Customer Reviews

Call of Duty 2 Big Red One

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Last year's Call of Duty Finest Hour was a totally new game, using a similar engine to Medal of Honor on the consoles. It didnt feel like the PC game in any respects really. People who complained then, will now be totally happy. Big Red One not only looks fantastic (near PC graphics), it feels and plays just as great as it's PC brothers. I feel a hint of Medal of Honor European Assault every once and awhile but this game is far more polished and thought out. The storyline is a major draw in, offering some great character moments. I read some of the guys that starred in the HBO mini-series Band of Brothers do some voice work in the game, however I haven't picked up on it quite yet, although I've got some ideas. On thing is for certain...Mark Hammil (star of Big Red One movie from 1981) narrates this epic game and does a very nice job. I recently bought Brothers in Arms Earned in Blood for xbox aswell and if your asking me to make a buying decision for you I'd say...
1. Big Red One is more run and gun, Earned in Blood is tactical.
2. This game is far more family friendly, Earned in Blood ISN'T.
3. Both games offer unique gameplay and are both worth 50 bucks.
If your looking for a rich new experience that has the polish of a great PC game, please do yourself a favor and buy this game. There are at least 5 WWII themed games coming out for the Holidays this year and Big Red One is diffenetly a winner. The A.I. is revolutionary for a console game offering such epic action scenes. The weapons are standard fare in a WWII game, but are more enjoyable than ever, seeming more powerful. Levels are diverse and I was thouroly impressed with each one, the D-Day beach landing is a very special thing for me in this game as it was the recreation of this scene in Medal of Honor Frontline that sucked me into the WWII franchise. Activision and Tyrench's take on the greatest invasion of all time is incredibley intense. And yes I have managed to cruise through the game very fast. The Battle of the Bulge, as well as the early Africa levels are great, as are the Normandy levels (its just Normandy has been used so many times in videogames) The ending levels in Germany are very fun and you feel such a great sense of accomplishment after beating the game, which should take 12 to 14 hours. 10 out of 10. Thanks for reading.

If your like me, you saw the medal of honor franchise stagnating, not exactly in decline, but there was little forward movement. Then along came Call of Duty Finest Hour. Wow. Well if you liked Finest Hour but didnt see what else could be done, look no further than Big Red One, which takes gamers into chapters of WW2 history that many people sadly dont know. Beginning in 1942, Two years before D-Day, and thus two years before any previous WW2 video game, this game brings the gamer, with the same squad of characters through the entire European theater, from the First clashes against the Vichy French in Algeria, to clashes with Afrika Korp and Italians in Tunisia. Unlike other games Africa is not merely a small two level affair, BRO gives it the sense of importance it deserves with over a quarter of the game happening there. Then its off to Sicily where you help knock Italy out of the war. I especially enjoyed fighting the Italians for a change, new weapons, vehicles and such. Once you get to France you realize just how tenacious the Germans are, and the game progressivly gets more challanging until you reach Germany itself. Definitely an amazing perspective, and a more realistic one. The average soldier did not, as Medal of Honor would tell you, end up in the OSS blowing up endless secret german or japanese weapons behind enemy lines, they would in fact be fighting inch by inch with their squad for the duration, and thats what stays with you when you finish this game, the sense of how long and hard the war was on the average soldier. Knowing that for the guys who landed in Algeria in 42, the odds were against them living to see the war end in 45

Call of Duty: Big Red One is a solid WWII-based first-person shooter with tight controls and a convincing marriage of scripted cinemas and dynamic action. With bullets whizzing by, planes soaring overhead, and explosions rocking the battlefield, the game definitely captures the intensity of war that up until recently was only duplicated in movies. Sure enough, it's during these frantic moments, which are plentiful, that gamers will find themselves fully captivated and entertained.
But the experience is still not perfect. In its attempt to direct the action as it would a movie, the developer has either by design or by accident compromised the non-linear structure of levels and I think that is a mistake. I understand the choice, but in my experience it has at least partly backfired. The go-anywhere freedom associated with conventional FPSs is not in Big Red One. Players are sometimes unmistakably limited to set paths and running into invisible barriers occasionally breaks from the immersive true-world presentation that the title aspires to deliver. It's not a make or break shortcoming -- the game is still fun -- but it is nevertheless a noteworthy frustration.

Or is this game just not very challenging at all? Don't get me wrong, I'm very impressed by the storyline, graphics, weapons, etc. But it just seems like it's a little too easy to finish this game. It just seems like it's really hard to die; there's so much available ammo, health packs, and direct hits from MG-42's, grenades, etc. don't really inflict that much damage on you. Does anyone else out there share these thoughts?

Call of Duty 2: Big Red One is a very nice first-person shooter. You start out as a private in the divsion named "Big Red One." You have six other men in your unit, some of whom may save your life, and you may have to save thiers.
This game is very realistic and I could not find any real major flaws with it. The enemy AI is superb and the graphics are certainly up to par, as is the sound effects.
At the start of each mission Sgt. Hawkins, gives you a briefing of what you need to accomplish. From there on out, anything goes. You and your fellow soldiers must find a way to accompish the task. Each mission has its different ways to go about it, and each one is equally as fun as the other.
There is a wide range of weapons in this game, all of which are historically accurate.
The one thing I did not like is that I finished the game in a total of two days. Luckily, I paid only $20 for it, so I suggest to look for it at a lower price because it is not worth $50.
NOTICE: The rating on this game is teen. There is some profanity, but nothing that would be bleeped out or is that serious.

