Anyone played Call of Duty yet?

[DarkDryad]

I'm hearing good things. Opinions? Oh btw is Splinter Cell Pandoras Tomorrow as good as the first one?

[Rasix]

I'm hearing good things. Opinions? Oh btw is Splinter Cell Pandoras Tomorrow as good as the first one?

Never played the first SC, but I liked Pandora Tomorrow a lot.  This is coming from someone that really doesn't like hardcore sneaker games that much (the most I can usually tollerate is sneaking lite ala Deus Ex or Beyond Good and Evil).  I'm not sure it's worth a purchase, as it's not very long.  I hear the multiplayer is top notch though if quite a bit buggy at first release.

[schild]

Pandora Tomorrow is awesome. Play the PC version.

[SirBruce]

I never played the original Call of Duty.  When United Offensive came out, I decided now was the chance to buy the original and the expansion pack and see what all the fuss was about.  I've played through all the missions now, so I can tell you at least my impressions of single-player:

Meh.

Seriously.  Yes, some of the action is pretty intense, and the sound is great.  But I was not awed.  Some of the levels were fun, but many were just frustrating.  And more and more, I became annoyed and distracted by the whole design of the game.

The whole thing is on rails.  Everything "cool" that happens is scripted.  When you're in a mission you're basically on one small part of the map, and you have to complete a specific task before you can move on to the next part.  But your choices are often pretty limited.  You can choose which side of the street you want to go up on, but either way you're going up that street.

In some places, you'll literally come to an area where there's only one way to go.  You have to go down one hallway or one room and kill the guys there.  Then you go back, and one of your buddies will kick in a door now to unlock the next area.  It's all done with trickery.  Enemies don't exist in pre-defined locations and move about on the map... they spawn at specific times from behind areas where you can't see them, where they weren't there before.  In some maps, it's literally an "endless wave" of enemies, which you either must keep fighting for a specific time limit until something else is triggered, all the while watching the enemy spawn and respawn, or you have to realize you're stuck in an area that's just meant to be a transit point to your trigger condition so you have to ignore them and simply go to the part of the map that trigger's the next encounter.

I never felt like anything I did actually mattered... I simply had to jump through a series of hoops to trigger the next event.  The story is only going to unfold one way.  Some times, I would, for example, ignore a weapon or a health pack, and then later on in the level, when I needed it, I would turn around and go back and get it, basically retreading through large parts of the map I had already cleared out.  And then I'll hear that voice of a squad-mate calling out a warning about enemy troops... troops that were there the first time, now dead.  Or I'd hear that same explosion pattern outside or the rat-a-tat of a machine gun.  And I'd realize I was just hitting that trigger again, and the mission was all smoke and mirrors.

If you're in the right mood (like, you just watched _Band of Brothers_), it has some cool moments.  But for the most part, the game left me feeling empty.  I get none of the sense of accomplishment I do when playing, for example, Pirates!

Bruce

[penfold]

I enjoy scripted fps games, and CoD-UO does them superbly, lots of detail, good timing and they shamelessly ripped off a bunch of my favourite war films to produce some great gaming moments. It isnt cohesive, and flaws in respawning enemy and scripting can be found, but i enjoyed it for the situations it put me in, and the atmosphere, from the boat ride and crazy charge in stalingrad/enemy of the gates, to the numerous band of brothers moments, my favourites bits of Memphis Belle and the feeling of being a  small part in the many very big battles that are featured.

[SirBruce]

I enjoyed the bridge mission (Bastogne?) in the first game, and the first Stalingrad mission where you don't even have a damn rifle!  And the various scripted sequences are certainly fun to watch.  But the game just didn't connect with me emotionally.

Bruce

[Big Gulp]

I enjoyed the bridge mission (Bastogne?)

Heh.  Nope, that was Pegasus bridge, and it was definitely the best mission in the game, although Stalingrad came close.

I dug the game, personally.  Yeah, it was on rails, but it was done extremely well.  Not too much replay value, unfortunately though.

[schild]

But the game just didn't connect with me emotionally.

If you're looking for emotional attachment in a WWII FPS Sim, then you're stupider than you led me to believe.

[Fabricated]

Call of Duty had some really awesome set pieces that I go back and enjoy to this day (Stalingrad, most of the American campaign), but the whole British campaign fucking sucks in both the original and the expansion. There were also lots of "ARGH FUCK I DIED AGAIN" crap between the good parts of the game.

The number one offenders are the car chases, especially if you're playing on Veteran difficulty, where a pistol bullet goddamn near puts your lights out.

[AcidCat]

 It's all done with trickery.  Enemies don't exist in pre-defined locations and move about on the map... they spawn at specific times from behind areas where you can't see them, where they weren't there before.  In some maps, it's literally an "endless wave" of enemies, which you either must keep fighting for a specific time limit until something else is triggered, all the while watching the enemy spawn and respawn, or you have to realize you're stuck in an area that's just meant to be a transit point to your trigger condition so you have to ignore them and simply go to the part of the map that trigger's the next encounter.

I noticed the scripting much more in the United Offensive single player game than I did the original CoD. I never had a problem with it in the original, but in UO it got annoying - you'd kill a soldier, then a few moments another clone would take his place, go to the exact some spot, do the exact same thing.

But hey, the B-17 level makes up for it. And CoD still has some of the best multiplayer out there short of Battlefield.

[SirBruce]

I enjoyed the B-17 level as well.

Is there an f13 CoD multiplayer server?

Bruce

[Shannow]

Call of Duty is horrible.

Apart from the overly scripted missions there are lotsa 'filler' missions which are simply nothing more than run down tunnel / rail and shoot bad guys...ding. Obviosuly these were added just to fill out the length of the game because they are some of the most uninspiring shit filled levels ever.

You know the scripting is over done when they even cue up the 'everyone dies in slow motion here' music at certain key moments. Pegasus Bridge was underwhelming, so were the Stalingrad missions.