Being in Poland allowed us to see the game, and also visit some actual bunkers from World War 2. Living in the Netherlands I'm not all that unfamiliar with relics from the war, but it was still impressive to see. The three day trip also involved riding an amphibious vehicle, getting on one of these planes, and as I mentioned quite a bit of drinking.

But of course you only want to know about the games.

Call of Duty 2 - PC / Xbox 360

Call of Duty 1 was a huge success for Infinity Ward and Activision, getting some of the best reviews of 2003 and winning a ton of "Game of the Year" awards. It was hardly a shock that the two companies decided to do a sequel.

Since the first game was so successful, there was no need for Infinity Ward to reinvent the wheel. It is still you trying to survive as the chaos of war is all around you. You'll be moving with your American, British or Russian squad as you're taking out artillery, tanks, and every bad guy you see. One of the improvements in the sequel is that levels have been opened up more. In Call of Duty 1 you usually had just one path to each mission objective. Most of the time there are multiple paths now, and you can backtrack if you're pinned down to see if you can find a better route. The order in which you play the campaigns has also been opened up, as you play you unlock more campaigns and you can then decide for yourself which one to tackle next. On the recommendation of military advisor Hank Keirsey (Army Colonel, retired), Infinity Ward also added a lot more battle chatter. For example if one of your squad mates notices an enemy somewhere, they'll actually shout out their locations. You're also warned about grenades or tanks closing in.

In one of the first missions I played I found myself in Stalingrad, playing as one of the Russians. The objective in this level was to restore telephone wire to allow for communication. Of course, you can't accomplish this task without taking out copious amounts of Germans. Actually fixing the wires is a piece of cake though, once you get close enough you can press the Use key and that piece of the wire is restored. After fixing the wires, you get a second objective which is taking out several Panzers tanks. You run up to them, plant some explosives and then get out of the way. A few seconds later it's all about the fireworks.

Another mission had me playing as the British, who are trying to retake control of an African coastal town in the hands of the German Afrika Korps. You fight your way through the city, to eventually find your way to the beach to take out several German artillery installments. The town offers several paths to flank the Germans, though if you don't pay attention, they can easily attack you from multiple sides as well. Germans might appear out of nowhere with machine guns, but a well placed shot or grenade will take care of them just fine. At one point an AI player even took a ladder and placed it against a building so we could all get on the roof and have better cover. Once you do reach the beach and take out the artillery, you get to call in a naval strike, which makes quick (and quite spectacular) work of the harbor.

There was also an opportunity to play the game's Pointe du Hoc mission, which has been featured prominently in various trailers and screenshots. You start out near the beach in a Higgins boat, trying to get to dry land to take out German heavy artillery. Obviously the Germans are waiting for you, and you barely reach the shore as many soldiers around you are killed. You then have to scale a massive cliff using ropes, only to find out the Germans have moved the artillery. So you make your way through the trenches while you take out the remaining Germans in their bunkers, before heading to the nearby French village to look for the artillery. Like the other levels, this mission was massive and took quite a while to complete. Definitely expect a lengthy singleplayer experience.

One thing to note is that Call of Duty 2's HUD does not include a health bar. Once the corners of your screen turn red you know you need to get the hell out of harm's way, but once you do you sort of recharge (this isn't visible, you just know it happens) and can get back into the action. There are still healthpacks every once in a while, which ensure you're not as close to death as you might've been but really its an invisible system. It's a nice way to keep the game going as you usually don't die as much; who really pays attention to a health bar when stuff is blowing up around you and Germans are shooting at you. However a red border around your screen sure gets your attention.

Multiplayer was also on display. The only mode being shown though was deathmatch in a small French village. It's a somewhat slower paced DM because your weapon fire is too unwieldy if you just keep on running. Slowing down to take out your target is about as strategic as it got though. Some well placed machine guns allowed for some easy kills when people ran through the streets without looking, and the map also offers some sweet sniper spots. Returning from the original game is the KillCam, which shows you the last few seconds from the opponent's point of view as he kills you. Don't be surprised if there's more to the multiplayer in the full game.

