Multiplayer

The strengths

Multiplayer is primarily “search and destroy”, though retrieval and team deathmatch see a decent amount of servers. Search and Destroy is best thought of as Counter-Strike, where every Allied player has a bomb, every Axis has a defuse kit, bombs have a 60 second counter and the Allies have a very short timeframe in which to plant or clear the Axis troops. So, in a way, SD is rather stale because it’s been done billions of times before by Counter-Strike players, though it’s much faster than CS. Players are less likely to camp since they all have bombs or defuse kits, and the timer is shorter by default anyhow. The only problem is that if a bomb gets defused, the Allies lose automatically even though all their other players still have dynamite. However, this probably saves balance, since multiple plants could make the game impossible for Axis to win.

Everyone has MUCH less health than they would in singleplayer, the damage output of each gun becomes very realistic. One or two shots at most by a rifle will kill an enemy, and five or six from an SMG will accomplish the same thing. This makes balance tricky, but interesting. Bolt-action rifles that fire one shot every two or three seconds are obviously much weaker than the semi-automatic Garand, but rifles in general hold up well against SMGs and assault rifles like the MP44 or BAR, except in close quarters. The BAR is the gun with the most balance issues, since it inflicts almost as much damage as a Garand or Kar98, but holds 20 rounds, can go fully automatic and has a great sight. The MP44 is noticeably weaker, though its full auto and rate of fire are superior. Sniper rifles are quite powerful, though they’re not present on many maps that they could be abusive on, such as Brecourt.

There’s also a great killcam feature, which shows you the last 5-10 seconds of your life, through the point of view of your killer. This has an undeniable cool factor of course, but also has the added benefit of helping players spot cheaters.

The weakness

Call of Duty has more cheats in the short time since its release than most games have in their lifetime. Hacking is commonplace and obvious, the killcam makes it very clear when someone is tracking you through a wall or puts his gun there at the last moment because he’s expecting you.

Astonishingly, Activision hasn’t implemented Punkbuster or other cheating measures, even though all their other online shooters have them. Some, like Enemy Territory and Return to Castle Wolfenstein, shipped with Punkbuster. Why doesn’t Call of Duty (which is sure to be the next MOHAA, BF1942 or even Half-Life of online shooters) have Punkbuster? We couldn’t tell you. All we can say is that it’s a dreadful omission that should be remedied immediately. When we contacted Activision rep Caryn “Hellchick” Law, she stated that Activision is in the midst of discussing the possibility.

Weapon balance and bugs are another bone of contention. There is no rifle… nay! no weapon in the game that can compare with the Garand. It’s able to discharge all 8 of its very powerful rounds in under 2 seconds, while retaining all the accuracy and damage of a regular rifle like the Kar98, Lee-Enfield or Mosin-Nagant. Judging by the incredible firepower difference this produces between German and American forces, it’s hard not to feel sympathy for the poor men of the historical Wehrmacht.

As we mentioned earlier, there are some bugs that can ruin the multiplayer experience. The worst we personally came in contact with is a clipping bug, where parts of the body would extend through a wall and leave the player visible and open to shots even though he thought he was hidden. Lag control isn’t as good as we thought it may be, given Call of Duty’s excellent Quake heritage. Hitting a running character at short-medium range can be surprisingly difficult, as there is more warping than one might expect.

Overall though, Call of Duty feels like a nicer-looking, crisper Counter-Strike… right down to the plague of cheats. Let’s hope Activision stops discussing and starts doing soon.