When Call of Duty: Finest Hour joined the ranks on shelves last year for consoles across the board, many gamers discovered that Activision could easy hold their own in the historical FPS department, alongside the likes of Ubisoft and EA. The game featured quite the bit of detail, and began a legacy that would no doubt make an impact for 2005 with the game's forthcoming sequel. See, not only is Call of Duty 2 seeing a release across current consoles, but it's also a launch title for the Xbox 360. It's one of Activision's original entries into the next-generation, instead of an enhanced port like their Gun and Tony Hawk's American Wasteland releases. It's almost a completely different game. But that shouldn't stop gamers from enjoying the current Xbox version of Big Red One, which holds up fine all its own.

The game follows you through a thirteen mission campaign through the United States' Army's 1st Infantry Division, putting you in the shoes of a soldier who bounces all over a variety of missions. One will have him ravaging through a war-torn city, planting charges on tanks and experiencing the combat firsthand; another will have him finding turrets and vehicles to hop behind as a raid on air bunkers takes place. One mission even puts you right into the action in a bomber, manning a number of guns as you shoot down aircraft and prepare yourself for a key bombing in the middle of a mission.

The first-person shooting action is just as intense as it ever was, even though Treyarch has taken over development of the series sparring a legal problem with the original developer, Spark. The gameplay remains tight and allows you to do precise aiming with a tap of the left trigger, no matter which gun you're using. Some work better than others, like a machine gun taking preference over a rifle that you have to reload nearly every time and can be a pain in the ass during heavy combat. The AI manages to keep up every step of the way, although sometimes aggression can get in the way of smarts with some of these guys. You'll see them standing up and shooting at you out in the open, giving you plenty of opportunity to snipe them and move along. This might annoy some people, but not me- it keeps the action moving.