[Sharpshooter]

Infinity Ward was the runt of the litter when it came onto the scene with it's little known Call Of Duty series, which attempted to take a bite out of the market from already popular franchises Commandos, Battlefield 1942, Medal Of Honor and Wolfenstein (to name but a few). To their credit, they succeeded in quickly establishing Call Of Duty as the new benchmark to beat. Now a little older and a little wiser, the Call of Duty series ups the ante in terms of visuals and action while once again allowing the Russians, the Brits and the Americans to tell their sides of the stories of war.



Unfortunately most of the good "battles" have been played to death (Omaha Beach anyone?) in the previously aforementioned series and Call Of Duty 2 doesn't blow the doors off in terms of historically significant clashes that you haven't already played, but when you're hiding in a foxhole fighting for your life, these kinds of things don't really matter a whole helluva lot. What CoD 2 does deliver is white knuckle intensity that rarely let's up and let's face it - that's why you want to play it in the first place. To that very end, Infinity Ward succeeds with flying shrapnel. It's just you and the war. Us vs. Them. Good vs. Evil. And if it wasn't taking place in the comfort of your living room, it would be terrifying as all get out. The encompassing objective of each mission, be it British, Russian or American, is to turn the tables on the Germans and end their occupation of the areas you'll be fighting in. CoD 2 is a constant battle for the upperhand rather than an epic clash.

Don't get too attached to your brothers in arms on the battlefield as some of them won't be coming back. It's definitely a surreal moment to watch one of your comrades dragging the body of a wounded soldier. You tilt the camera down to look into the blank stare and actually feel empathy for this digital creation. As in real war these moments don't last; it's not long before the bullets start whizzing by your head and you have to push on to fight the good fight striving to keep your vital organs in their right places.

CoD 2 plays identically to the PC version released last month aside from the obvious mandatory controller usage which you'll have to adapt to if you've never played a console FPS before. The locales you'll visit are Stalingrad, Africa and France respectively and each environment presents its own version of a living hell.



The fighting in CoD 2 is nothing short of intense. The bullets, explosions and frantic yelps from comrades rarely let up and most of the time you're unfairly outnumbered, but that's war for you. I mean, come on. What are you going to do...sit down in your foxhole and write a nasty letter to Hitler or Rommel telling them to lay off? The various difficulty levels which range from 'shooting gallery simple' to 'one shot and you're dead' will allow you to determine how realistic you want this war to be. For the most part, CoD 2 is as as realistic as I would expect war to be. One moment your brother in arms is telling you to get down and the next minute he's gone. Explosions rock the ground shaking your perspective sometimes to the point of dizziness, the throaty low rumble growl of an approaching enemy tank will strike terror into your heart while everwhere you look smoke, debris and fire will engulf you. There are incidents of blood but you'll be spared the more grisly visual details of war such as severed limbs and mutlitated bodies. There is an ever so slight gentle reminder that you are, in actuality, still playing a game and that's the health regeneration. If you do happen to be in the line of fire, Infinity Ward allows you to "get to cover" which will miraculously cure those nasty bullet wounds to the temple and chest you've incurred, as long as you don't hit get again within the time the screen is red (which indicates you've been hit). You'll also be given a radar screen which will show you where the bad guys are hiding or the location of your current objective as well as how many bullets/magazines/grenades you've got left. It suspends the belief a little, but after all it is still a game.
Visually CoD 2 is amazing in high def. How amazing? Let me put it into perspective. I rented Call of Duty 2 for the Xbox 360 around the launch, before I received my review copy. At the time I was playing the 360 on my regular TV. About a week ago, I was walking through Future Shop and saw some dudes standing around playing the Xbox 360 kiosk. I had never seen the war game they were playing and I thought to myself that it was a new demo of a new game. Man it looked out of this world! The best I'd ever seen. It wasn't. It was Call of Duty 2 in high def. I immediately hunted everywhere for the X360 VGA adapter and managed to find the last one in Vancouver (they're all over the place now...buy one if don't have an HDTV but have a good monitor!) I couldn't believe the difference. I'm no "graphics whore" by any stretch as gameplay HAS to come first but wow, CoD'2 visuals are mighty impressive. The varied environments from the snowblown streets of Stalingrad, sandswept African desert and the cobblestone roads of rural France, every level has something else to marvel at. Running at 60 FPS, CoD 2 never looks grainy, choppy or ugly and unless you've got a super duper PC gaming rig and a copy of the PC version I'm betting you haven't seen this game look as amazing as it does on Xbox 360.



Before you think CoD 2 is all beauty and no brains, take note that Infinity Ward packed some pretty special AI into the mix on both sides. While there were a few occasions I would have loved to have been able to command my fellow soldiers to do my bidding (ala Brothers In Arms), for the most part my AI team held their own against the German army. I noticed a few occasions where they just couldn't manage to pick off the ******* who was targetting me while I was trying to do something important - like use the anti-aircraft gun to shoot down attacking planes for example - and while that was frustrating, I simply took matters into my own hands and shot the sonuvablix myself. The enemy AI on the other hand are a sneaky bunch. They'll dive out of the way of grenades, duck for cover and even manage to crack off a few shots in your general direction before they're taken by the hand of death. You can even watch them crawl along the ground after being shot as even when they're mortally wounded, they're always up to something.

Gamers with a kick ass home theater system and no neighbors within earshot to complain about it will be in audio heaven. The sounds of war will rattle your home if you give it the opportunity. The entire audio presentation in CoD 2 is simply award-winning. Instead of pumping you up with epic orchestral fanfares which would be completely lost in a sea of gunfire, explosions, wind and shouting, Infinity Ward provides the sounds of war as your soundtrack. The constant chatter of your mates is also noteworthy as there is quite a hefty supply of dialogue and all of it echoes with the panic, stress and jubilation you could imagine on the battlefield.



Where CoD 2 stumbles is on the online battlefield. Unfortunately I don't know anyone within driving distance who owns an X360 so I couldn't investigate SystemLink LAN play nor did I entertain the thought of playing splitscreen which I consider to be for younger gamers who have much better eyesight than this old dude. So naturally I was pumped to jump online and shoot up cyberspace. Online matches include Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture The Flag, Headquarters and Search & Destroy. The first few matches I played were so lag ridden that before I could disconnect, the game did it for me. I reconnected later that evening and online was excellent with minor lag. Later that same evening I went back online and was disconnected because my connection was almost non-existent. That being said, when I have been online I have had a great time. Granted I can't compare this to the 64 players online that the PC version of CoD 2 sports (that figure is off the top of my head so apologies if I'm incorrect) but when online works, it's an excellent time. The advent of the Kill-Cam, which shows you exactly who shot you and from where, helps to eliminate as much as possible those who have nothing better to do than camp and snipe at everyone from their special hiding spot - at least their location is always revealed. This gets them moving around to another location (if they have a brain) after each kill which gets them out onto the battlefield where you actually have a chance at revenge. The environments used online are completely opened up and don't feature as many obstructions as the single player component which means they're huge. That's actually a slight hinderance to the flow of the online game as only 8 players are allowed at once - which means any game becomes a cyber version of hide and seek - especially if you're dealing with one of those lowlife sniper types.

Call Of Duty 2 is a great addition to your budding Xbox 360 but if you've already got the PC version happening then there isn't any reason to defect, especially since the online component of the PC version works like a charm. Armchair soldiers of all ages (this game is rated T for Teen) will dig its white hot, white knuckle single player intensity and owners of HDTV's and Dolby 5.1 will be in WW2 heaven. Sure beats playing with those green plastic army men out in the sandbox.

overall 4.5 out of 5
a must Buy.