Not exactly as "Big" or as "Red" as I thought, but COD 2 does have some very entertaining gameplay m
This game is based on the First US Infantry Division (Big Red One) in the Second World War. You start as an average private, and rank up as the story continues. You begin in Belgium, where you have a short introduction, which is entirely in first-person. You are bombed and are forced to head into a ruined town. And the game pretty much just goes from there, taking you to Africa, Normandy, Sicily and Germany.
Gameplay: Big Red One does an excelent job at making WWII look as cinematic as possible. The controls are pretty much the same as all the other COD games. There is a good mix of situations, probably one of the most interesting is the "Liberator" mission, which puts you in the gunner seat of a Liberator Bomber. This is fun at first, but becomes long and boring after a while. The AI is pretty, dull. the enemies pretty much just sit behind cover, shoot, toss a grenade, crouch and so on. There really isn't much flanking or maneuvering. The gameplay style is more "shooting gallery" style, than the actual tactics of war. You really just sit behind cover and pop up and shoot, and crouch down, reload, pop up again. Much like the enemy AI
BRO does deliver some intense vehicle combat, but you never get to drive. the Sergeant always just plops you in the gunner seat.
One thing that I was disappointed by, was the lack of ragdoll effects. The only time any ragdoll effects occurred, were when an enemy was blown up by a grenade, but when shot, the enemies just fell into a scripted death pose.
Graphics: The graphics in BRO are, good, but not spectacular. At many points in the game, character's hands and arms can be seen right through solid walls. Some of the scenery is good looking, and the explosion effects on D-Day are very well done.
Sound: The sound in BRO is good, and the explosions are excellent. The sounds of the weapons are pretty good, and the vehicle sound effects are well done. Voice-over is okay, not great, but passable. As for background music, there isn't really any, except for the main menu. But at certain points in the game, an appropriate track is tossed in.
Value: This game is definitly worth it, more for the XBox Live factor than the single player. Because the single player campaign is fairly short, and the replay value isn't great, to really enjoy the entire experience, you need some on-line multiplayer.
Overall, a very intense WWII experience, has alot of memorable points, along with some interesting weapons and good sound effects. Call Of Duty 2: Big Red One is more of a shooter experience, so if you're looking for a tactical shooter, I suggest you look elsewhere. But for all of you WWII shooter fans, BRO is worth taking a good look at!