With Treyarch's first title in the Call Of Duty series, Big Red One has a lot to live up to.
Presentation (8.0): Big Red One has some very authentic details and weaponry from the M1A1 Thompson all the way to the MAS38 French bolt-action rifle. Also, the game does have a few bugs and glitches, but, it doesn't make playing the game impossible. Unlike the past Call Of Duty titles, Big Red One has you step into the combat boots of only an American infantryman attached to the 1st Infantry Division. You have a squad of about four other soldiers, including your Sergeant and you will battle the enemy in Vichy French occupied North Africa, Italy's lower island-Sicily, and, finally, German occupied Europe. Moreover, the game allows you to battle varied enemies, but this doesn't really add anything to the gameplay and/or experiance of the game.
Graphics (8.5): Although Big Red One doesn't have anything groundbreaking in graphics, the graphics don't look terrible. They're more of in between, although the game does have a few glitches. The gun models, however, are great and the game never falters because of a slow frame-rate.
Sound (7.5): Nothing really new in the Call Of Duty series. Basically just your standard WWII-themed soundtrack.
Gameplay (8.5): The gameplay is one of the greatest aspect of this game, as should be the case in all Call Of Duty games. Taking part in the invasion of Normandy is pretty nice and commanding a tank in North Africa is, although not new and/or innovative, a great experiance. There is also one mission where your are a gunner in the fuselage of a B-24 Liberator flying over the Mediterranean Sea where you must fend off the Luftwaffe's vicious attacks and bomb Kreigsmarine vessels as well as a railway system over land. Awesome...
Lasting Appeal (7.0): Since I am reviewing this game in 2009, no one is probably playing online these days and the game doesn't include splitscreen mode. But, the game has a moderate replay value thanks to it's great gameplay. Also (*if you have the collectors edition like me*) the game includes some movies and trailers of the game and interviews of real 1st infantrymen who were there in the thick of it during the North African, Italian, and European campaign, although the movies probably won't make you go back and play the game again.
Cons: Although this game is great, a few problems keep it from being a 9 or 10/10, perfect score. One of those problems is that the game is very repetitive, even though you fight in varied locations around the world. Another of these problems is that the game is too short and has a few glitches that could have been taken care of. You could very much easily beat the game in a 5-10 hour time period, depending on the difficulty setting you choose.
If you enjoy learning about WWII and playing WWII-themed shooters, this is a great game to purchase, considering the price-tag now is only around 10-20 U.S dollars. Even though the game has a few problems that could have been tackled and fixed, the game still deserves a decent score thanks to it's authentic WWII shooter gameplay.