Call of Duty 2
Year: 2005
Developer: Infinity Ward
Publisher: Activision
Platform: PC, Xbox 360
BBFC: 15
Published: 26/04/23
Developer: Infinity Ward
Publisher: Activision
Platform: PC, Xbox 360
BBFC: 15
Published: 26/04/23
The original Call of Duty ushered in a revolution for first person shooters being one of the few to stand toe to toe with the monolithic Medal of Honor and beat it at its own game. But Medal of Honor had the advantage of being available on home consoles, whereas the first Call of Duty was strictly limited to PC until several years after its release. So, the pedigree was there but Infinity Ward and Activision needed to make the jump into the console market in order to solidify Call of Duty as a brand, and one that could beat Medal of Honor not just in quality, but in sales too. It’s fair to say then that a lot was riding on 2005’s Call of Duty 2, and whilst the game was heralded as revolutionary back in the day, was it more a case of being in the right place at the right time, or does the game really hold up nearly twenty years later in similar ways to its predecessor?
Similar to the original game, Call of Duty 2 is a World War II first person shooter where you control soldiers in the U.S., British, and Soviet armies. As these soldiers you will engage in recreations of various real battles as you attempt to retake Europe from Nazi occupation. Where the first game set its sights on battles that hadn’t received much in the way of big screen or video game adaptations, Call of Duty 2 ups the ante to tackle some more high-profile battles such as the D-Day Normandy Landings.
Much like the first game the story is less about a people, and more about what they went through. Cutscenes exist to give you context on the war at large, or background information about the battle you’re about to engage in, and no man takes the spotlight.
Similar to the original game, Call of Duty 2 is a World War II first person shooter where you control soldiers in the U.S., British, and Soviet armies. As these soldiers you will engage in recreations of various real battles as you attempt to retake Europe from Nazi occupation. Where the first game set its sights on battles that hadn’t received much in the way of big screen or video game adaptations, Call of Duty 2 ups the ante to tackle some more high-profile battles such as the D-Day Normandy Landings.
Much like the first game the story is less about a people, and more about what they went through. Cutscenes exist to give you context on the war at large, or background information about the battle you’re about to engage in, and no man takes the spotlight.
The original Call of Duty’s M.O. was about making you feel more like a cog in the machine of war than a one-man army, and there were times where it certainly succeeded in doing that but also times where you were quite literally the only man on the mission. So, the whole one-man army thing still felt somewhat applicable. It’s here where I hoped to say that Call of Duty 2 places greater emphasis in ensuring that you are truly helpless without your team; unfortunately though it’s exactly the opposite. Call of Duty 2 often feels more of a one-man army simulator than anything else because the friendly A.I. is so useless, and the changes made to the health system have made it easier than ever to run into enemy fire and make it out alive.
Call of Duty 2 introduces a new health management system, which was subsequently adopted almost across the board in the first-person shooter genre, where after taking a number of hits your screen will go red. Take any more damage and you’ll die, but if you take cover for a few seconds your health will recover, vision will return to normal, and you can go on fighting as though nothing happened.
The original Call of Duty’s health bar meant that no matter the difficulty you needed to take it somewhat slow and tactically assess your plan of attack. Call of Duty 2, with its health regeneration, means all of that is no longer necessary, and so long as you have some cover nearby you can do what you please.
Even on higher difficulties, Call of Duty 2 is relatively simple to consistently make progress in without facing too many roadblocks solely due to the new heath regeneration; and whilst this mechanic certainly was an industry gamechanger at the time (and is still present in almost every shooter to this day), it certainly takes away the risk factor and reliance on your friendly A.I in order to progress.
I spent much of my time with Call of Duty 2 fleeting from cover to cover, avoiding the nonstop barrage of grenades, spraying bullets towards the enemy and pushing forwards. This tactic worked for me every single time, without fail. Sure, I’d occasionally get unlucky and take a bullet too many, but there was no skill needed to actually progress. My A.I. teammates often stayed too far back from me to be of any use meaning I was always the one pushing forwards. If this isn’t a one-man army scenario, then I don’t know what is.
