Call of Duty - The best yet?

[BrubakerII]

Time for my monthly - is this the best game yet - post

The website is here: http://www.callofduty.com/ and a 180 odd meg demo has just been released on the same site.

I was drawn to the demo because of a couple of previews that stated such things as "the most intense ww2 first person shooter yet" and "this is the way medal of honour was supposed to be". With that in mind I headed off and downloaded the behemoth demo.

Let me say from the outset, this IS just another first person shooter the same as Wolfenstein, Medal of Honour and the rest. Having said that, this is also clearly the best fun I have EVER had outside of a multiplayer game. It is intense, difficult, and leaves you wanting to play on. Graphically it is absolutely superb, even on my Geforce2 and 1.2 Gb chip! It ran smooth as silk with no hiccups at all which leaves me wondering why all shooters aren't made this way.

The gameplay itself is still linear, and I suppose for a singleplayer game to work it needs to be? The demo map is brilliantly designed, with tight difficult alleyways and buildings, with room to room clearance the object of the experience.

There is a team of ai squaddies fighting around you and personally I think they are the best AI figures I have ever played with. They move unlike any other figures, seem to have countless variations of stances, and overall give that desirable experience of playing a mulitplayer game: they act like real people!

The sounds are superb, way better than MOH and in places quite terrifying (read wirblewind here).

During the game there are hundreds of background things happenning to make the whole experience much much richer than anything that has come before it. Visually and phonically it is an assault on the sense - and you still have to complete objectives amongst this!

Did I mention there are 4 campaigns: american, british, russian! and a 4th unannounced - no guesses there


Okay you have probably realised I am impressed. Hey, I play a lot of these things and believe me this is the best I have seen yet. If you have played these type of games before you will be stunned, and if you haven't, be prepared to find out why you bought a computer in the first place

http://www.callofduty.com/ Just do it.

Here are a few pics to give you a [static] idea.




Private Brubaker reporting Sir! Pretty standard fare except there is a LOT of background action going on.




Nice Bricks!



An excellent example of a poor screenshot. All you can see are my buddies backs! He wants me to go left flank and jump the wall. Yikes!



Made it due to some good covering fire. The building is littered with hun so I have chucked a grenade in the window and am about to follow it in. By the way, grenades in this game do not make much flash, instead they blast and tend to make the baddies keep there heads down for a few secs. About time!



Come on lads! Its just a graveyard.



I just sprayed the wirblewind and the swines all jumped off and manned their defences. Some pain about to come my way I think.



He's not my boss really. I just call him that because it makes him feel good about himself. Also I am hoping he will forget I shot Jones in the back of the head

[Fredflak]

I liked the demo too. Sometimes shooters like that can be fun. Personally i'm looking forward to the Stalingrad missions, they look intense. Game looks great too, loved the effect of mortars when they blow up near you, the whistling and blurry vision looks neat.

[riverbravo]

The eye candy is great with the boys dropping from the sky,c-47 going down in flames.

It a very submersive game,

I just wish it was more like Ghost Recon in terms of "one shot one kill".

Still,this ones on my buy list.

[Lou1958]

I really like being able to shoot around corners. Unless I missed something... in MOH..., you can look around corners but not shoot. It makes a big difference in survivability and realism.

I'm with you on the A.I. too... it is the most impressive... both for squaddies and enemies.

I felt ripped with MOH-Spearhead and don't plan to buy again from them until the Pacific theater. I do plan on buying Tour of Duty.


Lou

[Belisarius]

I've played the Call of Duty demo, but it didn't get fun until you play on Veteran level. :p There's something about not being able to take more than one or two hits that keeps you on your toes.

As for the AI, the demo did not impress me. Granted your AI squaddies are good at taking out enemy, finding cover and generally help you out. BUT, it's up to you to progress the game. Some key waypoints in the stage *has* to be completed by yourself or they will just sit around. At least that's what I've experienced at the demo level.

Examples;

The house where you need to "go left" under covering fire.

The first Flakvierling (I found it fun to take it out from inside the ruined church by tossing a grenade at them. You can hear the result - brakkabrakkabrakkabrakkabrakkabrakka*BLAM*-----silence. )

Also, the physics look a bit "console-friendly", too many inanimate objects - you can't even take out the streetlights! :rolleyes: A bit more "destruction-friendly" environments had been fun.

What impresses me most, as in MOH:AA is *atmosphere*! It feels good, looks awesome and I had my adrenaline going first time I played on Veteran! I will try this game out, if nothing else for the Stalingrad scenarios.

Oh yeah: The Iron Sights feature doubles the gameplay value, IMO, just as the ability to lean and fire.

[wodin]

When will someone do A ghost Recon yet in a WW2 setting?

The strategy elements and realism in this game made it stand out above the others.

Though OF was fantastic I could never get to grips with the game once you had to give the orders:(

Maybe Hidden & Dangerous 2 is the one to watch. Though from what Ive heard you cant mod it so that may go against it.

