#CALL OF DUTY 2 FOR XBOX360 SERIES#

On Xbox Live, you can't actually create your own games. For example, you can create custom games in which you specify the location and game type, options we'll discuss in a moment. Even on a widescreen HDTV display, with two players, split screen actually divides the screen vertically, resulting in two ultrawide, but short displays, a woefully inadequate inexperience the screen should split into two 4:3 displays on a widescreen, in my opinion.īut let's face it, split screen stinks, though it and System Link do give you some options you don't get on Xbox Live. I'd imagine this setup is preferable to split screen. We'll be looking at the Xbox Live component most closely, but split screen mode lets you play up to three other human beings on the same television, while System Link lets you hook two Xbox 360 consoles together via a proprietary System Link cable, so each system must have its own TV. On the Xbox 360, COD2 allows you to play against other human beings via Xbox Live, Split Screen, or System Link. In my original review of COD2, I noted that COD2 multiplayer 'delivers' while being is 'fun and playable.' Fair enough. And I've discovered a brand new addiction. But with two weeks of COD2 multiplayer via Xbox 360 under my belt, I've bumped my reputation up to the hoped-for five stars. I'm not sure if there is any correlation between Reputation and the gamer zone you choose to play within (I've chosen 'Recreation' rather than the more hard-core 'Pro' or 'Underground'), and my testing since hasn't uncovered any connection. And sure enough, this has proven to be the case. Something told me that the remaining 1.5 or two stars had to be tied to online play. Despite completing several games, I couldn't get that Reputation rating to go up. I started out a two stars, I believe, moved quickly to three stars, but then have hovered at 3 or 3.5 stars ever since. On the 360, Reputation is based on a five star rating. In the four months since I first got the Xbox 360, I'd watched as my Achievement points total went up steadily (it's at 3385 as of this writing) and as my Reputation barely moved. Bad ReputationĪnyway, 800 Achievement points later I still wasn't satisfied. But then it's not like I can sit in front of the Xbox 360 for several hours at a time. In all, it took me two weeks to cruise through COD2 on Veteran difficulty. After finishing the third and final set of levels, concerning the American portion of the war, I returned to Rommel's Last Stand, moved quickly through the level, and got a much better auto save. So I elected to save that one for the end. For example, the last segment of Rommel's Last Stand, where you must shoot down a bevy of attacking planes with a fixed gun, hit an awkward auto save, causing me to die almost instantly each time I respawned, so I'd have to restart the level segment from the beginning, which was frustrating. I quickly started racking up Achievement points as I finished each level. I elected to simply work through the game, from beginning to end. Because I had already completed the game, I was able to pick and choose which levels to play, in any order. Eventually, I popped the game disk back in the Xbox 360, fired up the 52-inch HDTV display, and went to work. Non-Achievementsīut those Achievement points nagged at me. That's a lot of playing-and a lot of writing. After all, I had 17 other Xbox 360 titles to look forward to as well. I had played through COD2 on Regular the first time around simply so I could get through it and write the review. I'm no slouch when it comes to first person shooters. And the only way to get most of the Achievement points the game offers is to complete it on the hardest difficulty level, Veteran. The reason? I had completed Call of Duty 2 on Regular difficult level.

Though I had completed the entire Call of Duty 2 single player experience, I had gotten only 200 of the 1000 possible Achievement points in the game.

#CALL OF DUTY 2 FOR XBOX360 SERIES#

But part of the draw is that all Xbox 360 games include a series of Achievements, which are sort of like reward points for achieving certain in-game objectives. Certainly, it's a better game than most Xbox 360 launch titles, and its multiplayer possibilities give the game huge replayability. Everytime I try to get out.īut something about Call of Duty 2 kept drawing me back. And of course, I have a number of upcoming reviews of Xbox 360 games, including the various sports titles that came out at launch, and original games such as GUN and Perfect Dark Zero. Since that time, I've completed a number of Xbox 360 titles, and have played through both Half-Life 2 and Halo 2 on the original Xbox. Back in November 2005, my first Xbox 360 game title review was for Call of Duty (see my review), a sequel to one of my favorite games of all time, and the front-runner for best Xbox 360 launch title.

Call of duty 2 for xbox360