Here's a familiar scene. It's 1944, I'm a G.I. just a few days from the coast of Normandy, fighting my way through dozens of German soldiers heavily entrenched in the surrounding countryside, fortifying towns and preparing a counter attack to the American advance. As we engage the enemy, my squad moves through each building using cover and laying down suppressing fire; eventually we manage to clear all the buildings of yet another occupied town, yet just as you expect the mission to come to a close, the call comes in to prepare defences. Enemy reinforcements are on the way, they outnumber and outgun us, and the only hope for our survival is to entrench ourselves and hold out for as long as possible, until our own reinforcements arrive.

Given that World War II games are released so frequently that they form a genre in themselves, it tends to take something special to stick out of the ever increasing crowd of historical-based shooters. Infinity Ward have managed this before with Call of Duty, and though lacking in any real improvements and failing to take the series to any new heights, they manage to do much the same in making this sequel stand out just as impressively.

Little has changed since the 2003 original. Call of Duty 2 uses the same mix of large-scale battles combined with cinematic set pieces that its predecessor was famed for. One of the more stand out features that has also made a return is the approach to the campaign structure, which doesn't just allow you to take part in one battle during the war, but three, seen through the eyes of different soldiers from different Allied nations fighting the German army, in different areas around the world.

The range of nationalities has, sadly, not been expanded upon; once again Infinity Ward has settled for the Russian, British and American armies to make up the three campaigns of the game, and although most of the locations return (Stalingrad for the Russians, Normandy for the Americans) the levels and environments in each is still varied, even if the action served up is anything but.

Though realism does play its part in both the detail in each and every single weapon and uniform, as well as the immense detail of the battlefields themselves, this is still the arcade action game that the original was. Large scale scripted events such as the devastating American beach assault and following cliff ascent of Pointe Du Hoc during the D-Day landings do go some way in instilling the kind of harrowing realism in the game that the same events did in the original, but these don't play out that often and many that are in here tend to be just background filler.

Doing away with such set pieces has worked for CoD2's advantage, as it allows the game to focus on the large-scale battle scenes instead. Yet another returning feature, the game's great scale has been improved upon immeasurably. Once again it's not just you versus the entire Axis army; you're not alone and are often joined by numerous allied comrades, who fight alongside you through every battle. But it's not just this co-operation between AI allies that impresses, more so the large-scale brawls they get into once they meet the enemy. Levels now are no longer the small, linear corridors they once were; they've opened up into huge areas that not only allow multiple approaches to whatever objectives you may have, but also make for some impressive scenes of carnage, as both the Allied and Axis armies engage one another.

The amount of soldiers that can fit the screen has increased greatly; they number in what sometimes feels like the hundreds, pouring into the battlefield and duking it out. The AI, one the feature that unfortunately has not been improved upon, does make these skirmishes a lot more interesting than standard action games. Soldiers work with the environment well, hiding behind walls, peeking around corners and relaying information about enemy troops positions to each other, even calling out to their allies by name. Yet despite this, the AI still has some of the same problems that the original game had, such as troops who accidentally run into their own hand grenades. But such lapses only go to heighten the fact that this is still an arcade action game, with only a mere smidgen of realism thrown in.

Call of Duty 2 piles on the action; from start to finish it charges dozens of Axis soldiers at you in continuous, relentless waves. It does make for some thrilling battles and Infinity Ward haven't lost their touch for making levels as dramatic as any Hollywood movie, with levels such as a desperate night time defence of a British military camp, repelling invaders and holding on for a few precious minutes until reinforcements arrive, to a full blown assault on an enemy base at the top of a hill, charging bunkers and machine gun positions while trying to dodge mortar fire, helpless as your fellow allied soldiers are mercilessly cut down. Yet despite these frantic and often exciting experiences, the game can't quite keep up to the standards raised in some areas.

Far too often towards the end, levels degenerate into the same, repetitive routine of room clearance through similar looking buildings. There's little variety in the things you do or they way in which you do them. Tank levels do appear once more during the British campaign, though most of the on-rail vehicle sections this time have been cut or reduced to short introductions to specific levels. There's no team dynamic to the game either, with no ability to lead or command the soldiers around you; they simply exist to give you a feeling of playing a small part in an altogether larger conflict.

Teammates themselves are also expendable, lasting no more than a few minutes when on the battlefield. It's here you'll notice where Infinity Ward have cut a few corners. The soldiers you fight alongside and against are limitless in their numbers. Against Axis you'll soon realise that soldiers will continue to respawn until you've either completed a certain objective or reached a certain area. It's similar for allies; one falls, another spawns and takes his place. Without the cinematic touch of some areas of the game, there are occasions where this kind of constant respawning becomes too much to handle, often dragging the game into repetition.

There's not been a whole lot of substantial updates to the game since the original's arrival; everything Call of Duty did Call of Duty 2 does, only slightly better. One very welcome new feature however is the game's brand new health system. No longer confining you to searching for health packs, instead there is no longer a health bar to worry about. Get shot too many times and the screen will become red, indicating that you need to rest. Find a corner to heal for a few seconds and you'll be fine to carry on. Though this system means it's easier to get out of pretty nasty scrapes, it also means you spend more time actually in the game and less time hooked to the quick save and quick load function. Another welcome addition is the new grenade indicator, showing you the area where nearby grenades have landed, making it easier to avoid them. This feature is so useful that it should be made mandatory for every action game from now on.

The graphics are vastly improved. Part of the reason why environments are now more open than the Quake 3 powered original is the new technology that powers Call of Duty 2, allowing for the grander scale as well as producing a whole host of new fancy effects such as rain, mist and snow on certain levels, which are small but no less impressive additions to the game. The detail has been increased considerably, with environments in particular benefiting the most; the opening Stalingrad levels are the most impressive both in the size and the immense detail poured into each street corner, tower block and sewer. Disappointingly however, there is no physics model whatsoever, so scenery is indestructible and rather than use rag doll physics the game instead employs some rather embarrassing looking death animations for its character models, sometimes making it difficult to see if you've actually killed someone.

Another disappointment is with the game's multiplayer segment. It lacks the various new additions that last year's United Offensive expansion brought to the original game. There's no tanks, no jeeps and none of the new game modes that were introduced; it simply sticks to the basics of the original and though this may please Deathmatch enthusiasts, they themselves may be disappointed at the lack of new maps. Many of those included for the multiplayer section are updates of maps from the original game, with only a few new maps set in North Africa, and though the sight of past favourites using the new graphics is impressive, the lack of new content in this is the most disappointing.

Once more through the battlefields of war torn Europe, I have to ask myself is yet another World War II game treading the same territory as countless others really worth a look? Yet, though lacking in any major improvements over the original, I'm finding it difficult to dislike Call of Duty 2. The unrelenting, cinematic campaign has taken me through some of the largest and fiercest battles I've ever witnessed in a first person shooter, while the multi-regional approach gives an insight into areas of the Second World War that get little coverage in many WWII games. It's not going to impress anyone who's grown to loathe games based in this era, but action fans and those desperate for more since the original Call of Duty burst onto the scene will be hard pressed to find a bad thing to say about it.

Reviewed by Kieron Giacopazzi for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).