Call of Duty: Roads to Victory

Genre: FPS
Publisher: Activision
Developer: Amaze Entertainment
Release Date: March 13, 2007

The video game market has reached the point where a month can't go by without the release of yet another WWII-themed shooter, and atop that pile of WWII-based games is the Call of Duty franchise. The esteemed series reached its peak as the best-selling launch title for the Xbox 360 with Call of Duty 2 and has continued to successfully push game units into eager consumer hands. Now, for the first time, the franchise has made its way into the handheld gaming scene with Call of Duty: Roads to Victory for the PSP.

With the high quality fans have come to expect from any game with the Call of Duty brand, most PSP owners would rush out and buy this title on merit alone. Developers have continually had problems finding a worthwhile control scheme for shooters on the PSP, and Call of Duty: Roads to Victory is tasked with accomplishing this feat. While Roads to Victory does get some things right, such as simplified shooter controls with an easy-to-manage auto-targeting system, it doesn't necessarily offer stellar gameplay.

When you first start up Roads to Victory, you're given a choice between two different control schemes. You can set your look controls to the face buttons, or keep a static view with more efficient auto-targeting. Either way, you're able to pull the left trigger to aim down your gun's sights, but both styles are equally competent. Neither is superior to the other, so it will fundamentally adhere to your personal preference and what feels more comfortable to you. However, that doesn't mean controlling the game with only one analog is any less awkward than it has been for FPS shooters on the PSP in the past.

The basic movement controls feel rather bulky and stiff, so maneuvering the simplest of walkways or paths becomes quite the chore. When you add some mercilessly horrible collision problems to the game's already-uncouth walking controls, you end up with a formula that's not far from total ineptitude. Most of the time, you feel like you've had one too many beers and you're trying to stumble your way through the house, but the blasted kids won't keep their godforsaken toys out of your way. In fact, if an enemy ever tosses a grenade in your direction, you might as well tuck your head between your knees and kiss your ass goodbye. By the time you're able to turn yourself around and run for cover, your bum's no longer going to be attached to the rest of your body. What makes matters worse is that it's extremely difficult to turn and face hidden enemies who decide to make an unscheduled appearance. If not for the ability to hold down L and manually aim, combat in Roads to Victory would be rather futile.

While the game's controls can make it hard to track down hostile targets, the enemy A.I. is slightly less smart than a mentally handicapped sea monkey. More often than not, they'll either stand right out in the open or keep milling forward, in almost single line fashion, waiting for matching holes in their foreheads. There's even the occasional instance where you'll round a corner and an enemy soldier won't react at all. This doesn't happen frequently, but often enough so that you will take notice of the problem.

The single-player campaign itself is broken into three segments, where you'll play through a different soldier's perspective from each of the American, Canadian and British Armed Forces over 14 separate levels. The only notable differences between the three are your starting weapons and your fellow soldier's vocal accents, though. Sadly, there's not much variation between single missions either, no matter whose shoes you're filling. A majority of the missions simply consist of traveling from point A to point B and shooting a lot of Nazis in between. Not that there's anything wrong with killing Nazis, but the seemingly endless supply of enemy soldiers, and the genocide that follows, will wear on your patience sooner than later. Seriously, you can look for as long as you like, but the holes these Nazi bastards apparently spring from are nowhere to be found.

On occasion, you'll be saved from the repetitive nature of the on-foot missions for some vehicular fun. This doesn't mean you'll actually control the vehicles, but you will operate mounted turrets on jeeps or from the inside of jet bombers. Aiming can be a tad bit slippery, although most of that relates to the awkwardness of the PSP analog nub and not because of slighted controls. These brief interludes are unfortunately a bright point in Roads to Victory's gameplay repertoire. You're still just shooting everything in sight, but the overall faster pace keeps these portions of the game from becoming overly stale like the rest of the package.

Beyond the rather short single-player campaign, there is a fairly basic multiplayer mode. You can have up to six player games in various modes, such as single or team deathmatch, Capture the Flag and King of the Hill. Disturbingly, though, you're limited to multiplayer through Ad Hoc mode, and there's no option for game sharing. This means you not only have to find a group of friends with PSPs, but they each must have their own copies of Roads to Victory, or no multiplayer can happen. You can see where this might present a slightly huge problem for the average PSP gamer.

Roads to Victory definitely looks like a Call of Duty title, so it will give you that familiar feeling if you're a fan of the franchise. The textures and character models don't entirely match the PS2 adaptation pixel for pixel, but they do come really close. The character animations tend to come off as a bit jumpy, and some of the ground explosions look sort of weak, but none of these problems make the game an eyesore. It's actually one of the better-looking offerings on the PSP.

The visuals are accompanied by a pretty nifty orchestrated score and a catalog of gunfire and explosion sound effects, comparable to what you would hear in a Hollywood-produced war film. You're not going to be blown away by the voice acting performances, but the actors still do a passable job. Overall, Call of Duty: Roads to Victory delivers on presentation with some obviously shiny production values, even though the same level of effort wasn't put toward the gameplay.

The Call of Duty franchise has a rather large fan base, but I doubt any one's going to pick up a PSP just for this game. It's highly unlikely you'll be able to find a steady group for the title's very formulaic multiplayer, and the single-player campaign can be completed in less than six hours on the normal difficulty setting. It might take you longer than that if you're prone to running out into the open and dying a lot, as none of the levels have checkpoints or mid-level saves, but that's neither a fun or productive way to spend time with your PSP. If you're a fan of the Call of Duty games and you have a PSP, Roads to Victory is an optimal choice for a late night weekend rental. On the other hand, if you're looking for a new game to buy for your PSP, you would be better served looking elsewhere.

Score: 5.8/10