CALL OF DUTY 2

How Call of Duty felt before Modern Warfare

- Kyle Hoekstra

It’s 2005 and I’m strapped into the back of a truck, driving once more into a North African town in the level The End of the Beginning in the demo for Call of Duty 2. Ahead, El Daba is masked by desert haze and a grave instrumental underscores the nervous energy of boys from the 7th Armored Division. Suddenly fighter planes are swooping above, the tank ahead explodes along with the Tommies who were riding it, and your driver swerves to avoid the wreckage as it chugs smoke over the landscape.

This is the kind of non-interactive, bombastic spectacle which would define the series—not always to its credit. But here, as I replayed the demo yet again, I was impressed. When you leap from the truck you’re plunged into a street fight. You push through alleys, which seemed more labyrinthine than they really were, and eliminate artillery crews before signaling the Allied fleet to bombard the docks.

Drama is injected at every opportunity: on the way to grab some final intel, a Tommy busts through a door only to be torn apart by a machine gun. Sometimes the drama isn’t scripted: I step onto a backstreet, where I witness an enemy beaten down by an ally who I’m convinced would burn with fury even if it wasn’t programmed, and suddenly my role as player feels important only as part of a greater war effort.

I was used to the absurdity of arena shooters. By contrast, Call of Duty 2 offered immersive, straightfaced spectacle, leaving out pickups and health packs for narrative set-pieces which eclipsed its predecessors. Infinity Ward’s status was cemented among shooter devs on PC, and as a console exclusive on Xbox 360 it also helped reinforce its shooter credentials.

When Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare swept the board with its inventive campaign and multiplayer,