Product Description

Follow your Russian comrades into the Battle of Kursk, one of the greatest tank battles of all time. The war that changed the world rages on. Fight in tanks, jeeps, motorcycles, even a bomber.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7240 in Video Games
• Brand: ACTIVISION
• Model: 32639
• Released on: 2004-09-14
• ESRB Rating: Teen
• Platforms: Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows Me, Windows XP
• Format: CD-ROM
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 1.50" h x 5.50" w x 7.75" l, .52 pounds

Features

• Expansion pack for Call of Duty features three new single-player campaigns and expanded multiplayer modes
• Includes 12 new single-player levels and enhanced multiplayer experience with 10 new maps
• Fight WWII through either American, British and Russian soldiers
• Advanced weapons include flamethrowers and ability to "cook off" grenades before throwing
• New ranking feature rewards objectives met

Customer Reviews

An amazing predecessor to the original
As I stated in an earlier review "Call Of Duty" is one of the best First Person Shooters I have ever played, and the unquestioned best in the World War II sub-genre of FPS's. So you could imagine my excitement when "United Offensive" was announced, a 13 mission single player expansion with revamped multiplayer features. I was sure to pick it up the day it came out, and I haven't stopped playing it since.

Let's start with the single player missions. Right off the bat it's clear this expansion's campaign was intended for those who played through the original and were looking for a more prominent challenge. Since I hate it when people reveal later missions in the game I wont tell you what to expect later on, I can however tell you this. In the first mission you find yourself on patrol with members of the American 101st Airborne in the woods of Bastogne. Bam, out of nowehre you're suddenly caught in the middle of a relentless German push foward, for those of you who may not be World War II buffs this is part of the infamous Battle Of The Bulge.

All of the original elements of the inthralling single player from the first one are still here, the AI still responds well, both enemy and friendly. You'll without a doubt find yourself barking out orders to your comrades as if they were standing right next to you, and your heart will race as you charge enemy positions in a bloody attempt to secure strategical areas. As with the original you play through three campaigns as the Americans, British and Russian forces in different theaters of operation. You may have seen previews in which you take control of a gun turret during a British bombing mission over Holand. I can tell you now, this is without a doubt one of the most intense moments of the game, and it provides a nice break from the squad based infantry combat. You'll also get to drive tanks in several missions as in the original, all of these missions are equally amazing as well, but as I promised I will reveal no more, you must find out for yourself.

Now to confront the issue of the completly revamped multiplay. I've been an online gamer for years, I've played everything from Warcraft II to mostly all of the Half Life modifications. The original Call Of Duty's multiplayer was fun at best, but didn't provide a lasting quality, it was something you played every once and a while. United Offensive is a much, much different story. For starters the developers made better levels, complete with jeeps and tanks at your disposal. This alone is amazing, I can't tell you how much fun I've playing with others in the short time this game has been out. Nothing beats a tank push with 4 or 5 of your teammates, while the rest of the team advances on the flanks with jeeps and infantry. All of the games new weapons, including the Flamethrower, are available for use, and this time around you can put the Bazooka to good use against an advancing enemy Panzer. For those of you concerned about balancing issues fear not, the game is easy enough for new players (noobs) to pick up and provides enough of challenge for veterans to more than enjoy. One of the key features is the ability to call in an airstrike on an enemy position with your binoculars, though to do this you must achieve a certain high score and also be one of the highest ranked members on your team. Another great addition is new modes of gameplay such as base defense and capture the flag, both multiplayer classics now brought to the COD universe. To call the multiplay for this game an improvement from the last would be an understatement, it almost feels like a different game.

To sum it up the Call Of Duty team has done it again, and then some. This expansion more than satisfied my hunger for a great expansion to an amazing game. Keep your fingers crossed that this trend will be kept up because if it is we're looking at even more dropping games...no, no, even more jaw dropping experiences in the future.

A great follow-up to COD.
I really enjoyed this game. What made COD so great is also found here in this game.

You have very intense action, great graphics and sound, and pretty good missions. The action was so intense at times that it almost wasn't fun because you couldn't really enjoy the scenery.

I see some reviews talking about how they don't like it because it is scripted. News flash: Every game is scripted. Only the games that are coming out now (though not released yet) like Half Life 2 and Medal of Honor Pacific Assault are not gonna be scripted. As for all other like RTCW, MOHAA, and Doom 3, they are scripted. So don't let that deter you because this games action never stops.

My only real complaint is that the SP is too short. You have 13 missions, but no mission last much more than maybe 30 minutes. You have maybe 6 hours of game time here not including the reloading you will have to do when you die. And this game is hard. That is probably why most don't like it. It is hard on every setting.

As for MP, it is a little better now. The aiming of the gun for SMG's still sucks, but the maps are better designed and a lot better to play. Some of the new weapons are cool too. They also have a sprint key you can use now to run quickly for a few seconds until you are "rested". The new modes aren't anything great, but are still fun. If they would have just fix the aiming, this would be even better.

Overall, this expansion pack rocks. If you haven't gotten the origianl COD yet, wait unitl they put both COD and this expansion together and buy it. It will be worth the money. If you have COD, get this expansion. You will only be dissappointed in how short the games is.

Disappointing Mission Design
I really enjoyed COD and played it through several times. The missions in this expansion pack however seem overly scripted and frankly, poorly designed. It's as if the A team of level/mission designers was devoted to the new console version of the game, leaving United Offensive to the second string. Many of the missions are laced with hackneyed "sandwich" puzzles, where, to proceed you have to run around looking for the hidden bazooka or panzerfaust, and then return 3 and 4 times to the same place in order keep retrieving the same device (or ammo for it) in a frustrating exercise in tedium. If I wanted to play a cheezy puzzle game, I'd have bought Myst 12 or Kings Quest 53. Some missions are so poorly conceived that you end up back-tracking through half the level to talk to a guy who only tells you to pick up the documents in the room you've already searched, just in order for a new section to open up. Makes you wonder how well they tested the thing. Another mission leaves you with some guy yelling at you for "coordinates" without ever telling you how to find or convey such a thing.
All that said, COD United Offensive is still good fun. It's just not up to the level of the original when it comes to single player mission design.