Call of Duty 2 is one of those occasional good ones. Following in the footsteps of the first Call of Duty game, Call of Duty 2 is heavily narrative-driven – something that is rare to see in any type of first-person shooter released in recent times. The story is backed up by awesome graphics and sound, to create an experience that I’ve never had with a first-person shooter.

Normally, first-person shooters are played without help from AI-controlled teammates or, in rare cases, those teammates are just complete idiots. Call of Duty 2’s teammates, though, are actually (somewhat) intelligent. I found myself actually trying to keep them alive throughout the missions – not to make the missions easier, but because they felt like real people to me.

See, the soldiers on my side didn’t run off willy-nilly into enemy fire. Oh no, they actually used cover. That little broken part of a building? Great place to duck behind, poke your gun over and shoot at stuff. Occasionally, they’d toss out a grenade or warn me by yelling if a grenade was tossed at me. I’d help cover our tracks with smoke grenades. I really felt like a member of a team, as opposed to a single super-soldier.

The idea of working on a team goes a long way to making the game feel like a true-to-life experience. The game’s sound also adds to this – the music works well to set the scene, while the sound effects contribute to the entire atmosphere. Each of your guns has a distinct sound, and voices sound like they should. You’ll even hear your squadmates cry out in pain when they’re injured or even killed. Yeah, it sounds like a war. When the music is playing, it feels like one of those old-time war documentaries. Heck, the missions even start with old-time documentaries.

The graphics also work towards creating a solid atmosphere for the game. Soldiers, environments, weapons, buildings and effects all look incredible and go a long way to making the game feel real. While my machine isn’t the highest end machine anymore, it still runs the game exceptionally well with solid graphics. Explosions and smoke grenades were some of my favorite effects. I love how the smoke grenade’s smoke slowly filled up the area where I tossed it, allowing my passage to be concealed. And, while the game can be graphic at points, you’re not going to be making bloody stumps of soldiers’ limbs – the game is definitely friendlier for the younger crowd.

OK, so the events in the game don’t happen exactly as they did in World War II. Really, though, that isn’t that big of a deal. While the events are fictional, they still have historical roots that you’ll learn about before each mission in a newsreel-style presentation. All of these elements work together well.

Now, the question could be asked – is there actually a fun game to play under this really shiny cover? The answer is a resounding yes. Enemies are pretty darn intelligent, your squad mates, while a little less intelligent, still won’t get you killed and, well, shooting stuff is just really fun.

See, the enemies aren’t just going to charge at you. They’re going to use cover just like your squad mates will, and they’ll even come up and smack you in the back of the head if they can. I’ve had enemies sneak around the front lines and come up behind me to attack. Enemies are also smart when it comes to grenades – even if they bunch up, they’ll scatter when you toss a grenade at them.

Your squad mates, while not on the intelligence level of the enemies, are still smart in their own right. They’ll help cover you when you are going in to attack, and will wait for you to toss out a smoke grenade before charging if the situation calls for it. They’ll use cover effectively and I’ve heard them shout out when they saw a grenade tossed our way.

The meat of the game, shooting up the enemy, isn’t as hard as it typically is in first-person shooters. I actually welcomed this, too. See, you won’t have a health bar or health packs randomly strewn about. You’ll see an enlarging red border around your screen as you’re injured, and you’ll need to get out of the way of fire if that happens. While not as realistic, it does beat having health packs thrown around randomly – that would definitely break immersion.

Overall, Call of Duty 2 is a very immersive game. The environment, pre-mission briefings, graphics, sound and gameplay all contribute to make up one of my favorite first-person shooter experiences. While you really can’t die if you’re careful, the game is still fun. Also, it can be a bit of an educational experience. Do yourself a favor and pick this one up.