun of any level will play differently although the situations remain the same. COD2 also has a lot more going on in terms of what you can pilot and drive although not freely but as part of the storyline. COD2 retains all the cinematic intensity that its predecessor successfully claimed and even expands on each of the earlier episodes over the course of a four year WWII period to give us Moscow 1941 Red Army Training, Demolition, Stalingrad 1942 Repairing the Wire, The Pipeline, Stalingrad 1943 Downtown Assault, City Hall, Comrade Sniper, El Alamein 1942 The Diversionary Raid, Hold the Line, Operation Supercharge, El Daba 1942 The End of the Beginning, Libya 1943 Crusader Charge, 88 Ridge, Tunisia 1943 Outnumbered and Outgunned, Retaking Lost Ground, Assault on Matmata, D-Day 1944 The Battle of Pointe du Hoc, Retreat? We're Advancing in Another Direction, The Silo, Caen 1944 Prisoners of War, The Crossroads, The Tiger, The Brigade Box, Hill 400 1944 Approaching Hill 400, Rangers Lead the Way, The Battle for Hill 400 and Germany 1945 Crossing the Rhine, where you get to play as either a Soviet or a Brit or as a member of the US forces. Missions range from basic training, defending against attacks, counterattacks, planting explosives, repairing cut field wires, contacting HQ via the field phone, disabling Panzer II tanks, crawling through pipelines, taking out enemy snipers, destroying fuel barrel supplies with some of the best explosion effects seen in any game to date, destroying ammo depot supplies, gathering enemy documents, defending lower lines by using close-range weapons and artillery support, clearing out bunkers, radioing in for artillery bombardments, taking a Mosque, driving tanks, holding out for 5 minutes till support arrives, clearing the buildings in the town, sniping the artillery crews from a Silo tower, finding wounded Americans, transporting the wounded, taking a farmhouse and barn, taking out mortar crews and if that is not enough... securing a hill from a German advance. The smoke effects are absolutely photorealistic and have set a new benchmark for graphics quality. The textures might let the game down a small bit, including very blocky building designs or similar house interiors that are repeated at several points in the game but the environments and maps are genuinely war like all the way through and can not be faulted. The enemy AI and your own team AI are much more realistic than COD1 and your team is reliable. If you get too close to the enemy you will engage him in close quarter combat. Although Call of Duty was never meant to be a war simulation, but more of a 1st person war adventure, to be honest, does exactly what it says on the tin. So apart from the staged element, which actually ads to the game, it is more of an experience than a game you will turn to time and time again, however it is worth it for the experience of the single player mission alone. It is also much longer than COD1 and OU, where COD1 had a 1.5 day game span and UO had 3, COD2 will last you for well over a week if you play one mission a day. The pandemonium of war is all here in a spectacular fashion because the story is a winner as you play a mini version of BAND OF BROTHERS and ENEMY AT THE GATES. Like COD1 you even feel loss at the end but for some reason the connection to your comrades in COD1 was a lot stronger because it was more scripted. The AI detracts from that connection a little bit, but I am only cribbing. Although Directx 9 is the standard for all the cutting edge new first person pc shooters, COD2 has been designed around Directx 7 technology. Only the new Geforce 7800 GT cards can seem to handle DX9 quality. If you don't have a very high end machine then selecting DX7 may prove to be the best result and funny enough is probably how COD2 should be played. Test it out to see. If you are looking for a war multiplayer then go for "Battlefield 2" (it is the war simulation that everyone plays for multiplayer) but do not miss COD2 single player! COD has always been a contender for game of the year and COD2 is no exception.Pros:
Cinematic gaming.
Best new war game and a worthy 1st person shooter.
Awesome war atmosphere.
Smoky explosions.
Cons:
Needs a high spec system to run on full settings.
