Reviewed: November 7, 2005
Reviewed by: Ken Hutchinson

Publisher
Activision

Developer
Treyarch

Released: November 1, 2005
Genre: Action-FPS
Players: 1
ESRB: Teen

9
8
9
8
8.5

Supported Features

This next installment in the Call of Duty series lives up to its reputation. With incredible cinematic intensity and improved AI, Big Red One surpasses its predecessors with a new WWII first-person shooter. Activision, publisher of other shooters such as Doom 3 and Quake 4, has teamed up with Treyarch, developer of games such as Die by the Sword and Spider-Man: The Movie, to teach you the harsh realities of war as never before.

I’ve learned a lot about WWII from books, people, and movies. All of those can help you with an “idea” of the time, but games, when made well, can make you feel as if you were actually “there” in that time. Call of Duty 2: Big Red One is such a game. You are no longer observing history, but making history. Pick up your rifle and live the life of a soldier deeper than you’ve ever experienced. Remember, “Nothing in Hell must stop the First Division!”

Once the flashback is over, you’re taken to the scorching deserts of North Africa to deal Rommel and his infamous Afrika Korps. Move on to Sicily after that to force Mussolini and his Italian forces to surrender. Experience the Battle of Normandy, and proceed through Western Europe to the Siegfried Line. You’ll bomb destroyers, take out Stukas, complete multiple demolition missions, and even go heads up against a Panzer in your attempts to bring down Hitler and his rule. You’ll be doing all this in the midst of an incessant raining of mortar shells and gunfire.

Enemy artificial intelligence, or even allied AI for that matter, is not perfectly humanlike. Enemies don’t exactly react realistically to a slaughtering of their comrades as they keep running to a certain spot. However, they are keen enough to pitch grenades to try and flush you out of a corner or attempt flanking maneuvers in an attempt to catch you off guard. Your squad will also help you identify enemy locations and even yell out strategies at times.

Once you get into the game and forget all the distractions of the real world, you’ll be able to experience the action as it was meant to be portrayed. You aren’t merely playing the game, but reliving the battle through the eyes of the 1st Infantry Division.

Control of the game is relatively simplistic. At times it can become hard to aim precisely at a distant target, but that’s the way it is in reality. Sniping enemies is done with relative ease. As you look through the scope, your sight moves real smoothly to follow enemy movement, making it fairly easy to take out even moving targets with a single shot. The ease of controls and absorbing plot give this game a high gameplay factor.

You’ll see bullets whizzing by, leaving a fiery tail behind. Even the binoculars you use can become covered in the spray of the ocean. Sniping the enemy tends to be fairly difficult when you constantly lose sight of them from the blast incoming rounds. Even the movies that are shown a various points appear to be realistic duplicates of film from the war.

Even though there is fairly rich detail acquainted with much of the landscape and objects, perfect detail can’t be expected with all that is happening on screen simultaneously. There are even a few times when characters will suddenly shift positions or appear to be walking on air. Don’t let this discourage you, however, as this does not happen often. Although it does happen, even when it does, it does not upset gameplay.

The music is very reminiscent of wartime music. The orchestral compositions seem to have had their roots planted back in the mid-1940s. The music soothes you nostalgically into the past.

Sound effects are also worthy of mention. If you’re running and barely miss death from a mortar, you’ll hear it. You can feel the bass rumbling through your sub as a mortar lands near you. The sound of planes overhead radiate sounds with excellent surround quality. Nearly every detail was paid attention to, from the sound of your feet to the tinking sound of a grenade bouncing off of a wall, you’ll hear it.

The only thing that keeps it from perfection is relative sound. A round of gunfire going off next to your ear from your squad don’t sound as loud as you’d expect, especially when looking at how the sound of an 88 was approached. It would have been a nice touch to allow deafness or a ringing in that particular ear for added effect.

Some of you will love going back and redoing vehicle missions. Others may want to redo demolition missions. I went back, picked up a Springfield, and proceeded to snipe dozens of enemy soldiers. Although normal leaves some room for haphazardness, don’t expect that sort of leeway on hard difficulty. You may actually need to rely on your squad more extensively to complete certain missions.

What is it missing? A multiplayer option or online aspect that is present in its PS2 and Xbox rival. But then again, that’s the GameCube for you. A very small selection of games hold claim to the online realm for the GameCube, so you can’t expect this game to break the barrier.

Being a first-person shooter, the mission sequence is fairly linear, without much deviation from how to proceed through a level. After a few runs through a level on hard, it may become too easy or repetitive. Though it does not happen as quickly as some other FPS titles, it does tend to bring the title down from its $49.99 tag to around the $39.99 mark. That may sound bad, but a lot of FPS titles are barely worthy of the $29.99 price.

No mission is too difficult for them. No sacrifice is too great to bear. For the pride and honor of the country: duty first. The motto of the Fighting 1st Infantry Division will echo through the fabric of time as you relive their experiences.