2005 video game
This article is about the second installment in the Call of Duty series. For the console spin-off, see 🌜 Call of Duty 2: Big Red One
2005 video game
Call of Duty 2 is a 2005 first-person shooter video game developed 🌜 by Infinity Ward and published by Activision in most regions of the world. It is the second installment of the 🌜 Call of Duty series. Announced by Activision on April 7, 2005, the game was released for Microsoft Windows on October 🌜 25, 2005, and as a launch title for the Xbox 360 on November 22, 2005.[4] Other versions were eventually released 🌜 for OS X, mobile phones, and Pocket PCs.
The game is set during World War II and the campaign mode is 🌜 experienced through the perspectives of four soldiers: one in the Red Army, one in the United States Army, and two 🌜 in the British Army. It contains four individual campaigns, split into three stories, with a total of 27 missions. Many 🌜 features were added and changed from the original Call of Duty, notably regenerating health and an icon that indicates a 🌜 nearby grenade about to explode.
The game drew critical praise, particularly for the graphics, sound, and the regenerating health system. The 🌜 Xbox 360 version sold more than 250,000 copies in its first week, more than 2 million copies by January 2008, 🌜 and nearly 6 million copies by November 2013.[9] It is considered to be one of the best video games of 🌜 all time.
Gameplay [ edit ]
The Pointe du Hoc D-Day mission in the single-player campaign depicts U.S. Rangers going ashore in 🌜 LCVP landing craft.
Call of Duty 2 is a first-person shooter that has a single-player story mode and a multiplayer mode. 🌜 The player takes on the roles of several Allied protagonists in specific missions during World War II. The player can 🌜 crouch and lie prone, and is able to scale low walls and other obstacles.[10]
The player can carry two firearms, and 🌜 may swap them for others found on the battlefield. A gun's iron sights can be used to aim more accurately. 🌜 Fragmentation and smoke grenades can be carried. Emplaced weapons such as machine guns and flak cannons are available in some 🌜 locations. Some missions place the player in control of a tank.[11]
A compass on the heads-up display (HUD) shows allies, enemies, 🌜 and markers that indicate locations the player must reach, areas to defend, or enemy artillery pieces or tanks that the 🌜 player must plant explosives on to disable.
The player has binoculars. Generally ignored during infantry-centric missions, they are useful for scouting 🌜 and vital to the long-range use of the Crusader tanks and a mission in which the player must direct artillery 🌜 fire to defend a town.[12]
Should the player take severe damage, the screen will turn red and the sound of the 🌜 character's heartbeat will increase in volume; these indicate that the player's health is low. Health is only restored through automatic 🌜 recharging when the player is not taking fire. Some attacks will kill the player instantly, such as nearby explosions by 🌜 grenades or shells.[13] A player who dies restarts from the last checkpoint.
In April 2006, Infinity Ward released Call of Duty 🌜 2 Radiant, which allows a player to create their own multiplayer or single-player maps. The mapmaker includes Maya plug-in support, 🌜 an effects editor, and an asset manager that allows custom models to be made and imported into the game, as 🌜 well as custom effects.[14]
Campaign [ edit ]
Call of Duty 2 contains three individual campaigns, fought in the roles of four 🌜 World War II soldiers, for a total of 27 missions.[15][16] The game has four difficulty levels: Easy, Regular, Hardened, and 🌜 Veteran.
Multiplayer [ edit ]
Call of Duty 2 features several game types: Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Search & Destroy, Capture the Flag 🌜 and Headquarters.[17] The maps include Normandy, Africa, and Russia. Each team can choose a variety of weapons, depending on the 🌜 map. Players can choose between American soldiers, Soviet soldiers, and British soldiers for the Allied forces, while the Axis forces 🌜 must play as German soldiers.[18]
Each PC multiplayer server can hold a maximum of 64 players, while the limit is eight 🌜 players on Xbox.[19] In the Xbox 360 version, players can play on Xbox Live and get new map packs. There 🌜 are 13 official maps, including three remakes from the original Call of Duty. There are three extra map packs (Bonus 🌜 Pack, Skirmish Pack, and Invasion Pack) that add a total of eight maps.[20]
Plot [ edit ]
Soviet campaign [ edit ]
The 🌜 player controls Private Vasili Koslov of the 13th Guards Rifle Division, initially involved in the defense of Moscow from the 🌜 advancing German troops. The next level involves the destruction of a German stronghold in Stalingrad during September 1942. The next 🌜 objective involves battling for strongholds throughout Stalingrad throughout December 1942, including re-connecting cut telephone wires and re-capturing the rail-yard and 🌜 train-station. The final mission takes place during the final Soviet offensive in Stalingrad in January 1943, which involves the re-capture 🌜 and defense of city blocks and Stalingrad city hall.
