Call of Duty (2003)

The first Call of Duty is where it all began and what inspired a series of good sequels, along with the cashflow milking cow that it has become today. The original game shined with excellent AI, a solid story and fluent mechanics.

Call of Duty revolves around the events of the second world war. Although this concept is nothing new and used many times before, it is one of the more stable, balanced and straightforward ones that was around at the time. The main difference with other WWII franchises is that you play as multiple countries that fought in the war like Russia, Great Brittan and the United States.

You start as Private Martin, a paratrooper that has been sent behind enemy lines in the events of D-Day. His platoon is scattered badly and nowhere is were he should be. You mission is to disable Flak guns and artillery positions to grant the soldiers some slack that are fighting on the beaches.

Then, the perspective switches over to Sergeant Evans, in the British army.
After participating in Operation Tonga, you are transferred to the commando SAS unit, which is then tasked with sabotaging the Eder Dam. After that, you infiltrate the battleship Tirpitz with Sergeant Price and a small squad. You discover plans from the Germans in which they are about to launch their feared V-2 rockets. You destroy the rockets before joining your squad mates in the battles ahead.

You also play as Corporal Alexei, starting at the battle for Stalingrad. Your heroic deeds get you promoted to Sergeant and after many battles with lots of lives lost, you enter Berlin and conquer the city with your fellow squad mates, ending the war.

The first Call of Duty is the only game in the series that implements the health bar. Although opinions differ about what system is better, I preferred the search for health kits and keeping track of your current vitality. It is what makes an FPS interesting and challenging in my opinion. Medal of Honor is another franchise that shined in this mechanic, by finding soldier canteens.

Call of Duty looked beautiful back then and, even to today, still does. Surely it aged and the graphics can be considered ancient, but the detail remains fair enough. The small blood effects and explosions are still great. The sound effects are still solid. All the sounds of guns firing and grenades that explode are still awesome. I like the Kar98 sound effects the most, it is just a solid blast when you fire your single bullet towards the enemy.

What sets Call of Duty apart is its excellent AI, especially for the time. Enemies and squad mates “do their own thing” and are focused on the battles ahead. There is also a solid balance between the focus on you and the AI on each other. You can surprise an enemy from the side because he is busy fighting with another soldier and does not notice you yet.

The expansion pack, United Offensive, I did not play. This was only because my PC back then, would not read the disc properly. This is something that I want to complete at least once in the future.

Call of Duty will always remain a true classic and, even today, it is still played widely, although many servers are now fun and hack servers with some crazy sh!t going on. There are custom made maps in toy block landscapes, obstacle courses, you name it.

It is a shame that the series nowadays is a business model in which the same crap is released every year and kids today do not know how great the series was back then, but before I turn into a complete grandpa again, that is all I will say about it.

I definitely still recommend this true original classic.

STORY = 5/10
GAMEPLAY = 4/10
ENJOYMENT = 5/10
RATING = 4.6/10

I love how satisfying the game feels or any kills feels. This game was one of the best war games I've played as far as now. I'm going to play all the Call of Duty franchise.

old but GOLD

Game: Call of Duty
Genre: First Person Shooter
Developer: Infinity Ward
Publisher: Activision
System: Steam (PC)
Year of Release: 2003
Length of Playthrough: 14 Hours

Total Score: 80/100
Value Score: 8/10

• Story: 7/10
• Characters: 7/10
• GamePlay: 9/10
• Graphics: 7/10
• Sound: 9/10
• Music: 7/10
• Length: 9/10
• Replay Value: 7/10
• Player Value: 8/10

Pros
+4 Campaigns with about 24 missions
+Multiplayer mode
+Great voice acting and sound effects
+Multiple difficulty modes
+Variety of Gameplay styles (Solo, squad, tank, etc)

Cons
-Sometimes the game's checkpoints do not save (uncommon)
-Glitches where player can get stuck in certain locations (rare)
-Can be tedious and unforgiving in regards to difficulty