The look, the feel, and the experience of Activision\'s upcoming Call of Duty 2 have all been dramatically increased and enhanced. A completely in-house physics and graphics engine have allowed the developers, Infinity Ward, to go all out with the realism and stunning visuals that bring this gritty WWII shooter to life. Heck, they\'ve even thrown in mirages in the desert levels...
I\'ve been a huge fan of Call of Duty ever since I dropped my first German trooper in the original game. Now, having played the demo level through and through I\'m incredibly psyched for both the single player and online game play. There have been a whole lotta tweaks and there have been some big advancements in the enemy and allied AI. Smoke from one of your smoke grenades will effectively blind the enemy, and if you\'re not careful, you\'ll be lost in the haze too. The battlefield chatter of your buddies in the trenches is actually helpful in locating enemies in nearby houses, or letting you know when it is a better idea to flank the enemy position than the typical charge assault. The battles will still be fought at lightning speed; however, you will need to use a lot more wit and cunning to bring down those bloodthirsty Nazis.
The game progresses along four different storylines, one American, one Russian, and two British campaigns. The levels are huge, easily dwarfing the ones found in the original Call of Duty. Multiplayer action heats up with 32 people playing on the PC on 12 different maps. The Xbox 360 will support eight players online, although there are rumors of that number increasing to 16 in coming months. My guess, based upon how frantic and intense the single player missions are, is that the online action for this game will be utterly crazy and insane. I think that it would be incredibly cool if, like some of the dying Nazis, your dying body online would prop up on one elbow and shoot randomly around with a pistol in a fatalistic effort to bring down the enemy; now how realistic would that be?
The stereotypical health packs, which are found in just about all games, will be given up for a more realistic blurring of your sight and an increased heartbeat that drowns out everything as you approach death. I like this new approach that games are taking; no more frantic running around for those pesky health packs. Also, make darn sure your enemies are dead. The Germans tend to try and take your butt off with a last ditch dying effort from their trusty pistols. I thought that the cheapshot was a hysterically cool move and incredibly realistic at the same time.
The enemy AI has become leaps and bounds smarter than the old COD Nazis. I noticed a huge step up in their level of aggressiveness. When I got a rifle to the face I was both stunned and amazed. There were three soldiers standing around me trying to fire at me, and then out of nowhere I get rushed by another one, it was a little bit shocking and actually hurt me mentally...
Because everything has been dramatically improved since the original COD, the surround sound has not been left in the dust. Everything has been tweaked and adjusted in order to make explosions, gunfire, screaming soldiers, and the scrapping of boots on the bombed out streets to seem as realistic and gritty as possible. I\'m incredibly impressed by the demo that Activision has released to the masses. Now I can hardly wait for the October 25 release date.