![]() ![]() The game looks like it's running at a high framerate with dozens of characters on screen simultaneously without hiccups or major drops in frames. With Call of Duty 2, like its predecessor, you're wowed by the amount of chaos that's whirring wildly about you, but when the cloud of smoke settles and you have a look around, the impeccable work that has gone into these backgrounds, environments, structures, and textures is remarkable. The sense of confusion and chaos of a smoke grenade outside is one thing, but inside a building, you feel helpless and blind. The grenades are manageable out in the open, but if you mistakenly hurl one inside a building, good luck soldier. Nazi soldiers will bludgeon you quickly if you're slow on the draw. ![]() When an enemy is finally close enough to determine - usually within a three-foot radius - there is a split second before you must make a decision. Inside one, you will not be able to tell where you are, which direction you entered the billowing cloud, or who's your ally or enemy. They're slow to take affect but once in full bloom, they're dense, large, and fluid. The smoke grenades are easily the most interesting visual effect in the game. And the fidelity of each object, whether it is a broken desk, a destroyed tank, or a torn apart building, is crisp and sharp looking. Scrapes, scratches, and holes aren't repeated from building to building. You run into a blown-up building and the crumbling walls show granular detail. In the higher resolutions, the texture work is often excellent, and in any mode it's complemented by both fluid moving characters and great animation. The game looks especially crisp in 1080 and 720, and the level of detail and crispness is undeniably different when compared to the same game in 480p. This means that both versions demonstrate a hefty amount of special effects, visual polish and no visual compromise. Sensory Overload While many early Xbox 360 games are simple high-resolution versions of their current gen brethren, COD 2 was created in tandem with the PC version. To say COD2 is chaotic, fast-paced and gripping is to sell the game short.įight the Germans in thre distinct and colorful campaigns. The experience is so packed full of fighting, constant gunfire, and continual chatter from teammates and enemies that eight hours will flash by in an instant. One of the most impressive aspects of COD 2 is that despite containing scripts and linear paths, the game is so rigorous and demanding that I literally forgot I was being led through missions or that they were predominantly linear. This extra little freedom plays a subtle part in the way the sequel has opened up and unleashed a slightly more freeform set of paths, compared to the more rigid original. ![]() You're given four levels of difficulty to choose from and the ability to jump between campaigns and time periods. Much like the original, Call of Duty 2 (COD 2) covers World War II across three interwoven campaigns featuring the Russians, the British, and the Americans in Stalingrad, Africa, and France, respectively. Like its older brother, Infinity Ward's PC and Xbox 360 shooter creates thunderous walls of sound and graphic action that instantly engages the player to such a degree that for me, as a writer, it's difficult to pull far enough away from the experience to describe it accurately and with clarity. One either dives in and becomes a full part of the war effort, or they get the hell out. ![]()
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