Call of Duty: United Offensive
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| Call of Duty: United Offensive | |
|---|---|
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| Developer(s) | Gray Matter Interactive |
| Publisher(s) | Activision, Aspyr (Mac) |
| Series | Call Of Duty Series |
| Engine | Quake III engine |
| Latest version | 1.51 |
| Release date(s) | NA September 14, 2004 EU September 24, 2004 JP October 9, 2004 |
| Genre(s) | First-person shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Teen (T) |
| Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows, Apple Macintosh |
| Media | CD (2), DVD or Steam download |
| System requirements | 800 MHz CPU, 128 MB RAM, 1150 MB Hard disk space, 32 MB GPU |
| Input | Keyboard and mouse |
Call of Duty: United Offensive is an expansion pack for the popular first-person shooter computer game, Call of Duty. It is developed by Gray Matter Interactive, with contributions from Pi Studios, and published by Activision. It was released for Microsoft Windows on September 14, 2004.
Since the October 13, 2006, the game has also been available to buy on Valve's content delivery platform, Steam. This comes after an agreement with its developer, Activision. Also available so far are: its original, Call of Duty, the sequel, Call of Duty 2, and the western, GUN.
The game features more single-player missions centered around the three major Allied forces of World War II: the United States (as Cpl. Scott Riley), the United Kingdom (as Sgt. James Doyle) and the Soviet Union (as Pvt. Yuri Petrenko), and include historical battles such as the Battle of the Bulge, Battle of Kursk, and the invasion of Sicily. A minor deviation from the original game is a bombing mission in which the player mans several M2 Machine Guns. Several new abilities are added to the game as well, including the ability to deploy light machine guns and use flamethrowers; to sprint, which makes the character run faster but at the cost of not being able to fire their weapon; and the ability to cook grenades.
Continuing from the original game, much of the American Campaign is influenced by Band of Brothers. The Sicily mission is arguably influenced by The Guns of Navarone.
| Mission sequence |
|---|
-Corporal Scott Riley (US Army, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment).
-Sergeant James Doyle (RAF, SAS)
-Private Yuri Petrenko (Red Army)
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Contents |
[edit] Multiplayer Changes
The biggest changes made by United Offensive are in the multiplayer aspect of the game. There are new maps which are much larger than the original game, new weapons from the single player campaign, an in-game rank system which grants additional bonuses with more points, and vehicles such as tanks and jeeps (similar to "Battlefield 1942").
[edit] Ranking System
United Offensive introduces a ranking system to multiplayer. As players' scores increase, they gain ranks. Each rank spawns with new benefits.
- Private: None
- Rifleman: Additional hand grenades and pistol ammo.
- Squad Leader: Scouting Binoculars.
- Section Sergeant: Satchel Charges. (Lower ranks can also use satchel, but has to be picked up.)
- Platoon Sergeant: Artillery Strike.
Also, there are now other ways to gain points than killing enemies. These include destroying objectives, protecting objectives, capturing flags, protecting flags, and assisting friendly flag carriers. The ranks are reset each map and are not persistent, as opposed to Battlefield 2.
[edit] New Multiplayer Modes
Call of Duty United Offensive adds three new multiplayer modes to the game: Domination, Capture the Flag and Base Assault.
[edit] Domination
The objective of Domination is to "dominate" all of the control points on the map. There are usually at least five or six of these control points scattered around the map, and are usually found in key strategic locations. To capture a control point, a player must stand near it with no enemies nearby. After a certain amount of time, the area is captured by your team. Every time a team captures a control point, they add a point to their overall score. To win, a team must either have the higher score when time runs out, or capture all of the control points on the map.
[edit] Base Assault
Like the name implies, Base Assault requires teams to use heavy weaponry like tanks and artillery strikes to attack their opponent's bases and destroy them. On each map, both teams have three bases they must defend and attack. Once a bunker takes enough damage, it is not destroyed, but exposed to infantry attack. To completely destroy a bunker, a player must sneak into the basement of an exposed bunker and plant an explosive. Then they must keep the other team from defusing the explosive so it will explode and destroy the bunker. A team wins either by destroying the most bunkers before time expires, or completely destroying all of the opposing team's bunkers.
