Call of Duty: United Offensive is the 2004 expansion pack for the title released in the previous year 'Call of Duty'. The game runs on the same engine as the previous game, even shares some of the same characters such as Sgt. Moody and Cpt. Foley from the previous game and was developed by Gray Matter Studios rather than Activision.
Call of Duty: United Offensive builds upon the first game, bringing in some new additions that really should have been in the first game but understandably could not due to limitations of some sort if I am to guess the reason why, and gives the players a new campaign experience for those that loved or were a fan of the first game for $19.95 (on Steam). It is a pretty hefty price but you are essentially buying the first game again with new additions and a new campaign and it plays pretty much the same way as the first game but in some aspects, better and in some aspects worse. I really enjoyed the American campaign fighting in the Battle of the Bulge, reminds me of the Band of Brothers episode where Easy Company had to hold out in Bastogne and the Battle of Foy, which in some aspects kind of plays out similarly to the episode and even mentions Easy Company, neat. British campaign is somewhat similar, start out as a regular trooper and then get scouted by the S.A.S. to fight for them, and Soviet campaign as standard but this time you're fighting at the Battle of Kursk and the Belgorod-Kharkov Offensive rather than taking Berlin again.
Right off the bat, United Offensive was a lot tougher than the first game. The enemy's aim is a lot more pinpoint accurate than the first game, even on the same difficulty (Regular) where you really have to hug the walls for cover and move from cover to cover to avoid your health bar being depleted in the blink of an eye. For anyone who completed this game on veteran, you need to go collect your discounts because I was losing it on regular sometimes. It still felt clunky, AI just keeps getting in your way which sometimes prevents you from falling back and ends up getting you killed or you just walk around that star on your compass to wake the AI up to let you advance in the game. The damn walls still have not been fixed with the damn grenades. I should not be taking damage when I am far away from the grenade and behind 10 inches of thick concrete wall, they're not damn mini nukes but they certainly act like it. Bazooka's are inconsistent as well, you can pump a tank with 3 rockets and act like you just threw rocks at them or blow up instantly. Some of the sights on the guns feel off, especially the SVT-40, some of them just feel too damn slow, the DP-28, but I like the new sniper scopes, better than just having a small crosshair with a black background to imitate a sniper scope. Each country now has appropriate sidearms so you won't be seeing the Soviets using the Colt M1911 but rather their own TT-33 and the British with the Webley revolver.
The game still plays the same as the first game, Fight from A to B, hold this position till reinforcements arrive, tank missions (and plane mission this time!). To be fair, it is probably worth getting this game at a discounted price if that ever happens, if you bought this game off Steam, you're paying the same price for this game as the first one ($19.95). Might sound like a cheapskate but if you're going to charge that price, give this game a good polish at least and remove that damn clunk, even Quake III didn't feel that clunky.
Overall, Call of Duty: United Offensive is a solid expansion pack. The new weapons added for extra immersion and depth of play with you being able to use new semi-automatic rifles and mobile machine guns that you can mount on windows on lie down prone and a new campaign, different from the first and in some ways I would argue is better. Still however, the game felt clunky like the first one and the difficulty is quite tougher than the first game giving the players a challenge for those that beat the first one.
Positive Points:
- New Weapons
- New Campaign
- Expanded Multiplayer (New Gamemodes)
Negative Points:
- Buggy (AI and geometry)
- Unnecessarily more difficult than the previous game
- Same formula as the first game