Call of Duty 2 is quite possibly the best first-person shooter game I’ve ever played on a console. It takes a lot from other hits, such as Day of Defeat and Halo 2. While you would think that it would be unoriginal and insipid, there always seemed to be something new to keep the gameplay fresh.

Graphics: 9.5 / 10
What makes this game so great graphically is the frame rate. It's extremely smooth and doesn’t chop out at all. Environments are pretty good. Player models are good. Particle affects are awesome -- every shot into the ground shoots up dirt or snow. The smoke looks almost real.

Sound: 9 / 10
Voice work is good. Your allies scream things like “This is for my little sister” or “This is suicide!” Although sometimes Soviet soldiers have British accents, gunshots and blasts sound like they should. The music is kind of bland and regular, but what you would expect from a heroic war movie set in WWII.

Controls: 10 / 10
Once you get the hang of it you never even notice the controller in your hand.

Gameplay: 10 / 10
Your allies have great A.I. They actually help a lot on the battle field and do a decent amount of killing. It’s about time they made a FPS that wasn’t health meter based. When you shoot guys they actually fall over. If they’re almost dead they still might whip out their pistol and shoot at you with their last few breaths. Your health regenerates as if you were Wolverine from X-men or something (this is obviously taken from Halo 2’s shield regeneration.) When a grenade falls close to you, an icon shows up letting you know. This is a huge help. The weapon choices are very similar to Day of Defeat. This may just be because they’re both based in WWII.

Overall: 9.5 / 10
This is a really good game, and to anyone who is a FPS fan, this is a must-buy game. The whole time I was playing I never got bored. As I said before, this is probably the best first-person shooter, so if you somehow haven’t picked up on this genre, I recommend getting Call of Duty 2.