[edit] Capture the Flag
The more traditional game mode is CTF, or Capture the Flag. The CTF in COD:UO is very similar to CTF games in Unreal Tournament 2004 or Halo. Each side has a flag that they must protect. The objective is to steal the enemy's flag and take it back to your own to score a point. A team can only score if they have their flag intact. For example, if you take the enemy flag, but the enemy also takes your flag, neither team can score until one of them retrieves their flag. A team wins either by capturing the flag a certain amount of times or capturing the most flags at the end of the game.
[edit] New Weapons and Vehicles
All countries gain the additional use of smoke grenades, flamethrowers, binoculars and satchel charges, which are like grenades except they are more powerful, but have a longer fuse and cannot be thrown as far. Vehicles that can be controlled are only available in certain multiplayer levels. The game also introduces deployable machines: suppressive weapons that cannot be fired while carried but can be set up in a prone position or behind cover to act as a stationary weapon.
United Offensive features a limited vehicle-based combat similar to Battlefield 1942, with several vehicle types including light cars, medium tanks and heavy tanks. Players can control a vehicle by "using" it in a multiplayer game, with the player driving the vehicle and controlling the main gun and coaxial machine gun simultaneously. A second player can jump into a jeep or medium tank to control a secondary machine gun. Infantry have access to anti-tank weapons from crates scattered through the map, or can counter with other vehicles.
| American | German | British | Russian |
|---|---|---|---|
| Added weapons | |||
| Browning M1919A6 | MG34 | Browning M1919A6 | Degtyarev DP-28 |
| M9 "Bazooka" | Gewehr 43 | Sten Mk IIs | Tokarev SVT-40 |
| Panzerschreck | Webley Mk IV | TT33 | |
| M9 "Bazooka" | M9 "Bazooka" | ||
| Added vehicles | |||
| M4 Sherman | Panzer IV | M4 Sherman | T-34 |
| Willys MB Jeep | Horch 1A Light Truck | Willys MB Jeep | GAZ-66 Light Truck |
| Elefant | SU-152 | ||
[edit] Inaccuracies in Call of Duty: United Offensive
- The first British mission involves a RAF bombing raid against a target in Holland, using B-17 Flying Fortress bombers. In reality, this type was only used in RAF service by Coastal Command.
- British commandos, like those represented in the United Offensive British campaign levels, were commonly issued the Colt M1911A1, or the Browning Hi-Power semi-automatic pistol, not the Webley Revolver; it was a common sidearm of RAF airmen, however, so Sergeant James Doyle's usage of a Webley after his B-17 Flying Fortress was shot down over Holland was correct in that instance and he may have kept the weapon due to familiarity.
- The levels set in Holland seem to take place in a predominantly mountainous landscape, but Holland is renown for being flat.
- The invasion of Sicily actually occurred on the 10th of July, not the 12th.
- In the first bunker in the Sicily mission (set in 1943), there is a recruiting poster for the Volkssturm, a last-ditch German defence force founded in October 1944.
- Except in sound and sight, all of the game's armoured vehicles are the same within their class. The Sherman, the Panzer IV, and the T-34/85 are exactly the same, while the two heavy tanks - SU-152 and Elefant - are identical to each other.
[edit] Trivia
- Major Ingram returns from the original Call of Duty. He leads the SAS unit in Italy, which takes place before he is captured in the previous game.
- Captain Foley continues to be the company CO for the American campaign.
- Sergeant Moody remains the player's squad leader for the American campaign.
- Some players have observed that the American character in the previous game, Private Martin, is in Bastogne. The CODUO character is actually Private Matrin.
- Either by deliberation or pure coincidence during the start of the second mission, it depicts two American soldiers running side-by-side. On the left, Pvt. Gordon, and on the right, Pvt. Freeman. This may be a reference to Gordon Freeman from the Half-Life series.
