Even though the series arrived in 2003, Call of Duty hasn't made a huge dent on the handheld market. One could mention the 2004 Duty game that came out for N-gage, but not without doubling over in pain from laughter. Fortunately, Activision and Amaze Entertainment's second handheld offense bounced back with a solid PSP entry in Call of Duty: Roads to Victory. The game isn't perfect, but it provides a solid start for better games to come.

Throughout Road to Victory's various missions, players fill the role of soldiers scattered throughout three different legions -- the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division, the British army and the Canadian reserves. Each requires strategic movement through checkpoints while gunning down German troops. Roads to Victory focuses on mostly on-foot missions, but Amaze blends in some entertaining turret sequences to break up the monotony. These sequences work very well, as the player sits inside a bubble-like turret and rotates it, shooting enemy aircrafts out of the sky. Hopefully, Activision will consider making these segments a staple in future Call of Duty games.

Creating a first-person shooter for the PSP requires a great deal of work, mostly because of the limited buttons. Amaze, however, did a nice job mapping the Call of Duty control scheme onto the system's layout. Players use the analog nub and the face buttons for movement, making strafing and looking around a breeze. The D-pad buttons switches weapons and throws (and "cooking") grenades, both of which work very effectively. The right shoulder button fires the weapon in hand, while holding down the left shoulder button gives a much more concentrated view down the targeting sight.

Roads to Victory features an auto lock-on mechanism. which means if a soldier has a red targeting icon on him, the player merely has to press the buttons to aim and fire. This makes the game a bit easier than expected. Players can shut off the auto lock-on feature in the system menu, but the enemies still don't put up much of a fight -- often standing out in the open just waiting to be shot. Even on the hardest setting, Roads to Victory presents a moderate challenge at best. At least the unlockable extras, including a gallery and other little goodies, make it worth going through the game than once.

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