thecrazyd
01-25-2006, 07:37 AM
A while back I said I would write a review for Call of Duty 2. I really wanted to do it because I feel strongly that this is a mediocre game that is only getting the attention it is because it is a 360 launch title, and one of the best games available. But then again, I find this a little hard to write, because I do not feel that strongly about the game itself. It is chocolate milk; hold the chocolate. It is a side of steak fries, with no steak. So bear with me here.
I want to start off by describing the average battle in CoD2. Basically what happens is you first walk around some forced corner, and see roughly five to ten Nazis behind cover. One is most likely manning a mounted machine gun. So, you run behind a convenient piece of cover, and shoot Nazis until they throw a grenade. One of your team mates yells “Grenade!” and you run in the opposite direction of the grenade indicator on your screen. Once the grenade explodes, you walk back over to your cover, and continue to shoot Nazis.
Now, you can do that all day if you like, but the Nazis will keep on respawning, so you will need to take some ground. At this point, you run forward to the next row of convenient cover. You may want to throw a grenade or something, but if you are playing on one of the harder difficulties, this is pretty useless, as you cannot burn grenades, and they will just chuck them back at you. Once you are at the next convenient row of cover, you shoot Nazis to thin them out a little (remember, they respawn), then charge their location. Congratulations, you have witnessed a Call of Duty 2 battle. Now, rinse and repeat for the rest of the game.
Note that I made no mention of your teammates in the description of the battle, besides that they occasionally yell “Grenade!” This is because your teammates are pretty much useless, with the exception of the aforementioned “Grenade!” yelling. They may kill the occasional bad guy, but for the main part they are just grenade yellers. They have pretty much no AI, and simply follow wherever you go. They hide behind the convenient cover, and take a couple of pot shots, but the odds of them actually killing someone are very low.
There are a couple of fairly memorable set pieces, but they are few and far between. Some of the forced ones are fairly stupid and annoying, such as calling out tanks for artillery to attack while a flood of Nazis are storming your location. But there are some decent moments. I hate to compare this to the original Call of Duty, but I feel it is really fitting in this case. I remember reading an interview before the original came out where a designer said they wanted to make the entire game as intense as the D Day scene in Allied Assault. In the original game, there were many parts where I feel they succeeded in that regard. CoD2 feels more like the rest of Allied Assault.
The controls are fine (with a little remapping) although, outside of multiplayer, the prone is totally useless. Come to think about it, the peeking around corners is pretty useless as well, but it is a move I like to see. There is no sprint. There is a separate key for throwing grenades, which I generally like, but I do not like how you cannot burn grenades.
Graphically, the game is alright. Much like the original, I do not feel strongly about it either way. They are definitely serviceable, and far from ugly, but nothing I haven’t seen before. The smoke is marvelous looking, but that is the only thing that really stands out.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I know this review sounds really negative, but I did like this game. I just do not feel it is special. It does nothing that has not been done before, and does not excel in any regards. It is just another solid FPS. I would recommend it to 360 owners, and people who really like FPS games. For everyone else, there are better choices available.
I want to start off by describing the average battle in CoD2. Basically what happens is you first walk around some forced corner, and see roughly five to ten Nazis behind cover. One is most likely manning a mounted machine gun. So, you run behind a convenient piece of cover, and shoot Nazis until they throw a grenade. One of your team mates yells “Grenade!” and you run in the opposite direction of the grenade indicator on your screen. Once the grenade explodes, you walk back over to your cover, and continue to shoot Nazis.
Now, you can do that all day if you like, but the Nazis will keep on respawning, so you will need to take some ground. At this point, you run forward to the next row of convenient cover. You may want to throw a grenade or something, but if you are playing on one of the harder difficulties, this is pretty useless, as you cannot burn grenades, and they will just chuck them back at you. Once you are at the next convenient row of cover, you shoot Nazis to thin them out a little (remember, they respawn), then charge their location. Congratulations, you have witnessed a Call of Duty 2 battle. Now, rinse and repeat for the rest of the game.
Note that I made no mention of your teammates in the description of the battle, besides that they occasionally yell “Grenade!” This is because your teammates are pretty much useless, with the exception of the aforementioned “Grenade!” yelling. They may kill the occasional bad guy, but for the main part they are just grenade yellers. They have pretty much no AI, and simply follow wherever you go. They hide behind the convenient cover, and take a couple of pot shots, but the odds of them actually killing someone are very low.
There are a couple of fairly memorable set pieces, but they are few and far between. Some of the forced ones are fairly stupid and annoying, such as calling out tanks for artillery to attack while a flood of Nazis are storming your location. But there are some decent moments. I hate to compare this to the original Call of Duty, but I feel it is really fitting in this case. I remember reading an interview before the original came out where a designer said they wanted to make the entire game as intense as the D Day scene in Allied Assault. In the original game, there were many parts where I feel they succeeded in that regard. CoD2 feels more like the rest of Allied Assault.
The controls are fine (with a little remapping) although, outside of multiplayer, the prone is totally useless. Come to think about it, the peeking around corners is pretty useless as well, but it is a move I like to see. There is no sprint. There is a separate key for throwing grenades, which I generally like, but I do not like how you cannot burn grenades.
Graphically, the game is alright. Much like the original, I do not feel strongly about it either way. They are definitely serviceable, and far from ugly, but nothing I haven’t seen before. The smoke is marvelous looking, but that is the only thing that really stands out.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I know this review sounds really negative, but I did like this game. I just do not feel it is special. It does nothing that has not been done before, and does not excel in any regards. It is just another solid FPS. I would recommend it to 360 owners, and people who really like FPS games. For everyone else, there are better choices available.