Creating sequels to highly decorated game titles is a difficult task. Perhaps the only task more difficult lies in creating an expansion pack for said game. Can the developers recapture the magic and the formula that made the original a hit? With Call of Duty: United Offensive, Infinity Ward and Gray Matter Studios gave it their best shot, nailing the target all the way.

For those unfamiliar with the Call of Duty series, CoD attempts to recreate the world and events of World War II. With theaters of War ranging from Europe to Russia and from Asia to the South Pacific, there is no lack of stories to tell. CoD places gamers in the shoes of specialized grunts on the battlefield, most often in the position of the point soldier. Some of the time this means that the games are played solo, with interaction only with the enemy. However, this also means that the gamer will sometimes be placed in a squad with other soldiers and must fulfill tasks at the direction of the squad commander. The mix and match style of CoD games lead to the game’s massive critical acclaim.

When discussing CoD: United Offensive, it is important to keep in mind that the game is an expansion pack to the original Call of Duty for Windows. Those gamers who have not completed, or played, the first title are encouraged to do so before picking up CoD: UO, for numerous reasons. CoD: UO offers neither training mode nor training missions, and the player is immediately dropped into the game armed and ready to fight. CoD: UO is full of moments where the game presumes that the player is familiar with the game’s style, and such moments are very unforgiving.

CoD: UO begins by tracing the events of the Battle of the Bulge and the army battles contained within. While it does not appear that the player's character is real, the situations are real enough. Within the first 15 or so minutes of United Offensive the player engages in a shoot-out with German troops, before leaping onto a truck in a rail type shooter.

The player will then work with a dug-in machine gun, and cover troops with a sniper rifle, before finally having to destroy random German tanks. All within the first 15 minutes. From the start United Offensive never lets up on the pace. Every single minute is spent running for cover, firing at the enemy or doing some other skilled task, such as planting explosives. Even when in the planes, the work never ceases. The constant change of mission objectives helps extend the replay value as gamers can come up with many different ways to solve the objectives.

However, there are some flaws to the game design. There are several points within the game where failure to complete the right action at the right time means game over. For example, when ordered to cover the squad commander the player must find a sniping spot then shoot a machine gunner first before taking on the other enemies surrounding the target. While it is possible to take out the running enemies before the machine gunner, if the machine gunner isn't taken down first, the squad commander will get mowed down in an instant. Players familiar with the CoD games will probably have run ahead and be in a covered position to lay down a field of fire. Again, play the original game first before attempting United Offensive.

Single player missions aside, CoD: UO expands upon the award winning original adding in new weapons, tanks, and some additional vehicles. Strategy and teamwork are as important as ever in multiplayer modes, as a tank is not going to go down with one shot from a Panzerschrek. Multiplayer gaming is smooth with ping responses up to around 120ms or so. While phone modem users may be able to live with infantry battles, a good broadband connection will be needed for some of the larger multiplayer maps.

While new weapons are standard fare for expansion packs, CoD: UO’s enhancements are anything but ”standard.” New to the multiplayer modes is a ranking system; successfully completing mission objectives or scoring kills give the players additional ammo or abilities while in play.

Joining the existing game types are new modes Domination, Capture the Flag, and Base Assault. The Domination and Capture the Flag modes are similar to the versions found in Unreal or Quake, so their inclusion is not much of a surprise. However, Base Assault adds a new dimension to the game, and will be familiar to players of Planetside or Unreal's Onslaught, as the point of the mode remains relatively the same. In Base Assault, teams must first use heavy weapons to destroy the defenses of the base. Then lighter equipped infantry need to get inside the base to plant explosives. The catch? Each base is a spawn point. Until the base is destroyed enemy players will continue to spawn inside the base.

CoD: UO is one of the last games to be built on ID Software’s aging Quake3 engine. With Doom3, Far Cry, and Half-Life 2 on store shelves, CoD: UO takes a back seat when it comes to graphics. However, CoD: UO is hands down the best looking Quake3 based game ever made. Smoke and particle effects are well done, and the textures are an amazing achievement. While CoD: UP retains acceptable frame rates on aging video cards like Geforce4 MX, GeforceFX 5200, or Radeon 7500, users may want to look at spending cash on a video card upgrade first.

United Offensive's audio track and score are worthy of note. Dialog is as clean and crisp as was the case with the originals. However, it’s worth asking, when playing as a character of another nationality: why does everybody speak English? CoD: UO has a moving score that most gamers will not realize is being played. As in the Half-Life games, CoD: UO reserves use of audio for special events inside the game. Thus most of the game is composed of gunshots, people dying, and squad members shouting. The subtle use of scored music within the game serves to heighten the sense of being in World War II, instead of just being in another First Person Shooter.

United Offensive is, ultimately, an easy recommendation. The game is fun and provides a glimpse of history that textbooks really cannot impart. While it is debatable how accurate United Offensive is in relation to the real World War II, the events and actions closely mimic those that our grandparents committed so many years ago, and the expanded multiplayer options only serve to increase the time that United Offensive will remain loaded onto a computer. With very few other titles even in the class of the original Call Of Duty, United Offensive takes a winning formula and makes it better. Gamers looking for a good multiplayer title, or who just don't cant stand another round of Doom3 should be sure to look up United Offensive.