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Video games have entranced the young and old since their initial market debut. They have cut across all barriers — political, social and geographical — to dominate urban street corners and the PCs of children and adults the world over. Game developers have fascinated gamers with numerous game genres such as action, adventure, racing, role-playing and strategy.

For an almost first-hand experience of what it must have been like to serve as a soldier of the Allied Forces during World War II, Infinity Ward presents eight different games under the title Call of Duty. This game series, set against the backdrop of WWII, offers the player the chance to go on daring missions as a soldier from any one of three armies — American, British or Russian. On all missions, the player is backed by computer-controlled Artificial Intelligence (AI) that ranges from two or more foot soldiers to as much as a battalion of tanks. The first game of the series begins with the player fighting in The Battle of Normandy. Other missions include The Capture of Pegasus Bridge and The Battle of Stalingrad. Its sequel allows you to play the role of a soldier from the Red Army, the British Army or the United States Army. Although not very different from the first, this sequel has altogether different locations and campaigns for the player to conquer or defend. The third in the series (the only one not for PC) is about playing a soldier from the British, Canadian, Polish, American or French Resistance forces defending The Falaise Gap after the Normandy breakout.

The recently released Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is a departure from the earlier standard theme of the three countries and their war tactics. This new game incorporates plots that have been spun from testimonies of actual servicemen from the British and US armies. This game features modern warfare tactics and state-of-the-art weapon systems not witnessed in earlier games from this series. Numerous other releases between these four main titles include expansion packs and gaming console editions like Call of Duty: United Offensive, Call of Duty: Finest Hour, Call of Duty 2: Big Red One and Call of Duty: Roads to Victory. The World War scenarios have been created to make them look as real as possible. 3D positional audio effects and visual effects that include the well-documented “shellshock” experience are guaranteed to keep the player enthralled. Shellshock causes sounds to get muffled, leads to blurred vision and slows down time. True positional surround sound completely immerses the player into a wartime environment. The much acclaimed multiplayer support and the “Killcam” feature give an added element of bone-chilling realism.

The game’s visual effects can be tweaked according to available hardware and preferences with respect to performance and visual effects. Under Graphics, the Shadows and Number of Dynamic Lights can be set for a true-to-life replication of shadows and environmental lighting effects which change during a bomb explosion. The game settings also offer subtitles for orders, dialogues and even the background sound effects of war. Originally developed for the PC, the series is now available on gaming consoles including the PlayStation 2, the PlayStation 3, the Xbox, the Xbox 360, and handheld devices like the Nintendo DS and the PlayStation Portable.