Call of Duty 2 Editor's Review

A Taste of Call of Duty 2

Building on the immersive gameplay and experience of the original Call of Duty, the Call of Duty 2 demo allows you to try-before you buy with a single-player mission set in Egypt, 1942 where you play as British infantry.

New features include a health system that requires close watch on your characters' behavior to notice damage - while this lends itself to a more immersive experience it takes some time (and perhaps a few character deaths) to get used to. In addition, you can now climb barriers to get to new areas.

Sound and graphics are still relatively impressive, despite the fact that the demo was released several years ago. The graphics may account for the size of the download file, but given the investment in time and disk space, a longer mission would have been preferable. That said, there is opportunity for extending gameplay by exploring the city and thee is a wide range of available weapons to use.

Pro's: A good taster of the full game. A complete mission that can be played to the end. Some new features.

Con's: Lengthy download for the amount of gameplay. Single player only. Graphics somewhat dated.

Conclusion: While many demos simply give you a small sample of the full game, the Call of Duty 2 demo is itself a self-contained game that can be enjoyed on its own merits. The short duration of the mission is almost certainly deliberate, encouraging players to purchase the full game. That said, it is enjoyable in and of itself if users are happy to wait through the download and installation. The extra features and abundant weapon options allow for good replay value.