|
Treyarch takes the reign for the console Call of Duty games. Call of Duty 2: Big Red One is a sequel to last year’s Call of Duty: Finest Hour, not to be confused with Call of Duty 2 (available for PC and soon for Xbox 360), that is the sequel for Call of Duty (for the PC). It’s a bit confusing, I know, but what you should know that the game was given a pretty notable overhaul from the last version.
In Call of Duty 2: Big Red One, you’ll play as the U.S. Army’s 1st Infantry Division which gained the nickname “Big Red One.” You’ll begin your journey in North Africa circa 1943 though you’ll eventually hit Germany, but not before passing by Sicily and France. The game’s story is told in a very authentic manner, engaging the player to continue playing. You’ll see a lot of footage with a lot of information including how they were in the war for each other. It also includes video reminiscent of war propaganda from the 1940s to advance the story.
The game will take you to a number of locations including Africa, Central Europe, Italian, and Sicily. There are a number of missions are tied together in a consistent matter. The missions are highly scripted, fully engaging the players because of the insane amount of stuff going on at one time. The Call of Duty series has always succeeded in this respect and Big Red One further cements this tradition. The impression of war is always well intact in the game which is simply amazing. The actual gameplay is top-notch with tight shooting and controls making the game as approachable as possible.
Call of Duty 2: Big Red One includes a fully functional online multiplayer for both the PlayStation 2 and Xbox. The game boasts support for 16 players including Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture and Flag, and Domination. The game includes about a dozen multiplayer maps in the game. They are pretty varied and provide a good foundation for the multiplayer mode. The game performs well technically. The Xbox version’s online support is nearly flawless, but there is some occasional lag on the PlayStation 2 version. Thankfully, these never become too hard to deal with however. The Gamecube version of the game doesn’t have online multiplayer though.
The game’s visuals are top-notch. The levels are huge and provide great backdrops for the different missions that you’ll participate in. You’ll visit a number of areas including full-blown battles, smaller shootouts, and even trench warfare. You’ll see a number of excellently detailed characters moving about these backdrops, each participating in their small portion of the much larger war. The vehicles are also quite detailed and fit in well with the rest of the game. Each battle is made more impressive by special effects that really bring the intensity up. Visual effects like the camera shaking only make the game feel more hectic. The Xbox version of the game, aside from having multiplayer advantages, also has slightly clearer visuals. It also has support for progressive scan.
The game’s audio is equally impressive. The background music is intense and dynamic, fitting the various portions of the game very well. The different sound effects are powerful and passionate and really further the impression of war that the action and visuals already presented. The voice acting from the different war veterans in the story bits and missions is equally good. s
Call of Duty 2: Big Red One succeeds in providing an interactive version of a quick-paced high-intensity action movie. The singleplayer missions are very intense and show Call of Duty’s intensity at its best. The action is simply top-notch for most of the game although there are some low points that sparingly appear. The multiplayer portion of the game isn’t quite as exciting, but it is pretty functional. Overall, the development combination of Treyarch and Gray Matter Studios helped the console series quite a bit. -- Adam Nunez, PGNx Media
---- Nov 2, 2005
|
