Call of Duty 2

"A sequel to a great game, but certainly a sequel."

Call of Duty 2 is the sequel to the excellent FPS Call of Duty, which was a highly creative and interesting take on the WWII shooter, using linear, scripted events to make a compelling experience for the player. The problem with Call of Duty 2 is not that it isn't a solid game, but that it fails to innovate in the manner that its predecessor did.

Graphically, very little has changed from the first game. The models and environments look like they were taken straight out of Call of Duty 1, except for the new campaign that takes place as a British soldier fighting off Rommel in North Africa. However, this fails to provide much visual refreshment, as it is largely the same barbed wire, gun emplacements, and boxes that could be found in Normandy or Stalingrad. There is also nothing new contributed to the audio; the guns still have the same slightly underpowered sound that they did before. Overall, the affect of the lack of change in the sensual aspects is that the game feels like a mission pack to the original, and Call of Duty 2 fails to keep up with the graphical enhancements brought about since the first release. By itself, this is not a critical issue—after all, the first game looked pretty good—but the game design does not make up for the gap.

Gunplay is likewise largely unchanged from the first game. The arcade feel tends to make for more raw fun in action sequences than in more realistically paced games like Battlefield 1942, which have severe punishments for any mistake, like not finding cover immediately after moving. Call of Duty 2 has a new take on a health bar by not having one. Instead, you can take so many hits before becoming “injured” and needing to find cover, as more hits will cause death. After going a few moments without being struck again, the injury goes away, and play goes on as if the hit had never happened. This is an improvement, as it takes away the hassle of having to hunt down random health packs before continuing. However, machine guns tend to be difficult, as they can mow down a healthy soldier before it's possible to find cover.

There is also a new system for grenades. German soldiers will liberally toss grenades in your direction. When they are near, a “grenade indicator” appears in the middle of the screen, altering you to its presence and giving the general direction of the grenade. There are problems with this, as there is no sense of range. A grenade can be at your feet, or it can be on the other side of cover, and it's impossible to tell the difference. Also, the developers seemed to use this as an excuse to make grenades extremely powerful, as grenades can and will kill from full health in one hit. Since it is difficult to evade all the grenades, even with the indicator, over time this becomes frustrating.

The original Call of Duty was largely revered because of the wonderfully scripted gameplay. The Dawnville level featured in the demo was a masterpiece of carefully scripted events that led the player to feel like they were participating in an epic war, full of constant action of different, interesting events. Epic is a good word to describe most of Call of Duty 1, as clearing buildings under the thumbing of anti-aircraft guns and crawling up the hill of Stalingrad make any single person feel like nothing more than a single piece of a giant war. Call of Duty 2 does not have this same feeling, for multiple reasons. Given the advancements in computing power since Call of Duty was released, it seems like it would be possible to make even more complex and entertaining scripted events. However, the script in Call of Duty 2 just doesn't have the same feel to it. The missions don't feel spectacular, they feel solid. While moments like Stalingrad brought strong emotions before, the events in this game are more sedated, and it feels more like playing a game instead of experiencing an epic story in which the player is just lucky to participate.

Within certain levels there are times where there are multiple goals that have to be accomplished, with the player choosing the order. This seems completely opposite to what Call of Duty, and feels like a tack-on. Each of the different goals still has the heavy allied AI scripting support of usual, but there is no real consequence to what order the objectives are done, making it seem like a pointless exercise. Throughout the entire game you'll still have your allies with you, trying to help you out but never seeming like they accomplish anything. While you spend most of the game with a superior in tow, you are always the one that has to do the most important part of the job. At some point, can't the captain lead the charge?

The other problem with the level design is that it just isn't creative. Throughout the game there are very few different missions. There is still a tank segment, and different segments where the player fights out of a vehicle, but there were done in the first game and now feel stale. The regular infantry missions have a similar pattern: run forward, take out some enemy soldiers with cover, maybe a machine gunner, and repeat. Sometimes the player has to control the machine gun and defend the attack, but both of these get repeated so many times throughout the game it gets boring. Without any new, special segments of its own, Call of Duty 2 feels like it is supported on the goodwill of the original, not like an innovation overall.

While much of this review sounds negative, Call of Duty 2 is still an extremely solid game. It maintains much of what made Call of Duty special in the minds of so many shooter fans, and if you enjoyed the original Call of Duty you will probably find entertainment with this game. However, do not expect much in the way of innovation or creativity like what was offered before. If your desire is for a different experience, Call of Duty 2 is not for you.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 11/21/05, Updated 10/21/09

Game Release: Call of Duty 2 (US, 10/25/05)