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Let me start by saying this: I was not looking forward to playing Call of Duty 2. Up to the point Call of Duty 2 landed on my desk, I had played through numerous variations of the Medal of Honor series, Call of Duty: Finest Hour on PS2, and a few lesser war themed games across several platforms. Though some of these games turned out pretty well, I was always left with the same under whelmed feeling that something was missing from the game to make it truly worth recommendation. Call of Duty 2 has that something, and it brings it in spades. Call of Duty 2 is not only the best World War II themed game to ever be released, and it’s not only the single best game available on Xbox 360 at launch; It’s quite possibly the best game to come out this year.

Call of Duty doesn’t follow any one specific storyline. There’s no giant objective, and there’s no real character development to speak of, yet through frenzied battle sequences and some of the grittiest, yet outstanding graphics you’ve ever seen, creates an engrossing experience that you’ll find hard to pull away from. The game features three distinct an unique single player campaigns, Russian, British and American. In each campaign, players will take on the role of an average grunt on the frontlines of the war. Through several chapters of each campaign, you’ll be handed a set number of goals, and it becomes your job to make it from the beginning of the level to the end, alive, and with your objectives completed. Seems simple, sure, but throw in some seriously advanced A.I. and things get a bit more complicated than that.

The A.I. in Call of Duty 2 is some of the best around. Enemy (and ally) soldiers will seek cover whenever possible, use grenades to flush enemies out from hiding, and even throw grenades back at the enemy if they land nearby. Though most of the dirty work is left up to you, you’ll find that your A.I. buddies are anything but helpless. Unlike the allies of games past, these soldiers are more than happy to take out an enemy or two, and never will you see one run out into an open area and get shot down like a mindless drone. Enemy A.I. is likewise, in that they will dive for cover at first site, and use the terrain to their advantage, turning hollowed out buses and broken windows into strategic sniping positions, and oftentimes putting up a much better fight than you would have expected. Keep an eye out whenever moving, or you just might find yourself on the business end of a German rifle.

You move along the three different campaigns in a linear fashion, moving from level to level, completing objectives. The levels themselves are linear as well, though not in the usual meaning of the word. When I usually think linear, I think straightforward and boring, and such is not the case with CoD2. While there is often times no more than one direction to move in, CoD2 provides such a sense of immersion that it’s unlikely you’ll notice the fact during gameplay. Only after finishing a level, or pausing during the game, can you actually sit back and take the time to notice ‘Hey, I was forced to go in this direction’. During actual gameplay, you’re too busy dodging enemy fire and taking part in furious battles to take notice of something so minute.

Something developers are starting to try is serious minimizing of the standard HUD system. King Kong completely removes the idea of a HUD, and while there’s still some small pieces left in CoD2, they work great. You’re given a compass, to which you have constant access, which doubles as a radar, allowing you to see where some nearby enemies are (provided they’re making noise).  You also have on screen queues for your ammunition supply, but only when you’re using your gun, or reloading. It disappears the rest of the time. Something that’s been completely done away with is the health bar. This time around, you’re given a regenerating, though invisible health meter. You know you’re low on health when you see the ‘blood shot’ effect around the screen, and you begin breathing heavily. Take cover, or otherwise stay out of the line of fire, and the effect disappears, which means your health has been restored. It’s a great system that eliminates the need for unrealistic health packs to be laying around. It also does away with the tedious need to keep a constant eye on a medic in your team.

CoD2 is a tough game, that much is certain. Even some more experienced gamers will need to start on easy or medium before moving on to the more difficult settings. There’s something of an adjustment period when you start playing for the first time, because I know personally that I have never laid my hands on anything so fast paced and frantic in terms of battle sequences. The game hardly ever lets up for more than a second before dropping you into another hair raising situation.

Even with so much praise for CoD2’s single player half, I’d be lying if I said it was the highlight. The Xbox Live multiplayer portion of CoD2 is possibly the best experience available on the 360 so far.

Up to eight players can play online at any given time, and while the numbers may sound small on paper, once you get into the game, the tension and atmosphere added by the superbly crafted levels makes it more than enough. To be honest, if they added more players, some levels would lose their strategic significance and things would turn into a huge Quake-style death match. Infinity Ward nailed it.

Available for play are several modes: Death match, Team Death match, CTF, Search and Destroy, and Headquarters. While the first three need no introduction, the last two may take a second to explain. Search and Destroy is something like a WWII-ized version of Counter-Strike. One team is given the objective of destroying an objective via bomb, and the other team is tasked with stopping them, or defusing the bomb before it can go off. Headquarters works best with a full 4 on 4, and sees two teams fighting to establish a base in a given spot on the map. Once one team sets up said base, it becomes the job of the opposing team to take the position back by killing off the enemy team. When on the offensive, your team members cannot respawn until your allies take the position over. If your team fails to take the position from the opposing team, then it’s game over for you.

The maps available for play in multiplayer are open ended, unlike the linear stylings of the single player maps. Each map has it’s own distinct feel, and no two maps are alike. You’ll find some maps are better suited to different style matches, but no matter what game type you choose, every map offers up some memorable moments. I had a memorable match with someone a couple nights ago where it was just him and I against a team of 4 Germans who had holed themselves up in a two story building. Being outnumbered, we were forced to find strategic sniping points, and lay in wait for sometimes 5 minutes until we got a shot, but when we got it, it felt damn good. We eventually came out victorious, despite the odds, and we’ve played some sweet matches since.

Never before have I played a game that comes together in such a near flawless package. Outstanding visuals are accompanied by superb audio, and are topped off with some of the hands-down best gameplay this journalist has seen in quite some time. Some games have amazing aspects, but it is a rare occasion that any game blows me away on every level the way Call of Duty 2 has done. My vote for Game of the Year.