Call of Duty

Sam ponders the merits of this MoH sequel (in all but name).

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Considering that the boys at Infinity Ward have really done their WWII research, even going so far as to draft in the advice of members the very company whose story was so well told in Band of Brothers, you can be confident that the tactics that you see are similar to the methods employed by the real fighting men. The weapons, uniforms and vehicles are all straight from the historical records, and the sound effects are so damn realistic they can nearly make you soil yourself if your 5.1 is turned up too loud. Trust me on that one. The sound of individual weapons will be learned hastily so you know which of your own weapons to counter with. You can carry one main weapon along with a sidearm and specialised weapon, say a bazooka or sniper rifle. The sniping in this game is great, with realistic reticule weaving depending on stance and some of the most satisfying echoes as your shot snaps out of the barrel and into the face of the distant machine-gunner. The sniper rifle can get abused though. Many of the maps, especially in the Russian campaign, are long and ill-suited to dashing about with a normal rifle or sub-machinegun as you will be shot down by the enemy before you get within range for your own weapons. This is a minor but noticeable point but seeing as everyone loves a good sniper rifle I can't see this harming anyone's enjoyment. The weapons also have realistic patterns. The Russian PPSh has a great rate of fire but is as accurate as an elephant playing basketball while their sniper rifle can place a bullet on a fly's chuff from a thousand paces. You can look down the sight of each gun giving you a nice sight to aim with which increases your accuracy while drawing you deeper into the game's world. Call of Duty exudes authentic World War II atmosphere even if it is slightly stylised like Spielberg's WWII flick and TV show.

Luckily for us the high level of workmanship extends right into the gameplay. The level balance is well done, with insanely hard missions where you must survive an enemy onslaught balanced out by more leisurely strolls through broken French towns of afternoon cruises in flatbed trucks. The Pegasus bridge level in the British campaign is fiendish, both in difficulty and fun. The sniper house level that you must take then hold as a Russian conscript will also go down in gaming history as one of the finest ever levels in a shooter. Each environment looks great with plenty of incidental details and some lovely lighting effects. Unfortunately there has been some sanitising going on so humans no longer bleed. While it makes use of the ancient Quake 3 engine the developers have added so much to the core code that it can stand up beside some of best that the latest engines can display. The animations of your soldiers are superb; they will die, cower, sprint and engage the enemy in fluid and human movements, all adding greatly to the level of immersion and atmosphere. All of this will run super smoothly on all but the crappiest of machines making CoD the best modern game for older computers while having enough bells and whistles to show of the power of today's monster rigs.

To keep the level of action high both your own and the enemy troops will occasionally respawn. While this does break the illusion it quickly becomes irrelevant as you find yourself having such a good time. Saying that, the Nazi's will get up after a stupid number of bullets have taken them down, making the game veer a little too close to the arcade at times. Key squad members are also indestructible, taking volley after volley only to continue soldiering on. This is also a very linear game with each mission funnelling you down a single path towards your eventual goal. Some have called this an "on-rails" shooter but it is nothing of the sort. While it leaves you under no illusion about which way to go - your compass puts pay to that - each time you retry a section it will be a little different. There's no real choice about how to tackle an objective other then choosing the left, middle or right sides, although you can sneak up and give a Nazi a bash with your gun on the side of the head. If you are looking for a tactical shooter look elsewhere because CoD is pure blasting action.