{RA}SKYFURNACE
09-19-2003, 04:21 PM
From Gamespot
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/callofduty/preview_6074990.html
We then tried a few rounds of Call of Duty's multiplayer, whose pacing seemed to recall that of Activision's previously published World War II shooter, Day of Defeat. Like in that game, Call of Duty's multiplayer seems to strike a good balance between run-and-gun gameplay and careful, plodding maneuvers that you'll have to use to flush out hidden enemies. The game's hard-hitting sound effects also seem to help create a good sense of tension, especially when you're patrolling a seemingly empty area, and a near-miss shot rings out right next to you, signaling that hidden enemies are nearby. As it turns out, Call of Duty's multiplayer experience will vary depending on which mode you play (including the game's new seek-and-destroy and behind enemy lines modes, which it features in addition to standard deathmatch and team deathmatch).
This is because the game outfits you with a completely different weapon loadout depending on whether you're playing as a British, American, Russian, or German soldier. For instance, in team deathmatch, American soldiers get the widest selection of weapons among the Allies, including the M1A1 carbine, the M1-Garand, the Thompson, the Springfield sniper rifle, and the Browning assault rifle--while the Germans may choose only from the MP40 submachine gun, the heavier MP44, and the scoped and unscoped versions of the KAR98K rifle. Like Day of Defeat, Call of Duty gives you a brief description of each weapon before you choose to equip yourself with it in multiplayer. Weapons are rated by accuracy, damage, and mobility, and generally speaking, heavier automatic weapons seem to do better damage at the cost of accuracy and sometimes mobility.
These differing weapon loadouts seem to make for some interesting combined-arms skirmishes in practice, especially since the game lets you choose only a single primary weapon for your soldier to go with your sidearm and grenades. Like in Day of Defeat, you can walk, run, crawl, or lie prone--these affect your movement speed, line of sight, and accuracy. Each weapon also has an aiming mode that you can access by pressing the right mouse button--this lets you look down the iron sights of your weapon (or use the zoom lens in the case of a sniper rifle).
Making the most of both our weapons and tactical options helped us prevail in multiplayer rounds of search and destroy, the game's objective-based multiplayer mode, which resembles the objective modes of such games as Day of Defeat and Return to Castle Wolfenstein. Search and destroy is round-based, similar to Counter-Strike; once you die, you're out of the match until the next round. In the game we played, the American Allied soldiers were required to navigate through the trenches of a countryside installment and plant bombs on German antiair guns. Of course, the German soldiers were required to thwart the Americans in this map.
We were also able to spend some time with Call of Duty's behind enemy lines multiplayer mode, which pits Allied and Axis soldiers against each other in a lopsided ratio. Most players will spawn as Axis soldiers, though the few players that spawn as Allies will receive points for continuing to survive. Allied players are actively hunted by Axis players using a GPS-style radar system that tracks their most recent locations. Once an Axis player frags an Allied player, the Axis player becomes an Allied soldier and is then able to start scoring points (while the Allied player becomes an Axis soldier and joins the others in the hunt).
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/callofduty/preview_6074990.html
We then tried a few rounds of Call of Duty's multiplayer, whose pacing seemed to recall that of Activision's previously published World War II shooter, Day of Defeat. Like in that game, Call of Duty's multiplayer seems to strike a good balance between run-and-gun gameplay and careful, plodding maneuvers that you'll have to use to flush out hidden enemies. The game's hard-hitting sound effects also seem to help create a good sense of tension, especially when you're patrolling a seemingly empty area, and a near-miss shot rings out right next to you, signaling that hidden enemies are nearby. As it turns out, Call of Duty's multiplayer experience will vary depending on which mode you play (including the game's new seek-and-destroy and behind enemy lines modes, which it features in addition to standard deathmatch and team deathmatch).
This is because the game outfits you with a completely different weapon loadout depending on whether you're playing as a British, American, Russian, or German soldier. For instance, in team deathmatch, American soldiers get the widest selection of weapons among the Allies, including the M1A1 carbine, the M1-Garand, the Thompson, the Springfield sniper rifle, and the Browning assault rifle--while the Germans may choose only from the MP40 submachine gun, the heavier MP44, and the scoped and unscoped versions of the KAR98K rifle. Like Day of Defeat, Call of Duty gives you a brief description of each weapon before you choose to equip yourself with it in multiplayer. Weapons are rated by accuracy, damage, and mobility, and generally speaking, heavier automatic weapons seem to do better damage at the cost of accuracy and sometimes mobility.
These differing weapon loadouts seem to make for some interesting combined-arms skirmishes in practice, especially since the game lets you choose only a single primary weapon for your soldier to go with your sidearm and grenades. Like in Day of Defeat, you can walk, run, crawl, or lie prone--these affect your movement speed, line of sight, and accuracy. Each weapon also has an aiming mode that you can access by pressing the right mouse button--this lets you look down the iron sights of your weapon (or use the zoom lens in the case of a sniper rifle).
Making the most of both our weapons and tactical options helped us prevail in multiplayer rounds of search and destroy, the game's objective-based multiplayer mode, which resembles the objective modes of such games as Day of Defeat and Return to Castle Wolfenstein. Search and destroy is round-based, similar to Counter-Strike; once you die, you're out of the match until the next round. In the game we played, the American Allied soldiers were required to navigate through the trenches of a countryside installment and plant bombs on German antiair guns. Of course, the German soldiers were required to thwart the Americans in this map.
We were also able to spend some time with Call of Duty's behind enemy lines multiplayer mode, which pits Allied and Axis soldiers against each other in a lopsided ratio. Most players will spawn as Axis soldiers, though the few players that spawn as Allies will receive points for continuing to survive. Allied players are actively hunted by Axis players using a GPS-style radar system that tracks their most recent locations. Once an Axis player frags an Allied player, the Axis player becomes an Allied soldier and is then able to start scoring points (while the Allied player becomes an Axis soldier and joins the others in the hunt).