British campaign [ edit ]
The player controls a British soldier, Sergeant John 🌜 Davis of the 7th Armoured Division in North Africa, led by Captain Price. The first level has the player taking 🌜 part in a sneak attack on German Afrika Korps troops, ending with the destruction of a German supply station. The 🌜 next level has the player defending a town from overwhelming numbers of Germans sending counter attacks from North, West, South 🌜 and East; finally achieving victory by destroying much of the German tank force using artillery. This is followed by the 🌜 Second Battle of El Alamein, during which the player has to fight through several trenches, machine gun nests, 88mm Flak 🌜 36 guns and finally taking the German field headquarters. The assault on El Dabaa to intercept the remaining Germans in 🌜 Egypt and destroy several 88mm guns soon follows, ending the first British campaign.[21] An addendum to the second set of 🌜 missions has the player taking on the role of a British tank commander, David Welsh, while engaging German forces in 🌜 Libya. The first mission of the third campaign in Toujane, Tunisia, has the player immediately under fire, holding a house 🌜 until they break out and rendezvous with the second squad. They then retake Toujane with reinforcements the next day all 🌜 before assaulting Matmata. The final British campaign takes place during the Battle for Caen as part of Operation Overlord.
American campaign 🌜 [ edit ]
As Corporal Bill Taylor of the 2nd Ranger Battalion, the player starts off by playing a part in 🌜 D-Day, at the assault of Pointe du Hoc, to destroy a German artillery battery, and hold it against a massive 🌜 German counter-offensive in the following mission. Soon after, the player captures a nearby town and serves as a sniper against 🌜 mortar crews until reinforcements arrive. The second objective is focused on Hill 400, involving the capture of Bergstein, a disastrous 🌜 charge at Hill 400's bunkers and the defense against the German counterattack, with the player again performing sniper work against 🌜 German mortar teams, destroying enemy armor, and generally holding the hill against a massive counter-attack, all the while burdened by 🌜 artillery and overwhelming numbers of German soldiers. The final mission is set amongst the Americans in the Rhine River crossing 🌜 into Germany. It begins as one of the few missions with the player immediately under fire, providing cover fire against 🌜 the Germans until reaching the river banks and then fighting through most of the town. The final fight has the 🌜 player defeat two German Tiger Is.
Ending [ edit ]
The end credits depict the dramatic rescue of Captain Price from the 🌜 Germans by a group of American soldiers. After the credits end, the words "No cows were harmed in the making 🌜 of this game" appear, as in the original Call of Duty. This is a reference to the dead cattle visible 🌜 in the Normandy missions.[10]
Development [ edit ]
On April 7, 2005, Activision announced that Infinity Ward was developing Call of Duty 🌜 2, set for release in fall 2005 for PC. It had been speculated that Infinity Ward was developing the sequel 🌜 at the same time as Gray Matter Studios developed Call of Duty: United Offensive. Infinity Ward president Grant Collier said:
"Our 🌜 team at Infinity Ward is committed to thrusting gamers into the heat of battle like no other, taking players on 🌜 a thrill-ride of adrenaline that leaves everyone gasping for air. In Call of Duty 2, we are creating the most 🌜 intense and realistic action game imaginable with a stunning visual atmosphere and an advanced technology that delivers an unprecedented level 🌜 of authenticity".[22]
The press release said players would engage enemies in a less linear battlefield, tackle the major battles chronologically, and 🌜 use squad tactics not available in previous Call of Duty games. Infinity Ward also confirmed making a "Battle Chatter System", 🌜 similar to Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault, where squad members converse to create situational awareness.[22]
The game engine—proprietary IW engine 2.0—is 🌜 a modified version of id Tech 3, which was used in the first Call of Duty game. With the new 🌜 game engine, Infinity Ward expanded the scope of combat to deliver a realistic battlefield experience and improved the visuals. The 🌜 developers were able to cloud visibility with smoke from smoke grenades and create weather effects like dusty sandstorms and whiteout 🌜 blizzard.[23]