Anyway I was thinking about buying Call of Duty but have changed my mind. I dont want more of the same with better graphics. I want a little realism and tactics.

I am waiting ot see how H&D2 comes together. My fingers are crossed.

Oh yeah I was very annoyed when I sold my Ghost Recon and expansion only to later learn of a WW2 mod:(

Wodin

[Fallschirmjager]

I didnt find call of duty to be a big leap over MOH:AA

[Belisarius]

wodin,

Agree that H&D2 sounds like a promising title. Lets hope they can keep it together....

[BrubakerII]

wodin,

Agree that H&D2 sounds like a promising title. Lets hope they can keep it together....

I third that. I was reading a write-up on it the other day and it made me wonder about whether it is 'sort of' like Eric Young's game? Imagine H&D with two dozen on either side...

[Jim1954]

I assume that this is the mod you were referring to for GR?

http://www.warofinfamy.com/

I have heard good things about it.

[wodin]

Dont think that was the mod.

I think it was about the eastern front only however I cant remember the name of it!

Wodin

[Fred98]

I have not played H&D or any of those team-player type of games.

Exception: I played a game called Seal Team way back in the early 1990s

For a 3D First Person Shooter, “(FPS”) to control just the one character sometimes requires quick reactions. To control more than one character could be somewhat difficult.

In a top down 2D game, we have had no trouble controlling 15 “characters” in Close Combat for example.

It seems to me that in a FPS, if you control a team, you would need about a dozen standard commands. Even 20 or 30 commands. And you issue a command and each team member knows what to do.

That removes the problem of your AI controlled team-mates doing dumb things.

Using this method, one player could control a whole squad in a FPS type game. And your squad could carry out a series of infantry assaults/defensive actions – from Berlin to Moscow and back again.

[wodin]

Thats exactly how Ghost Recon worked.

You didnt need to many commands as you could set the waypoints on a map and chose their stance etc and which way to look to give cover/search for enemy.

But you could jump to each team member to take over if needed.

As tactics count and you need to take things slowly then you have the time to instruct your squad members.

I think it will be similar with H&D2. Or it can be played in a top down view.

Wodin

[NefariousKoel]

I thought the original H&D was pretty good. It was even a big challenge playing MP co-op since the AI was so murderous. Hopefully, in H&D2, they don't jack up any of the good points it had going. We definitely need a WWII tactical shooter in which you don't have to unload 10 rounds into someone's chest before they go down.

[BrubakerII]

Joe these team games usually have oine set of commands to control the individual character and another smaller set to control the rest of the team - usually with the option of switching to different team members if desired. There is a lot of commands to remember - one of the reasons so many use the same WASD set-up. I tend to remember about 10 and then get lost on the rest.

I have no idea how some of these 'younger' people can put up such lengthy messages in multi-player so quick. They have often typed a sentence when I am still figuring out how to say 'yes'. I am still playing Wolfenstein :ET (cos of the quick Aus servers) and still loving it. Hope they decide to build a full game out of it.

[Frank W.]

call of duty seems to be nice.

but IMHO not sooo much better than
MOHAA.

i liked the MOH demo ( nebelwerfer hunt ) more
than the COD one.

graphics are quite good, AI okay...sound could
be better, not "powerful" enough IMHO.

if i have spare time + too much money left
i will buy it, but not a "MUST" for me.

[ShermanM4]

I thought the Demo was fantastic! Ultimately I wonder what this program will offer over all that MOH does not. I did like the fact that you could look down the barrel and aim with all of your weapons, not something featured in MOH. I also liked how you could go prone, again not featured in MOH. I liked how you could pick up any dropped weapon, I especially had fun the scoped FG'42, again something not offered in MOH. Seemed like a few more weapons than MOH, the M1A1 Carbine with the folding metallic stock, I guess this is all really eyecandy and does not really make much difference.

What I really hope for is a hybrid between MOH and Ghost Recon that War of Infamy mod looks cool, I will have to check it out. Instead of a mod I would like to see a full version of that someday.

[Eric Young]

When will someone do A ghost Recon yet in a WW2 setting?

Wodin

Hmmm, sounds like something for my things to do list.

E

[benpark]

There is absolutely a need for something that crosses CoD with GR. I would take it one further and throw in Operation Flashpoint's open scripted approach for maximum replayability.

The idea that you can take any path to accomplish a single objective on a massive "island" is pretty much the main thing that keeps me coming back to that game-plus the slew of mods being made. There are a few promising WW2 islands being made for OFP, but most are pretty hopelessly innacurate at this point in terms of history.

[riverbravo]

I cant take the radio chatter of OFP,its to loud and harsh and it bugs the crap outta me.

CoD would be the best if it played like GR.

Even with it cranked up to veteran the enemy still takes multiple hits to kill.....BS.

Still im gonna buy it.....The Stalingrad map looks great for MP and the eye candy is also outta site.....grooovy.