Call of Duty week: Day one

I recently realised there were seven days in the week. I also realised that there have been seven Call of Duty games (unless you count the rubbish console versions (not Black Ops – We’ll get to that)). So, I thought it would be good to go through each game in order, discussing positives and negatives and arriving at a reasoned conclusion as to which is the best (can you guess which isn’t?).

So then, the original Call of Duty. Now, I'm a bit biased here as this is one of my favourite games ever made. Still, maybe I can analyse some of the flaws which are almost certainly there.

Positives:

• Each different country that you play as has a completely different style of gameplay. Americans are all about the squad based stuff. The British is about being awesome. And the Russian campaign is firstly about being a face in a crowd, and then being a lone ranger.
• You essentially play as James Bond in the British missions.
• The Stalingrad landings and the Red Square charge are two of the greatest missions in gaming.
• The game has an actual sense of reverence. You can tell the creators cared about the soldiers and wanted their story to be told. It isn't about being a super-hero, it’s about cowering in churches as tanks blow the heck out of your squad mates (the Ste. Mere Eglise mission is great at this.)
• The Reichstag mission at the end actually makes it feel like you’re fighting a collapsed army, fighting more for survival than anything else. It isn't a massive slog, as you’re the bloody Russian army at the top of its game against a severely under strength German- remnant.
• The tank mission doesn't take very long and doesn't totally suck.
• Probably my favourite thing: When your squad leader asks you to cover him, he can actually die. And the mission doesn't end. If you don’t play video games then that might sound stupid, but it’s incredibly refreshing that it doesn't end the game instantly because one guy got killed. (Admittedly he does re-appear next mission but whatever).
• Which leads onto; all of the NPC dudes can die. None of that stupid rubbish they pull nowadays where several characters are invulnerable. Nope, the game just keeps going. It doesn't even make a huge song-and-dance about it (this is best shown in the ship mission. No spoilers though).

Negatives:

• The tank mission is pretty freaking bad to be fair, and it’s super difficult as well.
• The last American and British missions are pretty mundane, especially compared to the final Russian mission (the Reichstag one).
• The car chase sucks.
• The turret sequences (my old nemesis) suck.
• Objectives can be a little bit unclear sometimes (although it isn't normally a problem).

Honestly though, mostly these are just me nit-picking the game. It’s bloody fantastic and everyone should play it as soon as possible. It remains one of my favourite games ever, and I'm sure it will for a long time.