Fat Ninja

I finally beat Call of Duty 2 (CoD2); granted, it was on the Normal difficulty setting. The experience was rewarding, and it offers a glimpse of a promising future  from the Xbox 360. Perfect Dark Zero’s fun and all, and sure, it’s pretty to look at; but it never really managed to suck me in and immerse me in the experience. It never made me forget I was playing a game.

CoD2 , on the other hand, is a beast of an entirely different nature. Keep in mind that I’ve played a lot of first-person shooters (FPS), and completed many a single-player campaign; but they’ve all been trumped by Infinity Ward’s CoD2. I can’t say that I’ve ever felt so thoroughly engaged by a game.

It’s the coalescence of several sensory factors that truly bring CoD2 to life and drop you on the frontline. Visually, the game’s a marvel. From the muddy trenches of Normandy to the snow-covered ruins of Stalingrad, each locale in the game is brilliantly realized. During the British campaign in the sand-choked villages of Northern Africa, you’ll actually see heat shimmering off the desert floor while Nazi Stukas make bombing runs on your convoy. While ducked behind cover you’ll watch as your fellow soldiers attempt to charge a German MG-42 emplacement, only to get mowed down in a hail of bullets. And there’s a very real exhiliaration that accompanies charging a fortified enemy position blindly through a smokescreen that I’ve not found in any other game I’ve played.

Coupled with CoD2’s visual elements is an equally compelling aural presentation. During development, Infinity Ward went to great lengths to ensure the authenticity of each weapon’s report. I’ll not lie, I’ve cranked up the home theater system quite a ways to really get into the game, and it’s intense. The whizzing of bullets, the impacting of mortar rounds, the agonized death rattle of the soldier next to you; each sound is beautifully captured to articulately convey the chaos of battle. Now,  I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess that our upstairs neighbors are a little less than enthusiastic with my efforts to recreate the World War II experience (Same goes for the poor souls who live on the other side of the wall behind my entertainment center.).

CoD2’s presentation is just so visceral, and there’s a very real sense of chaos that is conveyed through its combined elements. It’s like playing Saving Private Ryan. I’ve since begun to attempt the tackling of the Veteran difficulty level, which is proving to be a challenging endeavour to say the least. AI opponents are a great deal more tenacious, checkpoints and extra frag grenades seem to be fewer and further between, and you can’t take nearly as much damage as in the Normal difficulty. Thus far it’s proven to be a test of both my will and my patience, but I’m doing my best not to be daunted. I gotta unlock those achievements so that everyone on Xbox Live can know of my feats!

I suppose if I had to register any complaints about CoD2, it would be in the online play. I’m not saying it’s not fun to play online, because it most certainly is. However, the lack of any kind of lobby interface, and the questionable match-making process makes it difficult to arrange matches with friends. I pray that a patch is in the works that will implement a lobby system, allowing groups to stay together, because it’s just frustrating having to find a new host everytime you want to play. The other thing -and this is more wishful thinking than anything else- is that I would have loved to have seen an online cooperative mode tied to the campaign.

These minor gripes aside, I still think CoD2 is the best launch title out there on the 360 (Granted, I’ve only played 3 of them thus far). Not only does it look and sound like a “next-gen” title, it has intense gameplay to back it up. If you’re an FPS fan trying to figure out what game to get when you finally find an Xbox 360, CoD2 should be at the top of your list.

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