Call of Duty 2

Call of Duty 2 took players through three theaters of the Second World War — the defense of Stalingrad, the North African campaign at El Alamein, and the beaches and towns of liberated France. Instead of a single hero, the game switched between the perspectives of several Soviet, British, and American soldiers, and replaced health kits with temporary recovery away from gunfire, which at the time felt like a marked simplification compared to previous entries in the series. The newly introduced iron-sights aiming system and visible weapon sway while running became a template for many of the era's other war shooters.

The Xbox 360 version launched alongside the PC release and was among the launch titles for the new console at the end of 2005 — for many players, it was their first taste of what the new generation of hardware could do. Compared to the PC version at the time, it offered smoother performance in demanding battle scenes with dozens of soldiers on screen and the chance to play on a big television with a gamepad, but it lacked support for mods and player-made modifications, which the PC community had made extensive use of with previous entries in the series. Multiplayer, meanwhile, ran through Xbox Live instead of the dedicated servers PC players were used to, and the game was among the first titles to let players collect achievements and Gamerscore thanks to the console. The controls were adapted for the gamepad, including automatic aim assist meant to compensate for the analog sticks' lower precision compared to a mouse.

As a launch title for the Xbox 360, Call of Duty 2 served as many players' first introduction to both the console and the series itself, and even years later its console version is remembered chiefly for its demanding, chaotic battle sequences, which the era's hardware handled surprisingly well even when dozens of characters were fighting on screen at once. Missions like the defense of Pointe du Hoc or the battle for Stalingrad served as one of the first demonstrations of what the new generation of consoles was actually good for, and the game long remained among the titles that had players picking up an Xbox 360 the very day it launched.

Why play it: For players who wanted to experience the dawn of the new console generation, it offers chaotic, well-crafted battle sequences like the defense of Pointe du Hoc or the battle for Stalingrad, which made it one of the main reasons to pick up an Xbox 360.