Call of Duty 2: Big Red One is, as we shall see, a roller coaster of a game. Not to be confused with the 360 version or PC version of the same name, Call of Duty 2: Big Red One follows in the footsteps of countless other Second World War FPS titles and builds on the success of the original CoD. Release in time for Christmas 2005, CoD 2 was the obvious present for hardcore gamers and package punters alike - but is it a groundbreaking game, or just another WWII adventure that we have seen so many times before?

The game follows the career of 'The Big Red One', the first brigade of US army corps as they push back the Nazi forces. Taking in maps from France, Italy, Sicily and North Africa, it attempts to give a near full account of the activities of The Big Red One in WWII, from the point of view of a private in Fox Company. The missions are split into three distinct areas - the North African Campaign as you push back Goerring's panzer division, the Sicilian campaign embracing beach landings, countryside warfare and a mission in a bombed out town, and the climax of the missions are those forming operation Overlord, starting with the D-Day landings as you take back territory from the Nazi forces through western Europe. These are primarily objective driven levels, leading you from point to point. Individual objectives within the missions hold your hand through the levels, guiding you through each with a star on your radar so that the only difficulty lies with actually killing enemies; everything else is laid out on a very large heavily armoured steel plate.

To take the enemy towns, reinforce other troops, blow up gun or structural emplacements, claim territory, defend checkpoints and the other various objectives that make up the missions, you will need the use of a range of weapons. It seems that the days of carrying six or seven weapons are over; CoD 2 only allows you to carry two guns and a few grenades. The guns on offer vary with the maps, but there is the standard range of rifles, sniper rifles, machine guns, sub machine guns and rocket launchers. Both the Axis and American weapons are playable and, as well as these, numerous - .30 and .50Cal gun emplacements can be used.

Something that sets this game apart from other similar titles, and certainly from older ones is the sights and targeting system. All guns have a small zoom capability, utilised by holding the left trigger down, which shoulders your weapon and allows you to look straight down the barrel and through the sights. Rather than a simple targeting reticule appearing on your screen, this aspect of the game makes the aiming feel more authentic and definitely adds a unique twist that you will not find in many other shooters. A point of issue for some gamers may be the seemingly timid and unexciting noises that the weapons make when firing; while we may indeed have come to expect big bangs and fierce flashes from our FPS guns, the mechanical clicks and metallic chinks of bullets landing and clips flying off add another kind of authenticity to the weapons, keeping them realistically cold, simple and deadly.

As well as the standard FPS levels, a variety of other types crop up from time to time, on their own or within other levels. These include bomber levels, in which you have to move from turret to turret to shoot down enemy fighters or bomb targets, while other missions involve targeting artillery strikes with binoculars and several missions contain objectives that require you to drive tanks or man AA guns. These are welcome additions and give you a well-earned rest from the standard infantry action.

Following in a recent FPS trend, Big Red One tries to utilise a team-based system for most of its levels. A core of comrades accompany you through missions, opening doors for you, calling useful comments such as "Right Flank!" or "Grenade!" and adding firepower to your own, as you once again embark on the single-handed defeat of the Axis powers! This element of the gameplay bravely attempts to add a feeling of comradeship among your group, offering clear personalities, voices and faces that you come to recognise. It has only limited success in doing this, however, and you may be left feeling somewhat guilty that you don't feel a sense of loss when the inevitable happens to some of your group!

The team-based element also falls short of making you truly feel like a part of that team. The group surrounding you act more like chaperones, guiding you from door to door rather than fighting alongside you as fellow combatants. A contributor to this is the relatively simple AI that controls them, guiding them from point to point on the map. Although it is impressive to hear them shout which flank an enemy is attacking on and to run from a grenade into cover, it is difficult to reconcile yourself to the blatant six foot misses or the inactivity of the enemy or allies as they wait for you to cross a checkpoint. Despite this, it is not completely unwelcome; it adds a depth and context to the game that might otherwise have been missing, and although the finer points of comradeship and teamwork might fail, they still add something to the game to stop it simply being a standard, lonely FPS experience.

