Call of Duty

I bought Call of Duty for the PC last weekend, and finished the single player game tonight. What an absolutely fantastic game. The GameSpot review covers all the reasons it’s so great, but I just thought I’d touch on one particular that I really enjoyed. The sound. It’s unbelievable. When you first come across that M42 submachine gun, it’s so loud and overpowering that you can’t help but run for cover. You fire off a round from a high-power rifle and the shot echos ever so slightly in your ears. You can hear (and feel, if you’ve got a subwoofer) a tank approaching from out of sight. The shell shock effect is incredible. It’s the first time I’ve ever been motivated enough to haul out the rear channels of my Logitech 5.1 system and get full surround sound going. The developers really deserve kudos. The whole game is superbly executed and tremendously fun, involving, and rewarding.

My only complaint is that I only experienced it through my aging Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 sound card. I can’t help but wonder what it would sound like with a modern Audigy 2 ZX and EAX 3.