I Still Don’t Know…

…what Infinity Ward means. But if you downloaded any of the demos of Call of Duty to get a taste… forget about them. They DO NOT do the game any justice. I know, there are more games being made/released on WWII than people that can be stuffed inside a 753 blue line. But even if you’re sick of ALL of them, try and remember how MoH:AA, in all its scripted beauty hit you on your pseudo ‘I want freeform gameplay’ face harder than an M1 Garand. Well, these are the same guys, only they call themselves by a different name now.

They’ve created a game that for the first time does justice and, in a way, pays homage to the war and its many victims. It is an achievement, a landmark in gameplay, so intense, that you actually feel for the people that die besides you. When the first Bravo Company private dies in front of your eyes, GIVING COVERING FIRE TO YOU, you feel a sense of loss that has been very difficult to reproduce in video games.

It tells a story about soldiers that made it through and more importantly, those who didn’t. Sporadic, often witty dialogue is masterfully used to bring just the right touch of drama to the dealings. While MoH:AA was a brilliant cinematic experience, Call of Duty is far too brilliantly interactive to be called that. It’s a gaming experience in which you feel like you’re part of the war, taking place in the events that will shape the fate of our planet. It is an awesome feeling. The movie elements are evident in the exemplary use of music during crucial action scenes, and in in-game sequences that recreate the more memorable movie moments like the Stalingrad assault from Enemy at the Gates. But the cinematic elements are subaltern to the in game action, which is clearly the most impressive segment of the game.

As a band I loved during college put it, “I am overcome”