Metareview -- Call of Duty 2 (Xbox 360)

By James Ransom-Wiley

It costs more and supports fewer players online, but the Xbox 360 version of Call of Duty 2
is averaging higher scores than its PC counterpart. Now before you go accusing us of blasphemy, remember, we picked Call of Duty 2 as "best in show" during an Xbox 360 preview event last month. But we are curious about the review disparity. Is it indicative of a weak Xbox 360 launch lineup?
Or does it have more to do with the fact that console games (in this case, FPS titles) are finally catching up to their high-end PC counterparts and should be rewarded (with higher scores) for this achievement? After all, the original
Call of Duty wasn't capable of being properly ported to the current-gen, and so, for many console gamers,
Call of Duty 2 is a new experience—rather than a rehash. Still, should the standards be different for PC
and console games? It's a tough call, now that the lines are beginning to blur.

Review Highlights:

  • GameSpot
    (88/100) – "Aside from the small-scale online matches, Call of Duty 2 is just about everything you'd hope for and expect from a next-generation first-person shooter."

  • Next Level Gaming (92/100) –
    "[CoD2 is] such an incredible FPS that it's a game you don't leave the store without. Both online and
    offline, this is my frontrunner for Game of the Year until something else shows me otherwise."

  • Team Xbox
    (90/100) – "Judging by the overall package of Call of Duty 2, the Xbox 360 will have a long life as the alternative to high-end PC gaming. Infinity Ward has created a PC game for the 360 (with better graphics than the PC version to boot) and managed to include not only next-gen sounds and graphics, but also gameplay features that were basically impossible on the old hardware."

[via Game Rankings; compare to lower average score of PC
version]

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