Call of Duty 2

Call of Duty 2 is the 2005 sequel to Infinity Ward's original Call of Duty and the title that codified much of what the series would become. The premise stays grounded in WWII, played out across British, American and Russian campaigns through the European Theater — North Africa under the Desert Fox, the cliffs of Pointe du Hoc with grappling hooks under heavy fire, tank-hunting in war-torn Russia, and a long list of named historical engagements in between.

The combat introduced changes that would define the FPS genre for years. Regenerating health replaced the medkit hunt of earlier shooters. Enemy AI was significantly more dynamic, with German troops using cover, flanking, and reacting to the situation around them. A context-sensitive battle chatter system kept dozens of Allied soldiers around the player aware of their surroundings — they'd call out enemy positions, draw fire, lay down cover, use foxholes and moving tanks as protection, and warn about flanking attacks.

The presentation upgrade was substantial. The new COD2 engine rendered snow, rain, fog and smoke at the fidelity console hardware of the era could just barely handle, with dynamic lighting and shadows pushed further than the original game had reached. Bigger battles fit more tanks, troops and explosions on screen at once, and the locales spanned more visual variety than the first game's narrow scope allowed.

Choice-based gameplay gave the campaign more elasticity than its predecessor. Open-ended battlefields let players individualize tactics and complete objectives in the order they preferred — playing first as a sniper or as a tank commander, for example. Multiplayer, online Axis-vs-Allies action that built on the first game's hugely popular modes, completes a package that helped move Call of Duty from a respected wartime shooter into the dominant blockbuster series it would become.