The game was known to "let players experience four individual soldier stories as they overcome insurmountable odds in multiple campaigns. 🌜 Players have the freedom to follow each of the four storylines through for the ultimate character-driven experience, or they can 🌜 engage in the historic battles chronologically for quick hitting action. Squads now have the freedom to take on a variety 🌜 of mission objectives, on expansive battlefields that allow for multiple paths and the ability to utilize actual combat tactics like 🌜 outflanking and fire and maneuver capabilities".[24]
Call of Duty 2 was going to be more immersive than the original Call of 🌜 Duty. Vince Zampella, creative director of Infinity Ward, said, "We didn't want to take any of the parts out that 🌜 made Call of Duty so good. But there were a couple of things that we admit could have been done 🌜 better". A demo of the game showed a more open gameplay style and a better AI for the enemies, who 🌜 would actively go after the player. There are a set number of enemies set on the map that will begin 🌜 reacting to the player's presence once the first shot has been fired. Groups of enemies farther away send units up 🌜 to see what is happening and add to the combat while enemies directly in front of the player will join 🌜 in and take cover quickly.[25]
Infinity Ward spent a lot of time on WWII battlefields, which led them to scrap whole 🌜 levels for parts of the game that took place in France, since they found the location very different from what 🌜 they imagined.
One of the details the team added are post-war effects that continue on the battlefield throughout the game, where 🌜 dust and smoke continue to roll through the streets, clouding up vision, and junk and debris scattered everywhere. The game 🌜 has sound attenuation, with a 5.1 surround sound system, and context sensitive dialog, with a total of twenty-thousand lines of 🌜 dialog. Each of the soldiers fighting alongside the player will call out the position of enemy soldiers, warn of flank 🌜 attacks, and help out in ways that were not possible in the first game of the series. Zampella said, "We 🌜 really wanted realistic battle chatter going that's not only entertaining, but actually adds to the gaming experience. So now you'll 🌜 hear your guys telling you that there's [sic] two guys hiding behind that rusty car in the street or that 🌜 there are people on the second floor of a building".[26]
A small grayed-out grenade icon appears in the center of the 🌜 screen when the player is near a grenade, with an arrow pointing in the direction of the grenade. Enemies can 🌜 sometimes seem to be dead when they are not, where the enemy can still wield his side arm and fire 🌜 at the player, known as Last Stand, which would later become a perk available to players in the multiplayer of 🌜 subsequent games.[27]
The game was showcased in E3 in 2005 and was announced as a launch title for the upcoming Xbox 🌜 360.[28][29]
The game's budget wasR$14.5 million.[30] Development time was 2 years with 75 people.[30] Despite being first on the new Xbox 🌜 360 platform, the game was developed with no mandatory overtime or weekend work.[31]
Reception [ edit ]
Call of Duty 2 received 🌜 "generally positive" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic.[32][33] The graphics and sound were widely praised and the reactions to the 🌜 regenerating health system were mostly positive, with reviewers from GameSpot and GamePro calling it an improvement over the previous health 🌜 bar system.[44][45]
For the Xbox 360 version, IGN's Douglass C. Perry described the presentation as "classy and well-produced", and said the 🌜 graphics were some of the best on the Xbox 360 at its launch. He called the sound effects "unbelievable", whilst 🌜 the gameplay was described as containing an "enormous amount of action".[46] GameSpot reviewer Bob Colayco summarized his review by stating 🌜 that Call of Duty 2 has "smooth, detailed graphics and great sound", as well as praising the artificial intelligence, realism, 🌜 and variety in the campaign.[47] GamePro called the game "breathtaking", and commended the game for its "strikingly realistic detail on 🌜 weapons and walls, emphasized by normal mapping, exceptional shading and lighting, specular highlights, and some absolutely phenomenal particle effects".[36] GameSpy 🌜 editor Will Tuttle called it "One of the finest FPSs ever created. Thanks to a combination of sharp visuals, teeth-rattling 🌜 sound effects, and tricky enemy AI, you'll be on the edge of your seat from the moment you're dropped into 🌜 combat until your dying breath".[39]
