Sep 1, 2010
Review
Activision’s 2003 masterpiece, Call of Duty, is undoubtedly a hard act to follow. After all – how do you improve on the best WWII shooter ever made? One of the things that made Call of Duty so good was the atmosphere – the combination of scene, music and unrelenting, gritty combat. This was added to enormously by the fact that you were nearly always fighting alongside friendly troops. The disquieting feeling of desperation and loss whilst you were trying to hold on for reinforcements as your mates are dying all around you is something I had never felt before in a computer game. The feeling of accomplishment was tangible when you completed a mission.
With the release of Call of Duty 2, its time to pack up your troubles in your old kit bag and take the war to the Nazis all over again. Gameplay is much the same as the first game – work your way through hordes of Nazis to complete your objectives. The same old structure is there – work your way towards the objective for a couple of missions, followed by a “hold for reinforcements” style affair. This may seem a little formulaic, but you don’t really notice it happening unless you are expecting it…which you are now…sorry…It’s a proven method of building the tension and atmosphere, and it works.
Interestingly, Infinity Ward seem to have done away with the health pack system altogether in favour of a more realistic-feeling “get shot lots all at once and you die” system. Similarly, standing on a grenade is instant death, as is ending up under a tank. If you are under heavy fire, get into cover for a while and you will recover. This makes things flow more realistically, and removes the need to take mad risks to get health packs.
As in the first game, combat is chaotic, loud and unpleasant. Mortally wounded Germans will try and pull a pistol on you or crawl away, trying to drag themselves to safety, only to be finished off by a merciful bullet or a brutal clubbing with the butt end of a rifle. The dying scream in agony and your victorious comrades crack jokes. Graphically, the game is very pretty indeed – the particle effects of the smoke grenades are particularly impressive, as is the heat haze coming off of burning tanks and so on. Your fellow soldiers and the Germans also look good, although the occasional bit of iffy animation occurs.
The sound is magnificent – gunfire, explosions, comrades screaming out warnings and insults at the enemy – even down to the background sounds of distant fighting during quiet moments. The Germans will shout warnings about grenades that you throw at them, and will also alert each other to your presence. The score is atmospheric and orchestral, as in the first game, building to a crescendo at the climax of battle.
AI is impressive, especially in the Germans – if you walk into a room carelessly, prepare to eat grenade. If you kill the man at the MG42, one of the other men in the room will actually take a flying leap for it. Snipers are sneaky, and all the enemy troops know how to use cover, forcing you to use suppressing fire and grenades. Your comrades are no slouches either, shouting grenade warnings and backing each other up. Even calling out for cover when reloading…and getting it. They are good enough that you can either join the main assault, or sit back and snipe whilst leaving them to charge. At no point did I feel they got in the way, and they never felt too strong or too weak.
One my favourite moments is taking out a panzer by spraying the enemy infantry’s positions with an MG42, lobbing a smoke grenade so the tank cant see me, diving out of the window and slapping a sticky bomb on the tank – only to have to charge into the enemy position for cover from the exploding tank after lobbing another grenade through the door. Then I breathe out. Superb.
Download
There’s two ways you can download Call Of Duty 2:
Pirated (Free)
The Pirated version means that you get an unlicensed version of the game for free but without any help and support from the developer; you might also break the law in your country. GamesDownloadz.com is not responsible for any problems you might have by downloading or installing the software linked, and is not affiliated to the download sites. You are on your own.
Download from ThePirateBay (2.53 GiB):
- Directly to your computer – recommended for beginners.
- The .torrent file.
- Visit ThePirateBay’s “CoD2″ download page.
The download contains the Call of Duty 2 DVD as an ISO image file and a NO-CD crack/patch. Windows only.
Note: We have scanned the game’s files downloaded via bittorrent with Nod32 Antivirus and it has not found any virus. However, we do not guarantee that it is virus free. Scan it yourself before installing!
Install instructions:
- Mount ISO file with daemon tool or similar. Alternatively burn it to a DVD.
- Install game.
- Copy the cracked EXE to the folder where you installed COD2
- Play!
Licensed
The Licensed version means that you pay for the game, receive customer support and contribute to the future of Infinity Ward’s games. GamesDownloadz.com is affiliated with Amazon.com and receives a small percentage of your payment. We appreciate and thank you for buying games using the Amazon link below.
- Buy from Steam for $19.95 and instantly download the game to your PC. Windows only!
- Buy CoD2 from Amazon: the Windows version costs $15.96 and for Mac $9.88. Additional shipping fees may apply.
I would like to say no. But I think we could quite possibly be the most violent. There are violent and repressive forms of government (dictators) around the globe, but the general populations of those societies are not very violent. Although the Rwanda mess a few years ago made me doubt that belief. 1 million people were killed in a month because of ethnic cleansing. That has never happened in the United States. Although the Civil War was VERY bloody. But I think as the economy goes down the toilet, this society will go from violent to extremely violent.