Activision’s latest offering to the N-gage library; Call of Duty finally arrives on the platform but unlike previous versions of the game this one mainly focuses on creating atmosphere and insuring authenticity as opposed to evoking the personalised horrors of WW2 which the previous versions of the game seemed to do. The game starts with a lovely sequence of heroic war images that immediately starts to create a wonderful atmosphere for the game.
In the single player game you will be cast in to three different successive roles, you will start by playing as an American foot soldier involved with the liberation of Normandy from the defending Nazi’s. Next up you will play as British commando working behind enemy lines and finally you will play as a Soviet foot soldier battling against the Wehrmacht on the hellish eastern front. In this part of the game your role will take you through three chapters undertaking espionage and sabotage missions as well as clearing strategic targets of Nazi soldiers and taking down Stukas by using flak cannons.
Each level featured in Call of Duty is fairly large and the missions often require you to complete several objectives often covering large proportions of the available terrain to do so. Having said this however the game still remains very linear and so in order to find and complete the objectives you will more often than not have to adhere to a particular path between objectives and just on the off chance that you manage to get disorientated in these linear but extensive terrains there is a helpful and well displayed compass arrow which points to your next objective at all times.
During the game you will usually be accompanied by at least one computer controlled team member who performs certain events to help you complete your objectives and although they are not always the most useful team mates due to there slow responses they can actually help by distracting enemy fire away from yourself and laying down covering fire as you advance on your objectives.
The game features a variety of authentic weapons from Britain, America, Germany and Russia and although they are not all that tactically different from each other they are very distinct in there aesthetical appearance and do stay very true to the real things. In addition to this the game also features different grenades and other various bits of hardware from each country which adds a nice bit of variety to the game.
Calls of Duty’s combat situations are well varied and do a good job of mixing up the heated killing action, you may find yourself suddenly confronted by a team of Nazi’s hiding in a trench where the best course of action is to toss a grenade and hope for the best, or to pick up a sniper rifle and gradually pick the well covered Nazi’s off one by one. But what ever you’re combat preference Call of Duty will undoubtedly cover it during the length of the game.
The controls for Call of Duty are fairly extensive so don’t expect to jump straight in to this game with all guns ‘a’ blazing. The ‘1’ key enables you to clobber the enemy with your rifle butt. ‘2’ moves your aim up and the ‘8’ key moves it down, The ‘3’ key lets you pick things up including new weapons and documents for your mission objectives. The ‘4’ and ‘6’ keys control your left and right strafing, ‘7’ brings your weapon up in to your shoulder where you can get a more accurate and detailed aim on your enemies. The ‘9’ key reloads your weapon and the ‘*’ key allows you to change your weapon. The ‘0’ key selects your different stances from standing to crouching and crawling. Finally the ‘#’ key opens up your map of the terrain as well as your objectives and there locations.
Unfortunately Call of Duty fails to deliver any sort of consistent game-play. More often than not enemy bullets will as if by magic pass through solid buildings and machinery to hit you and vice versa. As well as this the game has some un-acceptable slow and sluggish periods which mostly happen when you are in close proximity to multiple enemy or fellow soldiers.
Most first person shooters available for the N-Gage platform at the moment have got issues with the game play due to the devices screen orientation and Call of Duty is certainly no exception. At some points during the game this is so bad that you can turn around, start running away only to find that you have in fact turned all the way around and are still running in the same direction which can cause many un needed deaths and leave you very frustrated at times.
The graphics in play here are fairly decent and the character animations are fantastic. The enemies interact well when under opposing fire, they fall and die in many different ways depending on how and where you wound them and your fellow squad members occasionally gesture you to cover them and to keep low, both of which are animated considerably well. Im afraid to say that the background terrains and textures are a bit more disappointing,
There are far too many un-natural looking textures and shadows which make the overlook look of the game slightly muddy. There is also a distinct lack of depth within the game and enemies occasionally seem to pop up out of nowhere which is made very apparent when fighting in an indoor environment.
The sound track to Call of Duty is really where this game excels because it is honestly fantastic and probably one of the best one that I’ve heard on the device. The music itself is great quality and starts with a very soft and light hearted orchestral piece of music that soon turns very dramatic and discordant with lots of dynamics. This piece of music is exceptionally well suited to Call of Duty and really helps to build an emotional and tense atmosphere. The sound effects are very realistic with haunting cries of war lingering in the distance, distinctive and unique firing sounds for each weapon to the sound of stray rounds flying in to different materials that actually resemble the sound of what they are hitting.
The game supports some nice features such as multiplayer via wireless Bluetooth technology where you can play four-way death matches either as a free for all or as a team. This mode features a nice balance of terrains and you also have the option to choose your nationality and weapon. Call of Duty also supports some N-Gage Arena functions; you are able to download additional content as well as post you’re your high scores.
All in all Call of Duty is a reasonable title but the game-play experience just doesn’t match the ambition of its design. In my opinion the game runs a little to slow to be that enjoyable. If you ask me; to much time and memory has been taken up making sure that the title looks as close as it can to its PC cousin and because of this Call of Duty’s game-play has been compromised. None the less hard core fans of WWII themed first person shooters will undoubtedly get plenty enjoyment out of it.
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