If you’re a gamer you have no doubt heard of this first and third person shooter, but if you missed the bandwagon and now face a list of titles to choose from, this article covers the Call of Duty games in the franchise’s main trilogy.
Call of Duty
The original Call of Duty was released back in 2003, and so popular was its gameplay, many more versions were spawned, one currently in the making and not being released until 2013. The game’s development was based on Quake III Arena, the shooter that shifted the genre into another gear. Although WW2 themed and up against a multitude of similar competitors like Allied Assault and Medal of Honour, Call of Duty offers incredible non-stop action throughout.
If you opt for single player mode, expect an intense experience completing a mission. Multiplayer mode is more entertaining and faced paced as you and your mates take on the mission as a unit. Like in most shooters, you can’t take a head shot without dying, but you can take a few body hits, so the first aid kits placed throughout the levels will restore a massive chunk of your health. If you are under fire and get hit, the screen shakes which adds an element of panic. The fact you can’t run only adds to the panic, but you can crouch and move at a good speed to find cover.
The arsenal featured covers a wide range of weaponry, including American, British, German and Russian firearms and grenades. The use of the gun’s sights and cross hairs add a satisfying element to taking out an enemy, as the slower you move, the more the cross hairs contract, offering a more accurate target. Multiplayer features The Kill Cam, a cool concept that lets the player relive the last dying seconds of his life from his killer’s POV. Overall, this original debut is an excellent, visceral, adrenalin-soaked shooter, and it’s this reason it places a notch higher than its competitors.
Call of Duty 2
In 2005, and having to compete with its critically acclaimed predecessor, Call of Duty 2 lived up to expectations as a sequel. Although it didn’t break any new barriers, players were impressed with the first-person shooter gameplay, a strong sense of being a lone solider fighting in the midst of an enormous war machine. To fight for the British campaign you must first strap on the boots of a Russian private and fight off the invading Nazis. Once this first of ten missions is complete, you’ll find yourself fighting in North Africa’s deserts, helping the Desert Rats defeat Field Marshal Rommel’s troops. One mission includes taking part in the D-Day landing in France, scaling cliff faces whilst dodging the gunfire from above.
All ten missions are split into stages, and if you attempt them on the ‘regular’ setting, you could see yourself bathed in victory within ten hours, however, playing the game in a harder setting will lengthen your mission as you’ll face more enemies and have to spend more time thinking through tactics. Unlike its predecessor, your health isn’t defined by a bar. When you are hit, the screen’s borders glow red and you start to pant, and if you take too many hits in a short time span, you die. Once you see the glow, you need to find cover and recover until your vision clears and you can continue to fight.
Smoke grenades are a new addition to the game, the smoke effect very realistic and useful for obscuring the view for enemy snipers, although you can come face to face with your enemy in the smoke, which only adds to the excitement. Call of Duty 2 lived up to expectations as a sequel, and although there’s not a great deal of new material featured, its varied campaigns and amazing gameplay leave the player hungry for Call of Duty 3.
Call of Duty 3
Taking off from the D-Day battle in Normandy, Call of Duty 3 takes the troops across France in a beautifully presented representation of next-generation gaming and graphics. A real perspective of reality is added to this game, from disorientating environments to the players’ sight through the cross hairs taking a moment to adjust from close range to long range. This reality injects a real intensity to the battle, and whilst not as bloody or violent as its predecessors, Call of Duty 3 gets the heart and adrenalin pumping. Work with Allied forces, either slogging it out face to face in trenches or taking out the enemy as a sniper from the back of tank, all battles are challenging, and this keeps the game alive.
The only downside to the game is the unrealistic stream of enemies that appear at certain sections, undermining your strategic plans with an annoying computer engine advantage. If you’ve been following the series from the original, this game’s next-generation technology will really impress.
The Aftermath
The Call of Duty Trilogy was so successful another two trilogies followed. First saw the Modern Warfare series, comprised of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, and Call of Duty: Modern warfare 3. Then Call of Duty entered the realm of the Call of Duty Black Ops 2 series, comprised of Call Of Duty: War at War, Call of Duty: Black Ops, and finally Call of Duty: Black Ops II.
I could go on for the next few hours describing this juggernaut of a franchise, how gaming technology improves, how the battles take place in other wars such as Vietnam and the Cold War, but I suggest you have a crack at the original series to truly understand what Call of Duty is all about and what gave birth to the amazing versions still been developed today.
