An interesting new addition to the game is the smoke grenade. In most missions you’ll begin with a small number of smoke grenades that can be tossed in a similar manner to the familiar frag grenades. If you wait a few moments the grenade will put out a nice and thick cloud of gray-white smoke that is a godsend when you need to cross an open area or advance on a machine gun nest.

The British 8th Army sends in the armor.

The missions themselves are exciting, varied, and at times can even be described as epic. The first Russian mission takes place in Stalingrad and after some house to house fighting you’ll find yourself digging in to prepare for a full German assault across a large open square. Your commanders yell things like “get ready” and “they’re coming” as the Germans fill the square with smoke, and you can really feel the tension build while waiting for the inevitable assault. Soon the Germans come pouring out of the smoke, so many of them in fact that before you know it you’ll be face to face with at least a couple of them. If you survive the onslaught, you’ll need to counterattack across the square, take out the German machine gun nests on the other side, and then demolish an entire building filled with Germans by placing explosive charges in a few key locations. And all of that is just one part of the first mission! As the game progresses you’ll face many moments like this in a wide range of mission types that include commanding a tank platoon, spotting for artillery strikes, and even climbing ropes up a sheer cliff under fire at Normandy. This is the stuff of exciting gameplay!

All of the missions are essentially linear progressions of objectives, but it is a testament to how well the missions are designed that they never really feel that way. In addition, the environments feature a number of large areas so you’re not left feeling like you’re “riding on a rail” through the missions. The missions can be tough at times, but the game autosaves for you quite often and always at key moments so you’re never stuck restarting or replaying long stretches of a mission.

Another nice feature of the missions is that each opens with an introduction created by the Military Channel that features archival footage of the battle in which you’re about to find yourself. It’s a great way to set the stage for the mission and it makes you feel like your part of a bigger effort rather than simply checking off objectives from a list.

One of the hallmarks of Call of Duty 2 is that you almost never fight alone. You’re often a member of a squad or larger force and are surrounded by fellow soldiers fighting the enemy. In fact, your army always seems to have a ready supply of reserves who step up to fight alongside you as your previous comrades fall in battle. The AI is quite good in the game, and your squad mates do a very capable job of attacking the enemy and doing so with a good degree of coordination. As the battles rage you’ll also here them speak and shout often: calling for help, pointing out enemy locations, or trying to rally each other on. There’s an amazing amount of dialogue in the game, so the chatter never really seems repetitive. It’s a great touch that adds even more depth to the game’s immersion factor.

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