Call of Duty 2

Towards the end of Call of Duty 2 you find yourself assaulting heavily entrenched German defenses to take Hill 400. It's a fitting analogy for the mountain of malaise gamers have built-up towards WWII era shooters facing the game. Ironically, it's a situation not dissimilar to what faced the original when it arrived too. Only this time, it's Call of Duty itself that sits at the peak waiting to be toppled. So back to the European theater of WWII we go.

Infinity Ward has chosen to follow the same formula for the game as before, and focus on doing what it does best, but better. In other words, expect to find a whole lot of Nazis down the sights of your rifle to catch your bullets. And they'll be waiting there on the front lines in three vignettes, one playing as a soldier in the army of each of the allies: Russian, British and American. You're less the Unknown Soldier than the first game, but this is still most assuredly an experience driven game, not narrative.

For all the noise games make about being "cinematic" none gets it as well as this. There is a catch (isn't there always?). To really get the full effect you need one helluva beefy system. But if you have that, the payoff is a sensory experience bordering on overload, and it begins with what hits your ears. The excellent sound design brings together the deafening explosions, rapport of gunfire, ricochet echoes as bullets whiz by, and shouts of both your fellow soldiers and the enemy into a magnum opus. It really merits 5.1 surround to do it justice, but then if you've got the horsepower to run it, you likely have the speakers already as well.

And speaking of horsepower, you'll need it on the video side as well. With the latest and greatest hardware, Call of Duty 2 will don the crown as the best looking game on the shelf (for now). The trick isn't in the textures or model quality -- all of which is up to snuff, but done equally well in other games. It's in the touches of detail: the restrained but perfected use of particle effects that blow snow or clods of dirt from an artillery round's impact flying in your face, and the distorted vision that overcomes you when one of those goes off too close to your position in the billowy clouds of smoke.

Besides putting on a pretty display, that smoke also brings a tactical element into the combat. In the up-close small arms fighting of WWII cover was crucial to survival, and when you didn't have it, obscuring the enemy's view with smoke was the next best thing. Throughout the game your squad's success will depend on your laying out smoke to help cover your advance.

It's one more device that helps draw you into the combat, amplifying the sense of being in the midst of a storm. And that's when Call of Duty 2 is at its best. When the bullets are flying, soldiers shouting out and everything in general is so chaotic that you simply don't have time for your brain to register that it's all a carefully orchestrated, scripted experience. For if you stop and over-think it, that shatters the illusion of you holding the trigger and hoping the guys in the grey overcoats stop pouring out of the doors soon.

That's exactly what happens not long into your stint as a Brit traipsing across North Africa. For these few missions it falters, culminating in a lackluster turn at the controls of a tank that lacks any sense of really being in a 20-ton mechanized killing machine. But before you can lose hope you're back in Europe and all is restored. Whether it's the ambiance of the French countryside alone or something more remains unknown, but the run from there to the end carries that same magic that kept you glued to the screen through Saving Private Ryan.

Multiplayer does its part to make up for any misgivings brought about by the single-player's few missteps. With support for up to 32 players, nine new maps (including four remade from the original) and the excellent HQ mode, Call of Duty 2 should be on your playlist for a good while to come. But what won't be are vehicles: like the original they haven't made it into the online game. If history continues to repeat, they'll feature prominently in an expansion pack. Until then here's a word of caution: fear the combat shotgun.

Pulling its trigger condenses everything that's right about Call of Duty 2 into a single moment. Online or off it is the epitome of visceral thrill seeking. Think of it as the big-budget summer blockbuster movie: you don't go to be impressed by its thought-provoking drama or brilliant character portrayal; you go for the ride, the special effects and above all else the euphoric feeling of going through it all and coming out the other side.