Call of Duty 2

Looking for the one game to justify your rash purchase of an Xbox 360? Then you’ve just hit pay dirt, soldier. Read on... Read on with extreme prejudice...

Platform:
Xbox 360
Release Date:
2 December 2005
Publisher:
Activision
Genre:
Action

So what’s different about the ‘360 incarnation compared to the PC version? Well, at first glance, not a lot...

Players are conscripted into three armies fighting bloody WWII campaigns spread over stunningly realised battlefields in Russia, North Africa and France. The game opens up chronologically and players must complete objectives in order to unlock further missions or campaigns. Highlights include the Stalingrad stealth operation where your squad must navigate a network of pipes. The lighting effects when the pipes inevitably become riddled with bullets are particularly impressive. A later, especially explosive encounter sees you securing a captured enemy HQ, only for a Tiger tank to roll in and bust up the joint. And the penultimate mission defending Hill 400 from unrelenting Nazi hordes is hellishly intense indeed. Then again, COD2 is like that pretty much all the way through...

Multiplayer games are set across a selection of 13 maps from COD2 and its prequel. However, unique to the ’360 version is a great Goldeneye-esque split-screen game for up to four players – or up to 16 using the system link. Xbox live will host games for up to eight players in order to maximise running speeds across all connections. Those of a masochistic persuasion will appreciate the ‘killcam’ feature, in which newly-deceased players can relive the moment their behinds were blown off, although revealingly viewed from the killer’s perspective.

Elsewhere, the ‘healthless’ health system (the screen reddens whenever you’re hit), excellent AI and battle chatter feature (with the standard “Incoming!” yell), all remain intact. It must be said that the joy pad brings a certain level of immediacy though. Weapons are drawn and fired using the shoulder buttons and all other actions move to the face buttons which, needless to say, are easier to find in a tight spot!

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SCREENSHOTS

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REVIEWS

So, a split-screen multiplayer, killcam and accessible joypad controls – is that it? Actually, no. Did I not mention that COD2 runs at a blistering 60fps and in a crisp 720p definition? It’s notably quick to load up too. Moreover, it looks absolutely gorgeous and has intense playability like no other game. Indeed, as one observer was moved to comment, "COD2 hoses all over the PC version", and I’m inclined to agree. Activision has made the first truly essential game for the '360.