I finished this game on Thursday, February 1, 2007, 4:56:00 PM. This review was published on GameSpot on April 03, 2007.
After finishing Medal of Honor recently, I was eager to play more World War II games. Naturally, I turned to the original Call of Duty.
I don’t have much to add to what countless others have already said: the game is fantastic. I can’t recall a single moment where I felt bored. I played it on a modest Pentium 4 3.0 GHz machine with 1.75 GB of DDR 400 MHz RAM and a GeForce 7600 GS with 256 MB of VRAM. Even at the highest settings with 4x FSAA and 4x anisotropic filtering, it ran very well. The game is so well optimized that it still performs smoothly on low-end machines with integrated graphics and sound. Of course, you lose some of the particle effects and visual flair, but frame rates remain solid.
Call of Duty runs on the Quake 3 engine, and by this point it’s incredibly well optimized. I used a Creative Audigy Sound Blaster 24-bit sound card with EAX enabled, and the audio is outstanding. Explosions, teammates’ and enemies’ callouts, the lethal crack of a sniper rifle, and the muffled sound of the Sten gun are very well done.
I appreciate a good challenge in games, and Call of Duty delivers exactly that—demanding but never frustrating. The pacing is excellent. Unlike Medal of Honor, your squadmates play a much more active role, but you can still push forward alone if you prefer. It has a slight arcade feel in that regard. The AI is solid. Enemies don’t just mindlessly rush you in hordes; they take cover, flank, and behave intelligently enough to keep you busy. This makes combat rewarding.
Call of Duty is a fantastic World War II shooter, and in my opinion, even better than Medal of Honor: Allied Assault. It is a must-play for any FPS fan, especially since it runs smoothly on older hardware without needing a high-end PC.
Excellent game. Highly recommended.
This post is published on Apr 20, 2026 Monday 06:32:57 AM CDT