Call Of Duty United Offensive: Review

Wednesday, February 16th, 2005

I know I’m a bit late writing about this now - as it came out in like September of last year. I actually picked it up the day it was released, but never got around to really playing it until now. The main reason was, the second level in - there were so many dudes on screen that it chugged like a mo’fo. I toned it down to medium details and it didn’t make enough of a difference. And being the nerd I am - I like my games to look the best they can… so I couldn’t bring myself to tone it down to the dreaded ‘low’ settings. But last weekend, I did… and now I’ve played through the entire game.

Like the first installment in the series - you get to play through 3 campaigns. America, British and Russian. And again, like the first one - the British and Russian campaigns are the most fun to play. Although, it was cool doing the Battle Of The Bulge and Kursk missions.

The British missions had the ‘cool’ factor covered. There was this awesome mission where you’re in a bomber amongst a fleet set on a course to do a bombing run. You find yourself running between turrets, shutting off downed engines, putting out fires, manually opening the bomb-bay doors… so amazingly intense! I actually played that mission 3 times back-to-back.

The Russian missions were just as chaotic and intense as the the ones in the first game. Actually, maybe not quite as crazy as Stalingrad - that was just nutty! Running up that hill while dudes are being shot down left, right and centre. Unreal! The first Russian transports you by truck to the front lines of an enormous battle. Tanks everywhere, Germans with flamethrowers toasting your buddies and planes bombing everything in sight.

I will definitely be playing through this game again. The COD series has this unreal sense of intensity like no other. There’s times when I actually have to pause the game, sit back and take a few deep breaths. Highly recommended.