Call of Duty: United Offensive : Games : Web Wombat

From the days of Wolfenstein 3D, we gamers have always found joy in blowing away those perfidious machine-gun toting sausage-eaters, and it is no different now.

Indeed, a wave of anti-fascist sentiment seems to be sweeping the gaming community, for how else could you explain the way in which Infinity Ward's Call of Duty was received? Apart from that it was just so damn good.

Incorporating and recreating setpieces from, seemingly, every WW2 flick of half-decent quality and pulling it off in such a way that one cannot help but feel they are, indeed, fighting the war to end all wars, Call of Duty was and is a great game.

A tad too short, maybe, but still one of the best games to come to the PC in recent memory, and so news of an expansion pack was met with excitement.

Indeed, much rejoicing was to be had, and not undeservedly, for, in the experienced hands of Gray Matter, Call of Duty: United Offensive has been made a far more comprehensive experience. Then again, what else could one possibly expect from, arguably, the best expansion developer in the business?

One of the first things you notice about United Offensive is the subtly enhanced visual style. There are far more units on-screen at any given moment, particularly during the American campaign, where entire platoons lay waste to their enemies, and far more is happening.

Buildings collapse, tanks lay siege to enemy shelters, and P51s roar overhead on bombing runs and through all of this you must run. Particle effects and explosions are more detailed, as are most of the campaign character models, which seem to have been fashioned with far greater care than those of the original.

The techheads amongst our ranks will know that Medal of Honour, Call of Duty and now United Offensive are powered by id's Quake 3 engine and, while Gray Matter have done a masterful job of pushing John Carmack's code to it's breaking point, the edges are beginning to show, and there are sometimes moments of unaccountable slowdown, even on the most high-powered of machines.

The flying fortress levels help to add a
measured level of variety to proceedings

Still, it's only occasional and never for long, so it's more a niggle than anything else.

Anyway, to go with this graphical renovation, Gray Matter has also taken a slightly different tack with the gameplay, introducing several long vehicular segments and increasing the number and intensity of firefights, with some great results.

Particularly memorable sequences include riding shotgun in a motorcycle sidecar through the backstreets of a Sicilian village and gunning down Messerschmidts over Holland in a B-17 bomber, while the introduction to the Russian campaign (a truck-ride through Kursk, which is being shelled to oblivion by the Germans) can only be described as intense.

While these are particular standouts, the whole - roughly 10-hour - jaunt is exemplary if, like the game from which it is spawned, still a tad on the short side. Still, you'll die plenty of times, so don't think those ten hours will fly by.

Speaking of dying, an expansion pack needs new guns, and, apart from a few new rifles, pistols and a Bazooka, the most important additions are deployable machine guns, which can be set-up at a moment's notice to provide heavy fire support during heated gun battles, and a flamethrower, for fans of the impromptu BBQ.

Dedicated Nazi thrashers will note with amusement that the abovementioned flamethrower is an import from Gray Matter's last foray into World War 2 antics, Return to Castle Wolfenstein.

Once you finish with the single player campaigns (a daunting prospect, believe you me), there's the multiplayer modes to contend with, offering 11 fresh, huge maps, all of which make the original CoD maps look minuscule by comparison.

To go with these new maps, we finally get the chance to drive a few vehicles, mostly tanks and the occasional jeep and, due to both teams having access to anti-tank weapons and equally powerful tanks, there are, thankfully, no imbalances to ruin play.

It should be said that one of the major advantages of the big maps and access to armour is that snipers are a much smaller problem as compared to Cod, where a sniper rifle basically granted you an unlimited license to camp.

The multiplayer modes are far more
enjoyable thanks to the use of vehicles

To go with the new vehicles, Gray Matter have seen fit to bestow upon the unwashed masses a few new multiplayer modes, namely:

Domination: Take over a set of strategic points and hold them. This mode requires the team to work together and co-ordinate heavy artillery with infantry in order to win the day.

Base Assault: Destroy the opposing team's bunker. A two-stage game-mode, you must first assault the bunker with rockets and then run into the ruins and plant explosive charges.

While not revolutionary (there's a touch of Battlefield 1942 here, methinks), the new modes of play certainly inject life into the multiplayer side of things.

Of the maps themselves, plenty of thought has gone into their design, with demolished hideouts for ambushes, avenues for tanks, rooftops for sniping and nice, tight corridors to skirmish in.

Finally, one of the less noticeable but still welcome additions to multiplayer is a system by which players are ranked for helping their team win the day. The more you help, the higher your rank and the more kit you have access to (extra grenades, ammo etc).

If you rise to a high enough level, you even get the ability to call in air-strikes, which is always good for a laugh. While not totally necessary to play, it does help cement the team together and encourages members to actually play together, instead of giving mavericks reasons to exist (never a good thing).

Upping the intensity, pace, length and sheer fun factor of an already nigh-perfect game, United Offensive does what few expansions packs can and provides an experience that is just as good as, if not better than, the game upon which it is based.

In fact, United Offensive is arguably better than most full commercial games available at this very second and that, friends, is a rare thing indeed.

Game: Call of Duty: United Offensive
Players: 1-multi
Online: Yes
Developer: Gray Matter
Distributor: Activision

Rating: 90%

(Ratings Key/Explanation)

Call of Duty: United Offensive is on the shelves now.

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