crazy-m-tz reviews Call of Duty (PC)

After a extended year's break since the summer of 2008, I'm back with another review. It's rather bizarre to revisit, and to replay a game that was released almost six years ago, and then write a review of it after graphical milestones like Crysis make it look like.. I won't even go there. Here's to the rest of the review......

Once you have heard the remarkable tale of how Infinity Ward and Call of Duty were created; chances are you won't be looking at EA's Medal of Honor the same way you did before. In short, a small group of developers at the Medal of Honor's studio had a fallout over how they should create the next Medal of Honor game after Allied Assault. Obviously, their views were cast down upon, ignored by the majority of MoH's developers and so they threatened to leave if their ideas were not considered in the next MoH game.

Infinty Ward was formed by a group of brave developers who had originated from the Medal of Honor studio and voluntarily left after the aforementioned small dispute - only armed with a sophisticated but excellent idea, with very little money – they took a great risk and went head-on against their former-allies who were the spearheads on the WWII market. The result is what you see now in Call of Duty, the start of the biggest-selling franchise that creates fear, terror, and panic to other publishers and developers when they find out that their game's release date is sat right next to this fantastic and glorious shooter.

Its campaign is split into 4 segments. In the first section you play as an American paratrooper called Pvt. Martin, fighting your way through Europe with the focus point concentrating around St. Mere Eglise. You then play as a British paratrooper called Sgt. Evans. where your aim is to destroy forces around the infamous Eder Dam. In the third section, you play as a Russian Private called Alexei, where you push the Germans back from Stalingrad. And finally, the last section is the shortest of all, containing only three missions, one for each country.

The Russian campaign is by far the most varied in terms of gameplay. Being similar to the 2008 World At War Russian tank mission, you can commadeer a T-34 Russian tank, gun down enemy infantry, blow up German Panzers and demolish buildings in any way you want, however unlike later CoD titles, your tank (like you) has a health bar which does not regenerate. That's not saying CoD only has that to offer. Throughout the game; you will be able to use Flak 88s, Flakpanzer turrets, and watch several armored vehicles explode under your usage of the mighy Panzerfaust.

Call of Duty on the PC is very different when compared to its console ports: 'Finest Hour'. Although released almost exactly a year before it's console counterparts, the PC version boasts higher graphics and incredibly long missions where some can take up to 30 minutes to finishing it, and that's just on Greenhorn difficulty. Gameplay is also different on here too. Whereas on the Playstation 2 you could go prone and crawl towards an MG firing in your direction with ease, you would be killed in a matter of seconds should you repeat that action on the PC version.

The voice acting is reasonably acceptable. Sometimes when you hear a Russian soldier speaking, it sounds almost as if he'd been living in the US for about ten years since he was around the young age of nine. This can hinder your experience depending on whether you take this seriously or not. The character model is quite excellent for a game released on 2003, and the water detail is even more splendid - almost as beautiful as the one in the first Far Cry - But you hardly ever see water in this game, perhaps in only about two or three levels.

Overall, the graphics are extremely great compared to other WWII game's of its time. It's far more superior than DiCE's Battlefield 1942 and EA's Medal of Honor: Allied Assault. The detail on the guns are also astounding along with the realism created from artillery blasts and exploding grenades. The game also tends to create a realistic atmosphere of chaos and confusion on the battlefields when it is most suitable. For example, as the Russians try to take back Red Square later on in the game, artillery rounds explode all around you, and if you're using stereo headphones or surround sound, the results can be pretty epic. Expect detailed reloading animations and sharp visuals when fighting against Nazis.

Call of Duty's multiplayer is perhaps the only replayablilty value the game has to offer. It's simply deathmatches, free-for-alls, capture the flag - you name it - Almost every mode you can think off from other games. Infinity Ward definitely did its research here. As of 2009 there are hundreds, if not thousands of mods out there that have been created for the multiplayer, ranging from different themes, to user-created mods (I remember a map in the shape of a monopoly board with green houses and dices acting as obstacles). The available s