The intensely structured and lateral nature of the missions is a major letdown. The freedom that we may have come to expect from other FPS titles and multiplayer games is certainly missing here, and the game suffers as a result. Missions can degenerate into simply heading towards the checkpoint star given on your radar down a strictly laid out street or forest pathway, killing enemies en route. There is little room for freedom in how you approach the mission as a whole, or even in tackling individual enemies or objectives. While hardly a reason to avoid or ridicule the game, it is guilty of lacking the freedom and choice that gamers have come to expect, and which can denote a particularly special title.

Despite this, Big Red One can be a truly absorbing experience, putting you right in the middle of a visual and audible battlefield that is very intense. The sight of planes dog fighting overhead, crashing mortars, flying bodies, machine gun fire, searchlights, shouting and crashing vehicles and aircraft all around draws you right into the action and may leave you feeling mentally and physically drained! This is particularly relevant to the landing beach levels of Sicily and Normandy, putting you in a battlefield where one stray bullet can hit and kill you before you knew which way you were facing. The other levels are nevertheless fun and playable. Not every level can be as intense as the D-Day landing beaches - and if they were, we might be equally disappointed. Certainly these less intense levels are needed to balance out the campaign and create a rounded portrayal of the war. They also allow for vehicle centric missions and for you to spend some quality time with a sniper rifle!

A big reason for the experience being as enjoyable and absorbing as it is, is the stunning visuals. There may not be the opportunity to explore the levels, but the areas that you are presented with all look excellent. Buildings, people and weapons all have a fairly realistic look about them and, while not a match for the 360 or PC, are nonetheless impressive. In particular, explosions, fire and smoke look great and the destruction of planes and vehicles is different, depending on how and where they are attacked, falling to pieces accordingly. The nature of the game means it is best played on a large TV, as the finer details and the need to pick out greyish brownish uniforms in a pile of greyish brownish rubble may mean tired eyes or a headache when playing on a smaller screen!

The speech within the missions and the pre and post level scenes is a strong part of the game. The age-old problem of unwarranted pauses or silences and poorly mixed conversations are not to be seen - instead, seamless and well acted scenes explain level progression and add a story and context to what would other wise be a dry and hollow series of missions. The music is limited largely to menu screens and some pre and post level scenes, the brass of the American army band being put to its full, depressing yet inspiring use. Upon completion of a mission, an unlockable bonus may be awarded, comprising of technical or historical information relating to the period, weapons or vehicles. Cut scene videos are included, playing out in an authentic projector style, which sets the scene and explains the historical context in which you are fighting.

If you look closely at the disk, there is a large blank space where an offline multiplayer and a co-op mission option should be. The absence of both of these things is disappointing to say the least and leaves the game unattractively weighted towards the single player mode. The biggest impact this has is that it makes the life of Big Red One significantly shorter. Once the single player missions have been completed, which could take a committed gamer as little as a day or two, there is little reason to revisit. Despite the presence of three difficulty settings, only a devoted fan would revisit the levels. Multiplayer maps are basically modelled on single player mission maps and although 16 players can compete in the usual CTF, DM, TDM and capture and control type scenarios, only a lover of the series or the historical period would see reason to play this regularly when compared to the other more competitive Xbox Live multiplayer games out there.

I had the feeling while playing Call of Duty 2: Big Red One, that the game owned me, rather than the other way around. The lack of freedom, the highly structured levels, the checkpoint to checkpoint style of play and the inability to manipulate teammates or the world around you makes you feel that you are playing in a garden wholly owned by someone else; and no, you're not allowed to walk on the grass! Just as a roller coaster does, this game offers you its thrills and spills on a well-structured and cleverly designed track way, which although designed to be fun, exciting and with great views, leaves it all too apparent that you have no control over where you go next or what the next event will be. This is fine, and has its time and its place, but sometimes what you want is the freedom to explore and make your own ride at the Dodgems! Nevertheless, roller coasters are fun and Big Red One is worth playing. Reflective of its failings, the poor AI and the brevity of the game, it has seen recent price drops in new and second hand prices, and with a lower price tag it is worth buying - otherwise it will make a good rental. Whichever you choose, it is certainly worth playing if you're a fan of the genre.

Reviewed by Jason Collins for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).