Call of Duty 2 - First Look Preview

Sitting in one of the many rows at Activisionâ??s pre-E3 press conference at Downtown LAâ??s Wilshire Grand Hotel, TVG experienced a flashback to World War II with a first hand look at Call of Duty 2, set for release on PC and Xbox 360 at the end of the year. Whilst Call of Duty 2: Big Red One is sure to be trying to distance itself from the poor console debut of the franchise that was Finest Hour, Call of Duty 2 only aims to emulate and surpass the reaction to itâ??s PC predecessor Call of Duty.

Freeing gamers from the linear experience of playing through one section of the game as one country before jumping to another storyline, Infinity Ward, developers of COD2, have taken the decision to allow players to choose between four â??against the oddsâ?? campaigns or continue through the various missions in chronological order. Once again the Allies of Great Britain, the USA, and Russia each have their own strands in the game with missions taking place in North Africa, the Western Front and Stalingrad, but for the pre-E3 event, the scene was set in the deserts of North Africa and Rommelâ??s Afrika Korps.

As the presentation began, our solder raced into a small town situated in the sandy environment where planes flew overhead and smoke could be seen rising into the sky. The environments certainly seemed to hint at a strong mix of expansive and claustrophobic gameplay, and the desert town certainly epitomised this with a maze of street and alleyways, ambushes and counter-attacks.

One of the key features that have been implemented into Call of Duty 2 is â??Battle-Chatâ??, a dynamic audio element that in the presentation created a strong sense of realism and depth. Used by allies and enemies alike, the Battle-Chat system relays various battlefield information to the other soldiers in a squad so that tactical changes and battle progression can be continually updated. The element is a good indication of just how strong the AI in the game actually is, which certainly at this stage seems to be one of the defining points of the game; another was the reaction of intense seat of the pants gunfights that occur in the game, which was undoubtedly boosted by the implementation of Battle-Chat.

During the presentation it was actually quite difficult to assess whether some of the events that occurred were as a result of AI or whether they were scripted. One such instance came when the playerâ??s character was running towards a small group of allied soldiers, one of whom was trying to open a door. Just as heâ??d begun to open it the soldier was shredded by a hail of machine gun bullets, and he fell to the ground â?“ the sequence, whether AI driven or scripted, certainly shocked and conveyed just how brutal war actually is. The game doesnâ??t just throw a large group of enemy soldiers for gamers to mow down in an action-packed yet potentially tiresome bloodbath, instead the AI will react to the decisions and progress of the player; press forward and the enemy may fall back, but alternatively a cutting line of suppressing fire could form part of a retaliatory strike by the enemy, which means that players will have to be constantly aware of ambush situations and cornered enemies. In addition to that, the AI will also enable squads to develop flanking tactics to outmanoeuvre enemy positions and you can almost guarantee that the enemy will be able to utilise such strategies too. In other words, look out for what may just turn out to be the closest experience to actual war outside of signing up to the Army. Call of Duty 2 looks to offer an intense experience through the use of a multitude of techniques with an emphasis on intelligent enemies, the implementation of combat tactics, and the constant Battle-Chat that will convey depth that is lacking in other WW2 FPS titles - the game appears to represent a return to the brilliance of the PC original.

It has to be said that particle and smoke effects aside, COD2 didnâ??t exactly wow us with superior graphics. True the game did successfully create a real and strong sense of intensity, and the North African preview certainly showed off some of the harsh realities of war. During the presentation it was explained that Infinity were utilising a wide range of techniques in a proprietary engine that includes real-time dynamic shadows, advanced particle systems, bump-mapping and specular mapping, and examples of all of those techniques were on display throughout the demo â?“ but they didnâ??t really succeed in dropping the jaws of too many people in the conference room.

Although the game is set to include a range of mission objectives throughout the four campaigns, it was mentioned by Activision that Call of Duty 2 will not be featuring co-operative play. Perhaps the lack of such an option will be looked back on by Infinity as a lost opportunity, especially on Xbox 360, where the prospect of two player teamwork through the war torn street of Stalingrad would make for an amazingly tense experience.