If Medal of Honour: Allied Assault (MOHAA) is considered to be the game
version of ‘Saving Private Ryan’, then Call of Duty (CoD) can be considered
the game version of ‘Band of Brothers’.
Developed by the team behind MOHAA, CoD was guaranteed to be a quality
piece – and it is. CoD is strikingly similar to MOHAA in many ways, yet is
updated enough to be considered a pseudo-sequel.
While CoD is still based on the Quake 3 engine, it has been transformed and
improved significantly from its deathmatch origins and renders the open and
closed areas convincingly well, allowing for, at times, some very nice visuals.
Character models have also been improved, allowing for realistic movement and
facial animations.
The games audio also deserves special mention… it is brilliant! I use a
5.1 speaker setup and the sound was so crisp and well produced it was
startling. A perfect example of how important good audio can be to a game.
The game is heavily scripted, but it is the price you pay for some of the
‘Wow!’ moments you're in store for. Some might find the game too ‘on
rails’, and while it may feel that way, the developers have done their best to
make this transparent, allowing you a certain degree of freedom.
While some of the missions (especially those indoors) are a bit drab and
ho-hum, most of the game's scenes are well crafted, capturing the action of war
so completely, it is stunning. A few of these scenes are extremely memorable
and jaw-droppingly good.
Multiplayer seems to be a love/hate preference. From the little I played of
it, it did nothing for me. I say, buy this for the single player and try
Battlefield 1942 for multiplayer.
Probably the best WW2 FPS experience to date.