Call of Duty (CoD), one of the few remaining franchises that still is allowed to do WWII games even though there are more of them than actual soliders in the actual conflict. And Call of Duty 2 is no different.
You're playing the basic solider of either the Russian, British, or American army (depending on the selected campaign) in the most exploited war of all time: WWII (though the Star Wars are a close second). You don't have any particular special role, and you're not a super solider to say the least, but you do what you can for your country of choice.
Playing the game is pretty simple if you've played any other FPS. Run, shoot, run, shoot. Repeat. However, CoD2's AI is pretty damn smart and outnumber you 3:1, so it wont work so well to go gung ho unless you're playing on easy and maybe normal. I played on Hard my first go to get a good experience and I did. Died a lot, but a fair challenge that I appreciated. The AI is so appearing in intelligence because of one key factor: patience. Your foes will sit in cover for quite awhile, luring you into a false sense of security that will end you in a heart beat.
With such heavy resistance, I wish for a better system for cover, as there isn't one. It's improv cover, really. Just duck down behind something and hope your head isn't showing. Sadly, your team mates usually take the best cover and wont budge since you can't tell them to do anything. What's more if you want to clear out a cluster of Germans with a tossed grenade, they'll just toss it back! A feature you are not so lucky to have.
Guns range differently in all the nationalities, though most play the same as their counterparts, so there wont be too much unfamiliarity when changing nations.
The gun play is fast and furious, and rarely are you looking at surviving your first go through a particular check point. However, when you do take fire upon an enemy, they go down pretty quick - a realistic feature that makes their large numbers tolerable.
Graphically the game holds well, but not next gen, far from it. Sound wise is fantastic, with effects that really get you into the fighting spirit, though hearing your squadmates say the same damn line over and over again as you fight for your life is very tiresome very quickly.
Online works well though feels more like a passing fancy than anything. I dunno, I may have been spoiled on more competitive shooters, but CoD2 is just so casual on online play that you don't really care about anything, and such passive attitude spoils the experience you were looking for.
Overall the game works well to deliver the experience you'd expect from a franchise of this caliber in a setting of this genre. However, that's a bit of a problem. It's down right predictable, and never surprises you like a great game should. Don't get me wrong, this is a good game, but I can't see why it gets such high buzz.
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