Honest reviews on Call of Duty 2: Collector's Edition
Call of Duty 2 is a truely brilliant game. Is has all of the main ingredients to produce a great game. Gameplay, Graphics, Sound, Intelligent AI, Level Design and Lifspan. Similar to Medal of Honor: Frontline on the PS2, Call of Duty 2 is set in World War 2 during the Nazi invasion. Unlike MOH, you play the Americans, Russians and even the British. Your also not alone in COD2, in MOH your on your own in most of the game as you try to kill every single Nazi by yourself with no one around to help you at times. However, in Call of Duty 2 your aided constantly by your own troops (friendly AI) who cover your back, fire upon Germans while you reload, tell you where to go and even give you hints to where the next enemy or sniper is. And when your fellow American, Russian or British troops tell you which window the sniper is in, it actually helps. Example: one soldier shouts out "SNIPER ON THE LEFT, SECOND FLOOR", you then instantly know where the sniper is and take your shot. This is an example to the games engine. Intelligent AI that can enhance your gaming throughout playing.But its not just the friendly AI that are intelligent, the enemy AI are also intelligent too. As Nazi's dive for cover, call for re-inforcements, run away from genades, throw grenades back at you with tremendous accuracy, run towards you shooting if cornered, hide behind walls or vehicles if fired at and even hit you with their guns if your close enough. The enemy AI in this game are truely terrifying. If its not their dangerous accuracy and speed, then its their running towards you screaming German harse language that will terrify you. The enemy AI are just as quick and as accurate at shooting as you are so quick reflexes and thinking are needed to survive. This is where Call of Duty 2's action comes in. With horrific speed and thundering noise, this game oozes action as soldiers beside you get violently blown away by German machine guns, a soldier in front of you gets thrown into the air by an enemy grenade, helmets flying off heads, tanks bursing through walls and fighter planes flying overhead. Along with the excellent action, this game also has its terrifying moments. For example; in one level you have to crawl through a small pipe over German defences, when all of a sudden your Russian team mates in front of you get shot to pieces by the Germans below causing the light from the bullet holes to brighten up the dark tunnel that your in. Another example is when a smoke bomb is thrown to blind the Germans of your location when suddenly, Germans come running through the smoke filled area screaming and firing blindly. Moments like these and many more cause panic and terror. Eventhough some levels seem impossible and the player starts to panic and possibly die, all hope is not lost as the game or level doesn't end when you die. Unlike Medal of Honor in order to survive you have to find health, in Call of Duty 2 there is no health bar. When you get hit or damaged, a red mist decends around the screen as a warning that your hurt and your health replenishes when your not being pounded by bullits. Also, if do happen to die you don't have to re-play the whole level again as the game saves automatically as you advance forward. When you die, you simply go back to the last moment in where the game was saved. Automatically and without confusion, this adds to the games gameplay.
With each level a different experience with different objectives and missions, Call of Duty 2 is by far repetetive. The X-Box 360 version is also very good but it is flawed in terms of speed as it seems slower than the PC version. Better than Medal of Honor: Frontline and Big Red One, Call of Duty 2 is by far the best FPS I have played since Quake 4, Halo 1 and 2. Call of Duty 2's incredible graphics (showing off its light, shadow and smoke effects) are perfectly juxtaposed with its booming loud sound effects. Gameplay with a keyboard and mouse is also excellent and is actually quite easer to use than the X-Box 360's control pad.
Call of Duty 2 is an incredible first person shooter and an incredible experience that is not to be missed. I would recommend Call of Duty 2 Collector's Edition on the PC to anyone interested in high voltage action, superb sound , realistic graphics and frightfully addictive gameplay.
In my opinion, this is one of the best first person shooters out there that will surely brown your pants.
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This game is so...so...good, you don't have to use cheats anymore, I used to be a hardcore first person shooter, but then all the games are the same, run for medpacks, collect ammunition, stuff like that, well it's all gone here. Health: well just be careful not getting hit too much in sequence and you'll be fine, so that eases off the worry of...oh I got health of 5, I'd better call a medic and stay low...well that's history, your worry is not getting killed (better than saving your health of having an armor...they make other games too complex).So basically you are pretty much focused on the game itself, it's like an arcade style, somepeople don't like that, but for myself...it keeps the game running faster, alot faster than you would expect.
The AI is awesome, they aren't stupid anymore, your allies are smart and they know what they are doing.
Another thing is there is not much of training before the game starts, just after learning the basics...your allies walk you through a REAL LIVE training with axis where you get to put what you know to the test...and figure out some stuff on the way too.
I didn't finish more than 2 levels yet, but it's real good.
Oh and for those who say you should abide by the recommended settings. I have a workstation Ati fireGL V7100, it recommneded 640x480, so I boost that to 1024x768...and there wasn't a bit of difference, but I had to drop the AA from the equation, that video card is a bit shy with AA you know.
The DVD version is very nice, actually I compared the price of this to the CD version in stores...same, not only you get to know how hard that D-day was from one of the vets and how realistic the game is to how it was in real life...incredible...
The smoke effects are also real, that's how they used to run around in real wars too...I didn't know that....
This DVD game is worth every penny spent, I do recommned it to everyone.
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