Call of Duty 2

"My first FPS exceeded my expectations"

So, HL2 GotY edition was not available at my local Game and Gamestation. By next best bet was CoD2, disappointed that HL2 was not in stock. Reluctantly I handed over my £40, went home, went through the manual, installed it, and had the time of my life.

Single Player - 9/10
Wow! Full scale battles practically, set it realistic backgrounds with realistic objectives, with (almost) realistic AI. The missions are, for the best part, huge. The first mission, which is basically the training mission, sorts you out with the controls, then puts you straight into the action. A great way to learn and a great introduction to the game (potatoes as nades, scoooree!). Tanks in Egypt too, I just wish more vehicles could be used. and in more missions. Several difficulty levels for you to challenge yourself with. Personally, I feel as though I am actually there, fighting for the motherland

Multi Player - 9/10
When I first played online, I was majorly dissapointed. I started thinking of excuses to take this back to the shop. After a few days, I tried playing online again. Much better this time round, maybe I had gotten used to the controls? A lot of choice (Team deathmatch, Deathmatch, Search and Destroy, Headquaters, Capture the Flag etc.), and about 6000+ servers to choose from there's alot of choice available. When you go get online, the community aren't asses! This made a welcome change, as most of them are willing to help you, even though you do get a few bad seeds. After about a month, you're good enough to play in a clan, so you get better even more, and have mates to play with. Multiplayer is VERY fun, underrated by alot of people IMO. No vehicles though, but I am sure there are some mods which allow you to use Vehicles and others. No punkbuster means hackers, if you see one report him to the admin

Controls and Gameplay - 9/10
Standard FPS controls. WASD, left mouse is shoot, middle mous is nade (which is fairly nifty, but I barely use it). Three poisitions you can be in - crouch, standing, prone (laying down). How you use these positions defines if you live or not. Whilst sniping - crouch to get a better view, or prone to hide myself? Someone runs round corner, you are lying down waiting from them with your Grease Gun. 6 weapons to choose from whatever side you are on (7 for british though), ranging from Rifles liek the Kar98 to Machine guns like the Tompson. Each side has it's own selection of weapons (except American and British, they share some weapons). Whatever country you fight for is dependant on the map except for German which is on every map. Max amount of players is 60, but I think that is way too much seeing as the maps are relatively small.
*sub category*
Sound - 9/10
Sound is your best freind. It shows you were the enemy is firing from, if they are dropping down from somewhere, if they are planting a bomb, if they are nearby (footsteps). The most useful tool other than your weapon. To add to that war feel you can hear bombs being dropped in the background, the random machine being fired now and again. Very nice addition, makes it very real

Graphics - 9/10
Though the models could be improved, this game looks fab-u-lous. The guns

Overall - 9/10
Not perfect, then again, what is? If you dislike this game at first, try it again. I am very pleased with my first RTS

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 02/17/06