For the PC version, IGN editor Tom McNamara was impressed with the presentation and graphics, describing 🌜 them as "Excellent" and "smooth" respectively. He also said the graphics did not suffer "from also being developed for the 🌜 360". McNamara also praised the sound, describing it as "sad music, encompassing battle noise, and excellent voice work".[48] Bob Colayco 🌜 of GameSpot also reviewed the PC version of the game, as he did its Xbox 360 counterpart. Colayco again commended 🌜 the sound, calling the presentation of the game "excellent", as well as praising the aggression of the artificial intelligence. Unlike 🌜 in his review of the Xbox 360 version, Colayco felt the multiplayer aspect was "fun". His main critique was for 🌜 performance, stating "performance can chug at times".[44] GameSpy's Sal Accardo noted "Instead of feeling like a stale retread [of the 🌜 original Call of Duty] or losing steam halfway through, it manages to be a blast from start to finish".[38] GamesRadar 🌜 Joshua Latendresse called the single-player campaign "stunning" and cited that the multiplayer was even better.[49]
Despite this praise, McNamara of IGN 🌜 commented that he finds implementing regenerating health to be "a little troublesome", and that it allows players to "experience a 🌜 kind of combat only a mythical super-soldier could withstand" which, therefore, "propels the game from gritty authenticity to John Woo 🌜 fantasy".[48] GameSpot's Colayco was critical of the game's pricing, stating it had a "higher pricepoint than its PC counterpart". He 🌜 also complained that the multiplayer aspect could only support eight players.[47] The PC version multiplayer was criticized as being a 🌜 step back from that of Call of Duty: United Offensive.[50][51]
Call of Duty 2 was the most popular launch title on 🌜 the Xbox 360, with 200,000 units sold in its first week of availability.[52] 77% of people who purchased an Xbox 🌜 360 also purchased the game, which contributed to its high sales.[53] As of July 2006, 1.4 million copies of the 🌜 game had been sold on the Xbox 360.[54] By January 2008, the game had sold 2 million copies.[55] By November 🌜 2013, the game had sold 5.9 million copies.[56]
The editors of Computer Games Magazine named Call of Duty 2 the seventh-best 🌜 computer game of 2005. They called it "the ultimate WWII shooter".[57]
During the 9th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, the Academy of 🌜 Interactive Arts & Sciences nominated Call of Duty 2 for "Overall Game of the Year", "Console Game of the Year", 🌜 "First-Person Action Game of the Year", "Outstanding Achievement in Online Gameplay", and "Outstanding Achievement in Visual Engineering".[58]
Advertisement controversy [ edit 🌜 ]
A television advertisement for Call of Duty 2 was the subject of some controversy in 2006. The commercial, created by 🌜 a Los Angeles animation studio Rhythm and Hues Studios, depicted a first-person view of events that were supposed to transpire 🌜 during the game, rather than scenes from the game itself. Some consumers felt that the advertisements were misleading, and in 🌜 February 2006 the United Kingdom's Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) demanded that networks remove the advertisements after three consumers filed complaints 🌜 of false advertising. According to ASA spokesperson Donna Mitchell, "Viewers felt that the ad was misleading because the quality of 🌜 graphics was superior to that of the game's".[59] Activision denies that the scenes were meant to give an impression of 🌜 gameplay, stating in a press release shortly after the ASA banning that "The footage was intended purely to communicate the 🌜 subject matter of the game rather than to represent actual gameplay".[60]
Other versions [ edit ]
A collector's edition of the game 🌜 was released for Windows on October 25, 2005 and for the Xbox 360 labeled as the "Special Edition". It features 🌜 the game and a bonus disc, which includes interviews, a making of the movie and two mission walkthroughs.[61] On May 🌜 17, 2006, Activision announced a Game of the Year Edition for the Xbox 360, which includes material from the Special 🌜 Edition, plus a token to download the Skirmish Map Pack.[62] In January 2006, MFORMA (now Hands-On Mobile) released Call of 🌜 Duty 2 for mobile phones.[63] The mobile version is a 2D top-down shooter. It received a favorable review from IGN, 🌜 praising its length and storytelling.[64]
Notes [ edit ]
^ [7] Ported to Mac OS X by i5works. ^ Mac OS X 🌜 port published by Aspyr
