Call of Duty 2: The Big Red One (Xbox)

Rather confusingly this has nothing to do with the subtitle-less Call of Duty 2 on PC and Xbox 360. Whereas that game has the usual mix of three different nationalities of soldier to control, Big Red One has you playing the same soldier throughout the whole game. You do get to do quite a bit of sight seeing though with missions in North Africa, Italy, France, Belgium and Germany.

The Big Red One of the title is the nickname of a famous American infantry division and by sticking with them throughout the whole game you do get a much better sense of camaraderie than previous Call of Duty games. Unfortunately it also means that the game seems perilously close to the already excellent Brothers in Arms, except without the strategy bits.

No war game ever seems to do its action quite like Call of Duty though and the set pieces here tread that difficult line between cinematic bombast and harrowing realism perfectly. Big Red One won't have the same impact on the gaming world as the first Call of Duty games, but it nevertheless looks like having a very good chance of being a better game. --Harrison Dent

This preview is based on an incomplete version of the game; features or problems mentioned above may not appear in the finished game.

The feeling is present at all times but the danger is largely absent, only stepping up a little during the last mission. This leads to an immensely entertaining tour of duty, albeit brief and fairly easy to complete.

There was plenty of scope for several additional missions, as the final newsreel played at the end of the campaign clearly testifies (finish the game and you'll see what I mean).

Ultimately I found this game thrilling and disappointing in equal measure - excellent entertainment while it lasted, but it sure didn't last long.


The Difinitive WW2 Shooter for Xbox   January 16, 2006
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

I'm a huge fan of first person shooters and have probably played a good chunk of the games available in this genre on both PS2 and Xbox. In terms of WW2 shooters, this is in my view the best so far and, considering the next generation consoles are here, I can't see anything set to beat this.

The visuals are pretty impressive, much more detailed than the previous CoD game, and the missions are more varied too, with a wide variety of gameplay situations (standard FPS view, manning a fixed gun, driving a tank, manning an AA gun or 88, moving between the various gun turrets on a bomber, riding on a half track manning the gun, etc) plus constantly updating mission objectives which keep you on your toes. The action is relentless and the sound really drags you into the action with great atmospheric effect.

Being an ancient genre it's hard to be too innovative, so there isn't too much that hasn't been done before, but it's put together so well that it's easy to forgive.

There are a few glitches - your squad has a knack of getting in your way or in your line of fire at times, you have to rely on them to open doors (you can't open them yourself) and there is the usual 'can't jump higher than a couple of inches' caged in feeling sometimes, robbing you of a truly free roaming feel. But again, these are minor niggles which may stop it scoring a peferct 10 certainly don't stop it getting a very commendable 9. Probably only bettered by Call of Duty 2 on Xbox 360...