by
Ted Kritsonis
Faze
Video Game Editor
Expansion
packs are always interesting because they’re meant to
expand and slightly enhance certain aspects of the original
game. Call of Duty: United Offensive falls into this mold,
though there aren’t many enhancements to speak of. Last
year, the original game was captivating mainly because it
was so much fun to play, and while I would say the same about
United Offensive, it also seems like something’s missing.
Like the previous game, United Offensive
splits 13 missions into three perspectives: American, British
and Russian. This was a huge bright spot in the original because
the Russians did most of the fighting on the ground in Europe
during World War II, and yet there isn’t much based
on their contribution in the video game world. United Offensive
follows the same trend, putting a lot of emphasis on the ferocity
and chaos of the Russian campaign.
One nice addition was the bomber mission in the British campaign.
It was a different experience being on a plane and moving
around, firing all those rounds at German fighter planes.
The mission does go by a little fast, although I would attribute
that more to the madness going on throughout the course of
the mission, which keeps you more than occupied.
Generally, the respective campaigns
take much the same tone of the previous game. The American
campaign is focused solely on the Battle of the Bulge, which
was a last-ditch attempt by the Germans to gain the initiative
on the Western Front. The Russian campaign, like the previous
game, is the most chaotic. The Battle of Kursk, which is history’s
largest tank battle ever, is the starting point, with the
retaking of the city of Kharkov in the Ukraine ending things.
The British campaign is the most interesting because it focuses
on the bombing mission and an interesting interpretation of
British contributions to the invasion of Sicily. At one point,
you’ll ride in a motorcycle sidecar, and soon after,
on a boat. The one problem is the lack of Italian troops in
Sicily, as not one Italian soldier is seen in those missions.
An unfortunate oversight.
New weapons were also added, making
things a little tougher. Each country has a .30 calibre machine
gun with a bipod. They pack a lot of punch and are vicious
to the enemy, but your mobility is very limited and you can
only fire it when aiming. The German flammenwerfer (flamethrower),
so feared by the Allies during the war, is also a functional
weapon, though it isn’t always useful.
Make no mistake, you’ll be quicksaving many times while
going through United Offensive. While it is a run-and-gun
game in many ways, tactics should also be a very important
part of the mix, but it’s hard to see how you can utilize
any tactics in a few of the missions.
Ultimately, there is a very frustrating
angle to United Offensive. There’s a lot of trial and
error in the way you go about achieving your objectives, or
to just stay alive. While the staying alive part may be a
slightly realistic portrayal of what the actual soldiers in
those days went through, this is a video game after all, and
dying over and over again in the same spots can get very annoying.
Despite
all that, Call of Duty: United Offensive is a fine expansion
pack to one of the greatest World War II video games ever
released. And it’s nice to see that the developers care
a great deal about how this game salutes those who fought
to preserve freedom.
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Publisher:
Activision
Developer:
Gray
Matter Studios
Platform:
PC
Rating:
9/10
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