"Anyone here know a Private Ryan?"

The original Call of Duty blasted its way out of the trenches of other WWII first-person shooters and Medal of Honor clones. Call of Duty 2 follows the same tried-and-true formula as its predecessor but pushes the envelope further with sharper graphics (though slowdowns do occur), new gameplay concepts and mission structures, more historical background, and a progressive single-player campaign with an addicting multiplayer mode. To veteran COD players, COD2 won't be revolutionary, but it will feel like putting on a freshly pressed version of your old fatigues.

Just as in the original game, COD2's single-player mode lets you play out three main campaigns against the Nazis. You strap on the boots of Russian soldiers defending home, British commandos holding down forces in Africa, and Americans kicking butt through Europe (including D-Day). With 27 missions, there's plenty of content to keep you sweating, from run-and-gun and sniper missions to tank combat. In an attempt to break out of linear gameplay, the game doesn't force you to play each scripted mission in a prescribed order.

As you charge into battle for the first time, you'll notice that there isn't a health indicator. COD2 tosses out the old, save-up-health-packs style of gameplay for a Halo-like regenerative healing style. If you get hurt severely enough, you'll hear your heart beat and see the edges of the screen turn red. All you have to do is find cover, and as long as you don't get hit again you'll feel fine in about five seconds. With this new health system, you won't spend time hording health packs, and the new enemy artificial intelligence will still be a challenge. Also, the new ability to jump and climb over structures such as walls and rubble improves the realism factor.

COD2 shines even brighter in multiplayer mode. Classic multiplayer game modes such as death match, team death match, and capture the flag are here, along with the new Headquarters and Search and Destroy modes. In Headquarters, you establish a base while also trying to overtake your opponent's base. If you die, you can't respawn until your team destroys the enemy's base. Search and Destroy requires a team to destroy an objective while the other defends it, but this usually turns into last man standing. Unfortunately, you can't use tanks in multiplayer games. Multiplayer features 13 well-balanced maps, voice-over-IP chat for smack talking, support for 32 players per server, and, best of all, an in-game online server client and automatic server mod-download feature - that is, if the game you're playing online requires a game modification and you don't have it, the mod is automatically downloaded to your Mac and added to your game, without the need for restarting. You'll be turning those PC players' fatigue pants brown in no time.

The bottom line. Whether or not you played the original Call of Duty, COD2 is a must-have for any first-person-shooter enthusiast.

COMPANY: Aspyr
CONTACT: 512-708-8100, www.aspyr.com
PRICE: $49.99
REQUIREMENTS: 1.8GHz G5 or Intel processor, Mac OS 10.3.9 or later, 512MB RAM, 64MB ATI Radeon 9600 or nVidia GeForce FX 5200 or later, 4GB hard disk space, broadband Internet or LAN for multiplayer
Better graphics and bigger explosions. Smarter AI. Improved multiplayer features.
No vehicles in multiplayer. Generative healing might turn off hardcore fans.