Title: Call of Duty
Game Type: First Person Shooter
Console: PC
Developer: Infinity Ward
Publisher: Activision
TORONTO (djc) — This game is highly addictive and lots of fun. In fact, as soon as I am done writing this review, I am going back to play it. Yes kiddies, I hear the Call.
To sum it up quickly, Call of Duty is a World War Two, first person shooter, very much in the vein of Medal of Honor: Allied Assault. However, I must add that it’s done extremely well.
The game keeps the thrills coming as quickly as the ubiquitous machine gun fire you dodge throughout. There are some really great levels, including, for example, some wild car chase sequences where you ride shotgun on a vehicle while the driver outruns the enemy. You’ll also blitz attack a prison camp, sabotage a destroyer, drive a tank and search and destroy throughout forests and cities.
And to make things even better, you’re rarely on the battlefield alone — you’ll find allies shouting orders, returning fire and getting blown up. The game is really brought to life (and death) and it has some of the richest audio I’ve heard in a long time. Shells whizzing by, thundering explosions, the crack of distant sniper fire, planes roaring by…it’s all in this game. Hook up your PC to a nice set of speakers and the guy next door playing Saving Private Ryan will be hammering at the walls, yelling at you to turn it down.
My favourite levels are the Soviet ones, where the battle for the hearts and minds gets waged alongside the battle of the blood and guts. In the Soviet battles, you find yourself among a group of terrified soldiers trying to defend a bomb-blasted Stalingrad. A propaganda officer armed with a megaphone encourages you to defend Russia with all you’ve got, and a Stalin character says, “Not one step backwards,” warning that the senior officers have been instructed to shoot anyone who shows signs of cowardice. Meanwhile, the German Army encourages you to lay down your arms in exchange for hot food, warm clothes, and merciful treatment. That is, when they’re not trying to blow your head off. This game’s atmosphere can be just wonderfully grim.
The play mechanics are mostly standard shooter stuff, although they have done some nice things with the weapons. You can only carry four at a time — two rifles, a sidearm, and grenades. You can exchange one of your guns for anything dropped in the field. In fact, quite often it’s beneficial to swipe a German soldier’s weapon after you’ve plugged him (either because you’ve been issued crappy equipment or because ammo is more abundant for the German weapons). Right clicking brings up the ‘zoom’ mode. This will take you to the crosshair view if you’ve got a sniper rifle, or make you peer down the sights for other weapons. In this mode, you move slower, but your shots will be more accurate. Also, if you kneel or lie prone, your aim improves. It’s simple, but effective refinement nonetheless.
The game will take you through British, Russian and American campaigns and you’ll get to play with the weapons of those nations, as well as German weaponry. My favourites are the pretty standard American M1 Garand, and the German MP 40.
Call of Duty also comes with a nice multiplayer package. In additional to Deathmatch and Team Death Match modes, there is Search and Destroy mode; a Counter-Strike like mode, where one team plants explosives while another team tries to prevent them from being successful; Retrieval, where one team tries to find an object and return it to their base; and Behind Enemy Lines, in which Allies try to stay alive to score points. If they’re whacked, they turn into Axis soldiers.
Without getting too nitpicky, there are really no complaints about Call of Duty. The bottom line is, it’s a great game and should be added to everyone’s game collection.