I had high hopes for this game but it fell short of my expectations. My biggest complaint is its brevity. I finished this game in about 6-7 hours total on the normal difficulty level. That is just not enough game time for the cost of this game. The graphics and sound are great but the play is almost identical to the other COD titles. The AI is mediocre. I am a big fan of all WWII shooters but this title falls short. I will give credit to the voice overs. This feature did add a bit more of a human element to the game. I recommend renting this game before buying.

Don't get me wrong, this is a great game, but the lack of ability to save the game midway just kills the game completely. Its as if all XBOX games are crippled with this problem (Tom Clancy Splinter Cell is another example). Instead of being able to move forward, you end up playing the same level over and over again. Its just too fustrating.

Here's how it works, every time you die in the game you start all over from the last check point. This system works fine for games like Halo since the checkpoints are very frequent. However for COD, the checkpoints are very far from each other.

Also, you cannot save the game in mid-level and switch off your XBOX. In this case, the game will not start from the last checkpoint, instead it will start from the start of the level itself. So, its almost compulsory that you end the level before you switch off the console.

I know this does not sound like a big deal, but trust me, as you go through the game the checkpoints are spaced further apart just to increase the level of difficulty and its just gets plain annoying more than anythign else.

Other than this problem, the game is pretty good.

I'm relatively new to the XBox, and found this to be an amazing experience. In a way, it's a game merged with a history lesson. The more I played it, the more respect gained for those who fought the actual battles. Approaching the beach in the landing craft gives one a sense (though nowhere near that of the real experience) of what these guys actually charged into...amazing. This game requires strategy, planning and a lot of attention. Amazing environments and realism. Looking forward to #3.

Thank you, 1st Infantry.

I bought this game in Jan 2006 and I love it. If I could give it 10 stars I would.

The graphics are first-rate quality, the action is very quick, and the sounds are incredibly realistic through my sound-surround theatre in my living room. I have watched History Channel WWII shows with the same type of weapons as used in the game and the weaponry sounds are exactly the same.

There are a variety of maps to enter and join along with a variety of different campaigns such as Capture The Flag, Team Deathmatch, Deathmatch etc. I like this version better than the PC version and the X-Box Call of Duty Finest Hour (which is slow and cumbersome) because of maps, action, and the ability to converse with other players on-line. This is probably the single most important element of this X-Box game; the interaction with other players on-line. What makes this important is that each campaign, regardless of how much you have played COD: Big Red One in the past, changes each time you get on-line depending upon the group of people that you play with. So your experiences change because of their gaming experience (or lack thereof) and their ability to converse and help each other out: TEAMWORK is the keyword here. I have entered into the middle of games with first-timers that were losing 10 to 1 in scoring, but with my experience, I have help them come together to actually beat the opposing team. And some of the battles are blazing mind-blowing because both teams end up in a battle in the same area trying to gain the same ground within minutes of the game ending. The level of playing changes for everyone no matter how long you have had this game: I have played against guys who were considered Pro in this game yet, sometimes they can't kill anyone for a good score and I've beaten them hands-down in other campaigns. This of course also depends upon the other team, luck and everyone's skills.

Don't expect a high re-play value to come from the game itself. It's true that the maps get a bit redundant at times, but if the maps were any bigger, people would be running off without fighting. A good game experience comes from the team members that you play with. Each time you get on-line the teamwork and chaos changes. So even though the maps may get a little redundant, the outcomes change.

I can't say enough good things about COD: Big Red One.

On the negative side concerning X-Box (On-line only): I wish the video-made army men wouldn't run out of breath so quickly while running. I wish there were options to fly airplanes so we could fight in the air and bomb our opponents on the ground. Also, I would like to be able to enter other vehicles, not just tanks such as jeeps, trucks, etc. and sometimes it's frustrating to get killed when you think you're behind a wall, but apparently the enemy can see you. Other than this, nothing is wrong.

The money spent is well worth it. Must play on-line to appreciate this game.

So, I have been hearing from people how this isn't like the PC/360 version, it's too linear, blah blah blah. No it's not like those versions. It's a completely different game, for starters. I'm not going to go over in detail the background on the game's storyline, as several other reviewrs have already done so.
This game is a throughouly enjoyable shooter. The graphics are excellent, the weapons are rendered faithfully, and the overall gameplay is excellent.
The one thing keeping this from getting a five star overall rating is the fact that I was able to beat the game in under 10 hours, without using any cheats.
Where this game shines, however, is on XBox Live. That alone is worth the price of the game. There are your standard games, Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, but the one I find I play the most is team Deathmatch. This is closest you can come on the original XBox to actually being in World War II. Now, in three weeks, when my 360 arrives with that version of Call of Duty 2, I'll be there more. One advantage to the orginal XBox Live Call of Duty 2:BRO is that you can have 16 players at once, the 360, only 8. Until you can get a 360, this is one of the best shooters and Live games out there for the XBox