Call of Duty

"The Best Single Player Ever."

Call of Duty

Introduction
Call of Duty presents a single player Mode like no other game has ever presented before it. It is set during World War II, and you play as three different soldiers. The action is purely scripted, so you can except the same thing over and over again. However, some of the in-game scenes are excellent and spectacular. Their are already more than a dozen World War II games on the market, but this game makes the best impression and gives you the head-on feel that any game should.

Gameplay 10/10
The single player gameplay is a must have for any First Person Shooter Fan. Why? Instead of just giving you weird objectives and dropping you in all by yourself, Call of Duty allows you to work side-by-side with your fellow soldiers as you assault enemy positions. You have a clear cut job to do and you must follow and stay with your squad; if you get to far ahead, you will get jumped by German Soldiers. The single player is pretty short. On hard mode, you can expect to beat the game in less than five hours. The game consists of three parts or chapters: the American Paratrooper, the British soldier, and the Russian Conscript. You start the game with the basic American Boot Camp, but soon you are dropped behind Normandy beach to assault and take out opposing forces. The British mode takes place during "Operation Market Garden". This slows down the pace, because you don't have as many allies and reduces the fun. Luckily, the Russians are by far represented best, as you have plenty of scripted action. No mission is the exact same as another mission, so variety is excellent and plentiful. In one part of this game, you play as a sniper, moving through the white winter sewers of Stalingraud when you hear German foot steps moving across the wooden bridges above you and a speaker telling you to surrender "with honor". That's what happened in real life, so expect a lot of stuff like that. Single player is smooth, and the multi-player is also just as smooth.

Graphics 10/10
Detail. That's what this game is about. If you ever watch a documentary on the History Channel about World War II, you will notice many similarities between the two: the uniforms, the guns, the vehicles, the terrain, the combat, the helmets, and the list just goes on from there. It is just breath taking to see World War II from three different views.
This is as good as you can get.

Sound 10/10
Once again, I am blown away. The gunfire, the explosions, and the soldiers add so much sound to the game. This is top of its class and the best in the business. Truly, this game has sounds that will surprise you. Have you ever seen Black Hawk Down? That's what the sounds are like: spectacular. Whether you have a top-dollar speaker system or just headphones, the sounds will amaze you.

Controls 10/10
Call of Duty follows the same "WASD" direction with the mouse for aiming and shooting, "qe" buttons for leaning out, and control, space for crouching and jumping. This is the perfect set up; you can dive straight into the game without having to learn complicated specialties or combos. These buttons are just about standard with any first person shooter and that's because they are the easiest to understand and use.

Replayability 8/10
The single player has 3 difficulty levels (easy, medium, hard) and I recommend you play on the hardest level. You will want to play the single player at least two times because of all it has. There is an addictive multiplayer. It is set with different scenarios and terrain (Russian front, European plains, Cities) and are balanced perfectly. The game follows with either being human controlled Germans against human controlled Russians, Americans, and Britain. There are no vehicles, and the fighting is either in open fields or small streets. It is entirely infantry against infantry. This is a great multi-player, but Battlefield has a better one.

Story 9/10
This is World War II, and it follows the action perfectly and gives you that "real combat fighting" feel.

Value 8/10
If you computer can run the game and you find for $40 or less, buy it. Even if you don't have multi-player, you can enjoy the single player just as much. I would recommend you put this at the top of your list for enjoyable first person single players.

Rent or Buy? Recommended?
I recommend you buy it as it makes a great addition to your computer collection and that goes double if you have an internet connection. In the case that you can rent the game (buy enough time to play the game at a internet cafe), go ahead and buy time as playing the single player will make you very happy.

Good Points
- Single Player is the best.
- Controls are great.
- Graphics and Sounds are the best in any computer game.

Weak Points
- Multi-player is lacking compared to the single player and other multi-player games available.
- Single Player is very short.

Overall 9/10< /b>

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 07/30/04, Updated 08/03/04