I have to tell you that I really enjoyed Call of Duty. It provided a level of excitement that few other World War II shooters could match, and was more of an experience than just another shooter set in WW2. It would have been easy for the developers to simply switch to cruise control, releasing basically the same game with some new missions and slapping a “2” at the end of the title, and we’d probably still have a pretty good game here. Lucky for us gamers, though, that’s not the case and the developers have actually put a lot of work into creating an even better game. Yes, better.

Before you Call of Duty fans begin to get nervous let me calm your nerves by saying that Call of Duty 2 is not radically different than its predecessor. The game still sticks to the same basic model of a campaign for each of the major Allied powers filled with intense large-scale battles and many memorable moments. This time out, though, you do not have to play the three campaigns in a linear order. In fact, completing the first full Russian mission – the first mission in the game as a matter of fact – you’ll unlock the British campaign for play. You’ll then be able to switch between the campaigns whenever you’d like, and while it will take you a bit longer to open up the American campaign, when it is available you can jump in and out of it as well.

Charging under cover of smoke.

The first thing you’ll notice when you enter your first battle is that you’ll have a hard time finding the health meter. Well you can look as much as you want but you aren’t going to find it. Call of Duty 2 uses an entirely new method of managing your health. As you take hits in battle, the screen will start to turn red around the edges and become redder as your injuries mount. You’ll then be given a warning that you’re in serious trouble and that you should take a little time to rest out of the line of fire. This is good advice to take as a short rest will clear up your injuries and you’ll be good as new. I know what you’re thinking, but it’s no less realistic than running around looking for magic medkits and frankly this mechanism is far better. I for one would match rather catch a breather than go backtracking through the level on a time-consuming medkit hunt. Also, this completely eliminates the situation where you find yourself with a point or two of health left, no medkits, and facing a particularly tricky stretch of the mission. Is it really that much more fun or realistic to have to go back through your save file list, reload, and try to replay the mission in an attempt to get back to the same spot with a few more health points? Not to me it isn’t, and I’d love to see more shooters adopt Call of Duty 2’s health system.

Another change is the addition of a grenade indicator. When the enemy is rude enough to toss a grenade in your general vicinity an indicator appears in the center of the screen with an arrow pointing to the grenade’s location. This is a good time for you to head in the opposite direction. Grenades will also appear on your mission compass – not just the live ones but recently detonated ones as well. This will help you from accidentally walking on top of grenades tossed by your comrades in arms.

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