The graphics have received a nice upgrade. Infinity Ward got a lot of mileage out of the Quake 3 engine for the original Call of Duty, but for the sequel the company decided to write a new engine from scratch. The tech team certainly did their job. There's more detail everywhere, there's bump mapping, in the African maps you notice the heat simmer off the sand in the distance, and the particle effects are even more gorgeous. There are a lot of people doubting the authenticity of this screenshot but I saw smoke like that in action and yes, it does look that good.

I also had a brief opportunity to go hands-on with the Xbox 360 version of the game. It's pretty much similar to the PC version. It certainly looks just as good, and the controls translate well to the 360 controller. There's also Live support as well as splitscreen multiplayer. You can't really go wrong with either version.

Call of Duty 2: Big Red One - Xbox/PS2

While Infinity Ward had a strong base to build on with Call of Duty 2, Treyarch had no such luxury with Big Red One. Though not a bad game, reviews for the Spark Unlimited developed Call of Duty: Finest Hour paled in comparison with the PC game. So Treyarch started from scratch. With Big Red One, which is a nickname for the US Army's 1st Infantry Division, they decided to put the focus on the characters. It means that there's really a bond between you and your fellow soldiers (at least, that's what Treyarch is going for). Every character is named, has his own personality, a unique voice. During the game you'll find out more about your fellow soldiers, you'll see them change physically, you'll see them become better at combat. The group also has special interaction within the game, as Treyarch specifically hired an entire group of actors to use for motion capturing sessions. This results in each soldier having his own specific quirks.

We had the opportunity to go hands-on with a few missions, which showed the game is coming along very well. It's pretty much Call of Duty as you know it. Nonstop chaos and cinematic, epic action. Two missions took place on foot, the first one being a Prologue mission where your squad has first assembled. It takes oh...thirty seconds for all hell to break loose, with bombs being dropped around you and dozens of soldiers charging towards the Germans. As you run through the city, buildings are being destroyed left and right, you have to disable tanks blocking path, you're on the lookout for German snipers; all classic Call of Duty stuff. In another mission you find yourself in a B24 bomber. You start by protecting other Allied airplanes, before just making sure you're taking out as many German airplanes as possible. Once another bombardier is killed you you're switching objectives, going from taking out German planes to taking out German ships. With the controller you try and lead the boat before dropping a bomb.

Controls are excellent in this game. I'm really not much of a fan of first person shooters on a console system, mostly due to the use of the gamepad over keyboard/mouse, but I had absolutely zero problems with Big Red One.

Graphics wise, Call of Duty 2: Big Red One looks amazing. Treyarch has been working with Xbox and PS2 since the systems were first released, and this game truly shows they know both platforms inside-out. It just looks phenomenal. The action is just as crazy as on the PC, and the game is just as detailed -- though obviously the textures aren't as sharp. There was no framerate drop to be noticed. On the first day of the event there was a presentation where Treyarch's Christian Busic explained the concept behind Big Red One, before showing off the game on a plasma screen. At first I was thinking "Wow, they sure got a lot out of the Xbox" before noticing that the control scheme included a square and a rectangle..it was running on a Playstation 2 instead of Xbox. Once this was mentioned after the presentation finished this got quite the collective wow from the audience.

So when can you actually buy these games? Call of Duty 2 and Call of Duty 2: Big Red One are both expected this fall, so look for them sometime late October / early November. Before the event I thought to myself, why not create one game and port it to all systems. But instead Activision now has two great games on their hands, and I wouldn't be surprised to see a lot of people pick up both titles. World War 2 is not yet played out.

Oh you want some new media too? Don't miss this awesome Xbox 360 gameplay movie which you can grab from FileShack, and here are new screenshots:

- Call of Duty 2 - Xbox 360
- Call of Duty 2 - PC
- Call of Duty 2: Big Red One - PS2
- Call of Duty 2: Big Red One - Xbox