Call of Duty (PC CD)

Thankfully the AI for the baddies is just as convincing. No longer do enemy soldiers bluster towards your rifles, hurling grenades with pin-point accuracy. In Call of Duty, they will advance in sqauds from cover, laying down their own supressing fire, lay traps and ambushes and even fall back to cover when overwhelmed. If a machine gunner gets hit, his buddy might choose to take over, or make a run for it. It gives a very rounded impression that you are flanked by real people, and facing an adaptive and versatile enemy.

The real beauty of the title is that you are part of the team, without being the star of the show. Sure, there's times when its up to you to take the initiative, and maybe even save the day, but if your squad fails, you fail. When playing, I actually felt like covering my squad rather than dashing on ahead, protecting them rather than trying to ignore them. Likewise, I felt confident in their abilities to watch my back, without cringing in case a friendly grenade lands at my feet.

Graphically, Call Of Duty is gritty, realistic and smooth, even at high resolutions. Explosions look great, with tanks going up in flames, while grenades produce a convincing burst of dust and fragmentation. Tracers wizz overhead, puffs of dust ricochet off walls, and wood splinters apart under machine gun fire. The scenery isn't fully deformable, but their is enough scripted demolition to keep things realistic. There's also some great additional touches that really round and polish the experience, such as the blurry 'shell-shock' that warps the screen when a explosion goers off right by your head, or the restrained mixture of blood and dust that marks bullet hits on your target.

I found there was some loss of framerate when my squad found themselves in very close combat with lots of enemy soldiers, but the haze and confusion of the situation was such that I didn't really mind.

The real star of the effects show is the sound, where the game really drags you kicking and screaming into its world. The weapon effects are sufficiently hefty and the bass from an MG42 will definately stop you in your tracks before its bullets do. Best of all, dialogue between soldiers is both contextual and practical - shouted warnings to seek cover really do make a difference, your officer's military jargon is clear enough to give you a good idea how to act in the middle of a firefight..."Shift base of fire right, FIRE!" barks my captain as a platoon of German Paratroopers bursts from cover, and I find myself hurling myself prone and rattling off rounds from my Thompson Carbine.

Call Of Duty brings to the table the intensity of Medal of Honor and the epic scale of Battlefield 1942 with unsurpassed grace and conviction. A must for any WW2 gamer, and a splendid heart-thumper for any action game fan. Highly Recommended.

They've also learnt from the mistakes of MOH and have worked to remove the really irritating aspects that spoilt that game, there are for example, no annoyingly bulletproof Germans, no having to reload a gun before you can hit someone with it and no idiotic squadmates determined to get themselves killed (despite it being your job to protect them), the level of difficulty is pretty much spot on and you never feel hard done by when you lose.

The gameplay is superb, it's spot on, the only reason I'm not giving it full marks is that it really is just far too short, yes, there are 24 missions, all of which have obviously had a great deal of work put into them, but each one rarely lasts more than about 10 minutes and even with mistakes you could easily finish the game in less than say 8 hours of play time.

Roll on the first expansion.

I have to say this is the best games purchase I have made in a very long time. This game is packed with authenticity, attention to detail and outrageously brilliant gameplay. I just lapped this up - it's like being in a good war movie.

The graphics are excellent, with a cracking game engine and it runs stable as a rock on my (2 year old) PC. Sound effects are fantastic, voice dialogue is quite well-acted and the variation in characters and NPCs is refreshing. I thought the high points of the single-player campaign were the Brecourt Manor assault (straight out of Band of Brothers) in the US campaign; the Pegasus Bridge assault and defence in the British campaign; and the highlight of all is the Stalingrad defence from the Russian campaign. The action is multi-layered, frenetic, and truly adrenaline-pumping. The only downside is that weapon sounds are so brilliantly rendered that if you have invested in a 5.1 setup, you will crank it up and let the room shake around you, resulting in partial deafness! (Sorry neighbours!)

The greatest plus from the single-player point of view is that COD finally has cracked the problem which plagues previous squad-based games, namely the incomprehensible and erratic team AI (Battlefield 1942 the obvious culprit!!). In COD, your teammates take initiative, pick their targets and generally manage to stay out of each others' way and avoid blending with the scenery. Lead, and they follow, providing proper covering fire; alternatively, you can lag back a bit and they will clear a way ahead and provide holding positions for you to exploit. It is by far a superior game to MOH or BF 1942.

I haven't tested multiplayer sufficiently to draw an educated judgement, but at this stage I feel that MOH Spearhead or RtCW (Enemy Territory) just about edges it in gameplay, although COD obviously looks and sounds better.

This is a fantastic game that you will keep playing long after you've forgotten Medal of Honor. Buy this now!