The first of many...
Call of Duty Classic is an HD re-boot of the first game in the Call of Duty franchise from Infinity Ward. This is what started it all folks. But has it aged well enough to warrant a $20 purchase if you didn't get the free code with your copy of Modern Warfare 2?
CoD: Classic keys were given away with hardened and prestige editions of Modern Warfare 2 on a token that you would punch into XBLA/PSN to redeem the game and download it. Later on it was released for $20 on XBLA and PSN. I became interested in this game as it brought me back to when I use to play it on PC competitively. I played in some different clans in CAL-Open and TWL, and it occupied most of my free time as early teenager. It was a great game at its time, and was the birth of the wildly successful Call of Duty franchise.
In the single-player campaign you play 3 different campaigns as an American paratrooper, British SAS Op and a Russian soldier. These 3 campaigns intertwine and conclude like all Call of Duty games released after this one (Making trophies very easy to roll through, except the difficulty trophies don’t stack). The gameplay is much like any other FPS, find cover, shoot dudes, blow stuff up; throw a few vehicle/turret missions in and that's that.
The AI is pretty bad, but was groundbreaking at the time; large squads rolling with you were new at the time and set the standards for upcoming games. But that's about all the credit I can give to this game today. Although this is an HD reboot, it's not a great looking game. The textures just look bad, but even with bad textures, this game still suffers from frame rate issues; which is embarrassing.
The level design is okay, but it can be frustrating at times when there’s no cover and you’re getting lit up by enemy AI who can snipe you with a MP40. Not only that, there is no regenerating health, only health pickups. This type of gameplay doesn't fit today’s players; many will become frustrated and give up on this game to go call in care packages in Modern Warfare.
The multiplayer is exactly how I remembered it, but it just doesn't feel right on a console. There are not many people interested in playing this game now, so the online experience is pretty much a ghost town (everyone is playing MW2). Even if you find some people, the server limits are 4v4, and seeing as how this is a dated game, there are no perks, customizable guns, etc... You just pick allies or axis, a gun and kill some dudes. Not saying this is bad, but it doesn’t draw the crowd that is passionate about FPS games.
So obviously, this game didn't stand the test of time. The FPS genre has evolved so rapidly that this just doesn't feel right. If you didn't get this for free, it is really not worth $20 ( though I did like the credits screen), there are much better options on XBLA/PSN, whatever you prefer.
