Call of duty 2: Big Red One : Games : Web Wombat

Not that there is anything wrong with blowing an elbow or femur bone off of a Nazi, it just gets repetitive after a while (a while being a couple years).

For anybody looking for anything remarkably new or innovative in Call of Duty 2: Big Red One (COD2:BRO) on the consoles, don't get too excited. But if you're looking for amazing graphics, great sound and hell breaking loose all around you in some of the most hair-raising scenarios ever seen on a cathode ray tube, then you might wanna try COD2:BRO.

You start out as a seargant for America's "Fighting First" infantry division, the Big Red One, which were said to have always been the first men on the frontlines. The game starts out with an in-game cut-scene where your captain is telling you what lies ahead in your first mission.

Don't worry, if you got distracted by the amazing scenery, the loud explosions or that plane that crashed about 200 meters from your position, there is always your trusty map that tells you exactly where to go.

COD2:BRO takes you through the European fights that took place during WWII: you start in France and move to Africa, Sicily, back to storm the beachs of Normandy, then onto Belgium and finally to Germany to close up the war, all the while you are provided with some classic footage via the theatre of war, which pumps you full of historical data.

All of the missions have the best scenery I have seen in a WWII console game to date. Coupled with amazing sound and easy to get used to controls, it makes for an exceedingly enjoyable - but repetitive - game.

Basically each mission you go out and shoot anything and everything moving, from people to tanks or possibly planes. Where COD2 really shines is definently in regards to the audio. from the beginning cut scene where a plane almost takes your head off and it sounds like it has just landed in your kitchen, to anytime you throw a grenade and then you wait - BOOSH! - and bodies are flying everywhere.

Another great aspect is the variety of ways you can get around. It can be on foot, or on the top of a jeep armed with a .50 caliber gun, manning a tank (which all men secrelty dream of), or taking the position of tail-end gunner in a B-52 Bomber airplane. Once again the sound in all of these transports is amazing, and the ability to blow holes in sides of buildings with the tank was like a boyhood dream come true.

The audio-visual experience in Big Red
Oneis stupendou, with a real cinematic flair

One of the best aspects of the gameplay is how in an instant you can go from an all-out open field fight to a very personal trench fight.

Picture this: you're in the deserts of North Africa, all of a sudden 20 or 30 Nazi's come over the hill followed by a couple tanks, then the shit hits the fan with splatter effect of 8.7. There are bullets flying past both your ears and naturally, you quickly find some cover.

After taking a couple deep breaths, and possibly changing your underwear, you look up to find a pair of Germans, guns aimed at you, not but a couple meters away and the only thing separating you from them are the pieces of metal your hiding behind and the sand of the desert.

Suddenly the other 28 Germans out in that field mean nothing to you, as you're in a good old fashioned trench fight. This doesn't happen very often, but when it does it makes things a much more interesting and far more intense.

Like I wrote earlier, the game is rather repetetive in the mission department - shoot the bad guys is the main goal in all missions. Like in so many WWII games before it, when you successfully complete a mission in COD2, you just move on to the next one with no real knowledge of what you just accomplished and how it will affect the outcome of the war.

However, if you were to die and fail the mission all you have to do is start that mission over exactly as it was in the beginning. The Axis troops did not move forward on the line because of the failure of you and your men, nor did your troops move back and once again you have no knowledge of how your failure might affect the war in the coming months.

That being said, it might be the only downside to this game, and I'm pretty sure anyone who as ever played a WWII console game knows what they're getting into when a new one comes out. All in all, this is the best WWII game I have played. The graphics, sound, and some of the gameplay are altogether amazing, but the missions feel like you're doing the same thing over and over again.

Game: Call of Duty 2: Big Red One
System: Xbox
Players: 1-multi
Online: Yes
Developer: Treyarch / Gray Matter Studios
Distributor: Activision

Rating: 80%

(Ratings Key/Explanation)

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