Call of Duty 2 introduces a new health management system, which was subsequently adopted almost across the board in the first-person shooter genre, where after taking a number of hits your screen will go red. Take any more damage and you’ll die, but if you take cover for a few seconds your health will recover, vision will return to normal, and you can go on fighting as though nothing happened.
The original Call of Duty’s health bar meant that no matter the difficulty you needed to take it somewhat slow and tactically assess your plan of attack. Call of Duty 2, with its health regeneration, means all of that is no longer necessary, and so long as you have some cover nearby you can do what you please.
Even on higher difficulties, Call of Duty 2 is relatively simple to consistently make progress in without facing too many roadblocks solely due to the new heath regeneration; and whilst this mechanic certainly was an industry gamechanger at the time (and is still present in almost every shooter to this day), it certainly takes away the risk factor and reliance on your friendly A.I in order to progress.
I spent much of my time with Call of Duty 2 fleeting from cover to cover, avoiding the nonstop barrage of grenades, spraying bullets towards the enemy and pushing forwards. This tactic worked for me every single time, without fail. Sure, I’d occasionally get unlucky and take a bullet too many, but there was no skill needed to actually progress. My A.I. teammates often stayed too far back from me to be of any use meaning I was always the one pushing forwards. If this isn’t a one-man army scenario, then I don’t know what is.
Call of Duty 2 launched alongside the Xbox 360 and a large part of the game, and system’s success in the early days can be attributed to one another. The game was one of the biggest selling games on the system, and by far the best-selling launch title, establishing Call of Duty as a true competitor to Medal of Honor both on PC and on consoles. This jump to consoles didn’t sacrifice any of the performance either as Call of Duty 2 continued its predecessors’ trend of aiming for a solid 60FPS frame rate, and for the most part it holds it. I only noticed a few instances where it noticeably dipped, and even then, it was only fleetingly. This mixed with more environment detail, considerably more friendly and enemy A.I than in the previous game, and larger environments makes Call of Duty 2 a very impressive game from a technical standpoint.
The game was also a multiplayer juggernaut. Not much changed from the original game aside from some new gamemodes and larger maps, but particularly on consoles Call of Duty 2 was the first next gen champion of online multiplayer. Dedicated servers, party support, and up to sixteen players was all the game needed to show off how great Xbox Live was as a service.
Whilst Call of Duty 2 was a whirlwind of a success story upon release it feels as though it lost its direction when compared to its predecessor. The whole idea behind Call of Duty was to be part of a team, and to never feel too powerful. But Call of Duty 2 allows you to be exactly the opposite, I often felt more like Rambo than a real WWII soldier, and despite the game still being fun to play it missed the point of what it was trying to be entirely.
A fine release title for the Xbox 360 and a trendsetter in its gameplay mechanics, but Call of Duty 2 does feel somewhat disappointing when compared to the original game.
The game was also a multiplayer juggernaut. Not much changed from the original game aside from some new gamemodes and larger maps, but particularly on consoles Call of Duty 2 was the first next gen champion of online multiplayer. Dedicated servers, party support, and up to sixteen players was all the game needed to show off how great Xbox Live was as a service.
Whilst Call of Duty 2 was a whirlwind of a success story upon release it feels as though it lost its direction when compared to its predecessor. The whole idea behind Call of Duty was to be part of a team, and to never feel too powerful. But Call of Duty 2 allows you to be exactly the opposite, I often felt more like Rambo than a real WWII soldier, and despite the game still being fun to play it missed the point of what it was trying to be entirely.
A fine release title for the Xbox 360 and a trendsetter in its gameplay mechanics, but Call of Duty 2 does feel somewhat disappointing when compared to the original game.