Call of Duty 2: Big Red One (PS2)

...Ward that made the last Call Of Duty game which is also owned by Activision.

==STORY==
You play as a member of the U.S. Army's 1st Infantry Division nicknamed the "Big Red One". Being in this legendary squad fighting against the Germanys, you get to visit North Africa, Sicily, through Europe taking the fight to France, Belgium and into Germany itself.

==GRAPHICS==
The graphics is some of the ...
...game but any genre on the PS2. With some much going on around you its pandemonium which bullets whizzing pass you and hitting others all round you, dropping like flies. Big explosions going off, ruins all around with rumble of the building everywhere, that was probably once a quite little town. Everything seems to be to a very good standard of detail from the worn out, dirty and muddy soldiers to the planes that fly over very close with its mini ... more

Game Info

Genre = FPS (First Person Shooter)
Developer = Treyarch
Publisher = Activision
Players = 1 Player
Online = Yes, Up To 16 Players
Age = 15+
Memory Usage = 45KB Minimum
Released = November 2005

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==HISTORY==
The developer Treyarch have made over 20 games since founded in 1996, which is owned by Activision has developed this game over the company Infinity Ward that made the last Call Of Duty game which is also owned by Activision.

STORY

You play as a member of the U.S. Army's 1st Infantry Division nicknamed the "Big Red One". Being in this legendary squad fighting against the Germanys, you get to visit North Africa, Sicily, through Europe taking the fight to France, Belgium and into Germany itself.

GRAPHICS

The graphics is some of the best you get to see on not only a FPS game but any genre on the PS2. With some much going on around you its pandemonium which bullets whizzing pass you and hitting others all round you, dropping like flies. Big explosions going off, ruins all around with rumble of the building everywhere, that was probably once a quite little town. Everything seems to be to a very good standard of detail from the worn out, dirty and muddy soldiers to the planes that fly over very close with its mini guns blazing away hitting the water making big splashed as if there were small bombs along the dust it flicks up when the bullets hit the ground.

SOUND/MUSIC

The sound is excellent which is what you want when it comes to a war game as its part of the main atmosphere and makes the game feel real. Bullets whiz pass hitting your men and other objects gives you any panicking feeling as it feels so real then the grenades and explosions go off all around you, coming closer as you trying to get to cover. Explosions hit right near you, the sound suddenly and blurs as you ears drums take damage from the loud bangs. The sound then zips in as you hearing come back and you can now hear the screams of injured solders and orders shouting at each other.

Throughout the whole game if it's the cut-scenes or the actual gameplay the sound is amazing, even when a plane fly's pass though you can't see it, you try to hit the ground or find cover thinking that they maybe shoot or dropping bombs on you. The voice acting is also brilliant with the leaders given firm and positive orders to the rookies messing around and having a laugh until all that changed when everything goes insane and the chaos starts.

CONTROLS

The controls is the same as the last game and very much like any other FPS game, where as R1 is to fire and R2 can be used to hit enemies with the end of your gun if they get to close. L2 is to throw your grenades and by holding it down will shorten the timer. Its ease enough to change stances with circle button lets you knee or lay down and triangle being to stand up and jump. A cool thing you can do which not many games have but should do as it's very simply is that by pressing left or right on the d-pad lets you lean to the side which is great for taking shots when behind cover.

GAMEPLAY

The gameplay follows "The Big Red One" squad, being a member of them you will always have your men around you and moving forwards fighting as a team. Each level is well designed with great set pieces and action from the Omaha Beach level where everything seems calm with you and your squad on a boat and a load of others filling the waters. If I may add a guy puwking up over the side from see sickness just adding to the realness and atmosphere of the game when cannon fires starts firing from the distance hitting the boats, one hits yours toughing you up into the air. Next thing you know your sergeant is pulling you onto the sand, waking you up and shout though you can't hear from the deafness of the explosions.

Many great missions like the one above follows that includes jungles, cities, attacking bases, taking out AA Guns and even capturing them and using them to shoot down there own places.

As before there are levels where you take control of a tank and shoot your way though the levels, just like the last CoD I did not find them great or as good as the on-foot parts, although you only play parts of a level in a tank where as before it was a whole level and there is less of it in the Big Red One. A new cool level they add which is one of my favorites is where you are in a bomber plane high up in the clouds, you must move back and forth the plane to different machine turrets to shoot the fighter planes that are shooting at you and also the other convoy transports you are protects. You also get to use bombs and a big huge battleship below you but the thing that blow me away me was, no really it did was the when your bomber takes damage the glass cracks and then breaks which lets in a load of wind, the metal plates that makes up the plane breaks off and fly's away. Once it taken a lot of damage and is on its last legs or should I say wings, when walking from one end to the other, all there is in the center is a narrow metal bar to walk across. It's pretty scary as you can see clouds all around you and all is really left is a ruin of metal some how still managing to stay flying.

REPLAY-VALUE

-Online-I feel that they have gone to steps forward but also taken a step back. By which I mean the offline single player has improved and is one of the best world war experiences but where as the online mode was very good in the last series its not so good now.

There are 11 maps to play on that are based on the single player mode but are badly deigned, you have no designated bases so when you spawn in, you can be very far away from the action and can get loss sight of direction to go in.
The online modes have the 3 most commune modes which are Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch and Capture the Flag, plus a new 4 mode called Domination where you must capture as many different points in the level and then defend them.

The only thing I think they have made an effort in the online mode is that in each game you play the more kills you do you will go up a rank. Once you gone up a rank you will get extra weapons depend on which person you are which some of them includes a rocket launcher, dual pistols, air strike, medic-kit and satchel bombs plus one you go up the next rank you will get extra ammo for all of your new items. Although it gives you something extra to aim for, your rank does go back to rookie after each game which I guess is easer for newbie's as this would give other to much of an advantage.

As being a sequel I was disappointed that they have not added any new features to online like chat rooms, forums, friends list, clans and so on, there's not even a stats screen to show you your data like kills or the total time played, so as you can see it can be boring and is behind many other online games.

-offline- The single player is excellent as I said so there is so reply value there if you want to play again but there are no secondly routes, so it be pretty much the same. I played it on the middle difficulty out of the easy, normal and hard, which I found a few parts hard and toke me one week to complete the 13 level. All the unlockables you will get as you progress but you will have them all ones completed, there's only images of the concept drawings of all the weapons, vehicles and levels. These are nice to look at but there could off been better unlockables.

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==BUY OR NOT TO BUY==
If you into your world war games of this time period then the single player is amazing and there's not much that can beat it but for the online play there's many better games to get even if it's the previous game Finest Hour. What ever you going to buy it for, aim for £10, but £15 at the most.
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SCORE

Graphics - 9/10
Sound/Music - 10/10
Controls - 9/10
Gameplay - 9/10
Replay Value - 6/10

FINAL RATING - 8.6/10

Amazon.co.uk = £11.97
Play.com = £12.99
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Links
http://www.callofduty.com
http://www.treyarch.com
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