Call of Duty

Seven years after its release, I finally got around to playing Call of Duty. I now know what all the fuss was about. It’s the best WWII first-person shooter that I’ve ever played. It was comparable to Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, a previous favorite of mine. Call of Duty’s squad-based missions were superior, however. The team-based approach of most missions was better than the one-man army style seen in many similar games. The first set of missions placed you in the role of an American soldier, the next set as a British soldier, while the last set was as Russian soldier.

The first levels of the Russian campaign, set in Stalingrad, were extremely engaging. The Russian soldiers had a very difficult task to recapture the city. The game really drew me into the action with the sights and sounds of battle. I thought it was one of the most immersive levels since Medal of Honor’s Omaha Beach landing mission. There was a final set of three missions (one each for the Americans, British, and Russians) that was also very well done. The sound in the game was excellent. Not only were the guns, explosions, and sounds of battle quite convincing, the score by Michael Giacchino was of cinematic quality.