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Highly Overrated I heard quite a bit about Call of Duty, and was prepared to enjoy this game. Unfortunately, there is little to be found here that doesn't already exist. First off is the single player game. You start out as a soldier in charge of flagging in the incoming paratroopers. Right as you set the signal there is a rumbling in the background, and CoD is about to show one of its shining effects. The sound is truly amazing, and is a perfect mix artillery fire, airplane engines, gunfire, and the faint sound of the alarm going off alerting all of your enemies. Unfortunately the game doesn't keep this level of excitement and starts drifting off to the world of normal FPS's we see all the time. Every now and then something interesting comes along, like the car missions, but for the most part it's just an average single player shooter where you kill half of the world's population in order to save the world from Nazis. And this doesn't last that long either, you can easily get through all the missions in about 5-7 hours on normal mode. Hard offers higher damage so tack on another hour or maybe two and that's it. Each level feels extremely short and when you switch over to a different campaign/nation, you ask yourself what just happened. The game play isn't that great, and while I played it didn't feel like I was continuing because I was addicted, I was just playing it so I'd finish it and be done. There were only a couple moments when I really thought it was cool, and those were the first encounter that I explained earlier, and the last. The highly acclaimed Russian introduction failed to stun me, which is odd considering that it's usually not that hard to do. So after that you crack open the multiplayer and hope for the best. The version of CoD's multiplayer that I played is 1.5. CoD offers a few modes of play such as Death Match, Team DM, Search and Destroy, and Headquarters. There are 2 other types, but those are rarely seen. TDM is fast paced and insane, and can be fun, but often isn't. On the rare occasion that people use a range of weapons, varying from rifles to bars to Thompson's, the game is fun and somewhat of a challenge. But this is rare. Most of the time people either choose one of two weapons. The first weapon is the thompson/mp40/ppsh/sten. These guns are all very similar and have their use, but in TDM they are used to spam every corner where an enemy might be. With this on, TDM turns into a contest of who can run, gun, and get lucky the most rather who can out skill their opponent. The other vastly used weapon is the sniper rifle on larger maps, where people just prone and take a seat, just picking people off. The problem isn't necessarily that the guns are wrong (they actually are, but I'll explain this later), but rather that servers never put any limitations to these weapons and there for everyone and a half uses them, making using any other gun extremely inefficient. TDM is truly a travesty to CoD, and it's amazing it made it to release. S&D plays a lot like Counter-Strike, with one death per round, which is played out until the objective is completed or one side is eliminated. Here you will find the most skilled players and the best of CoD's multiplayer experience. People tend to play much more conservative and with a variety of weapons. Its only downside is the time waiting during death, which isn't that bad. The lack of in-game voice does make for some loss of entertainment while dead, but people still tend to chat using text. The two less popular modes, HQ and DM, are ok. DM is well, death match, and HQ is a capture and hold type of game, like a mobile king of the hill. One of the major problems with CoD is the weapon balance and selection. There are a total of 16 weapons, which is slightly off. There are actually more like 8 actual weapons. Most weapons are clones of each other with slight differences such as the iron sight and ammo, as well as the model, of course. But the real problem here lies in the fact that there seems to be minimal weapon balance done. Each weapon has a point and range to be used in, but some excel at every range and situation. This is the BAR and Bren. These guns can pick off people at long distance, have minimal recoil, and can be spammed to destroy the endless MP40s and 44s, all while doing high amounts of damage. These guns just aren't fair and are extremely easy to use. Meanwhile guns like the MP44 seem to be average at long range and close range, making it seem that the guns were balanced at random. With games on the market like Day of Defeat and such, the multiplayer just seems to lack creativity and flow. If you already own DoD, then there really isn't much of a reason to pick up CoD if you are looking for a new multiplayer game. The single player isn't that great either mainly because of its abruptness, and especially now that Brother in Arms is out, isn't worth the pick up.