There was a time when Call of Duty was good, this was the start of that time.

The Story is that the three characters you play as are involved in different operations for different nations to stop the Nazi's during World War 2. There is barely any story moments outside of the missions themselves, but for a World War 2 based game, it didn't really need too. It's focus is on the Gameplay. The Cutscenes that appear sometimes before levels are great, and give a real war feel with the atmosphere of the game.

The Characters are bland, I would not care if any of them died, including the ones I play as.

The Graphics were good for their time, but are now very pixelated. But not to the point where the game is unplayable, and there is more detail put into the environments than the average first-person shooter of the time.

The Gameplay has you in first person, shooting Germans with your weapons, and completing tasks to help the squad you are in to become one step closer to winning the war. Now although Call of Duty wasn't the first first-person shooter to change the gaming industry, it was the first to use friendly AI to help you out in missions, and the gameplay itself is very iconic, and can lead to many games trying to emulate what this game achieves. Also it's a computer game, so you can save whenever you want. Your actions can also make the difference between the fates of random soldiers in your squad, it doesn't matter that much as a new soldier will spawn in most of the time, but it's nice to know it's there for people who want to simulate it. The first level in the russian campaign is easily the best level in the game with it's real look into how some of the allies had to fight, and the suicidal mission atmosphere that the whole sequence gives off. Now there are some flaws with the game. Like the fact that the objectives reveal future tasks, despite the fact that it doesn't feel as real to know what is going to happen next. The AI barely ever kills targets, and at least three quarters of them will have to be killed by you. The Text to tell you about where you are at the beginning of levels is too fast for you to read. You can cause a vehicle to explode without the vehicle you are in exploding itself. Random soldiers for the group sometimes have ranks that surpass the leader of the squad. There is no Grenade detector. Sometimes the enemy isn't prepared for you, even when they should have heard what you were doing prior to that. Multiplayer is good. You can play a few different game types, while in the maps from the game (or more if you get the United Offensive pack). But unlike the campaign, more like in reality, you can die in one shot. Which is fun if you are okay with the realism "minus the respawning of course", and I say it works for a game where you kill normal soldiers in a realistic way, and where the opponents are other real players. Also the feature of having certain random players use submachine guns, and others using ones that cause more damage, but can't be fired as fast is a great way of having people play with many types, while not making it so that everyone uses the same gun.

The Music is awesome. It was composed by Michael Giacchino, the same guy behind a number of Pixar films. The tracks really push the dark atmosphere of each level that it's in, and are great to listen to on their own.

Call of Duty 1 deserves to be known for it's achievements that are very forgotten about thanks to the modern era of the franchise.

Warning: spoilers

The true origins of the series, before becoming a cashflow.

The first Call of Duty is where it all began and what inspired a series of good sequels, along with the cashflow milking cow that it has become today. The original game shined with excellent AI, a solid story and fluent mechanics.

Call of Duty revolves around the events of the second world war. Although this concept is nothing new and used many times before, it is one of the more stable, balanced and straightforward ones that was around at the time. The main difference with other WWII franchises is that you play as multiple countries that fought in the war like Russia, Great Brittan and the United States.

You start as Private Martin, a paratrooper that has been sent behind enemy lines in the events of D-Day. His platoon is scattered badly and nowhere is were he should be. You mission is to disable Flak guns and artillery positions to grant the soldiers some slack that are fighting on the beaches.

Then, the perspective switches over to Sergeant Evans, in the British army.
After participating in Operation Tonga, you are transferred to the commando SAS unit, which is then tasked with sabotaging the Eder Dam. After that, you infiltrate the battleship Tirpitz with Sergeant Price and a small squad. You discover plans from the Germans in which they are about to launch their feared V-2 rockets. You destroy the rockets before joining your squad mates in the battles ahead.

You also play as Corporal Alexei, starting at the battle for Stalingrad. Your heroic deeds get you promoted to Sergeant and after many battles with lots of lives lost, you enter Berlin and conquer the city with your fellow squad mates, ending the war.

The first Call of Duty is the only game in the series that implements the health bar. Although opinions differ about what system is better, I preferred the search for health kits and keeping track of your current vitality. It is what makes an FPS interesting and challenging in my opinion. Medal of Honor is another franchise that shined in this mechanic, by finding soldier canteens.

Call of Duty looked beautiful back then and, even to today, still does. Surely it aged and the graphics can be considered ancient, but the detail remains fair enough. The small blood effects and explosions are still great. The sound effects are still solid. All the sounds of guns firing and grenades that explode are still awesome. I like the Kar98 sound effects the most, it is just a solid blast when you fire your single bullet towards the enemy.

What sets Call of Duty apart is its excellent AI, especially for the time. Enemies and squad mates “do their own thing” and are focused on the battles ahead. There is also a solid balance between the focus on you and the AI on each other. You can surprise an enemy from the side because he is busy fighting with another soldier and does not notice you yet.

The expansion pack, United Offensive, I did not play. This was only because my PC back then, would not read the disc properly. This is something that I want to complete at least once in the future.

Call of Duty will always remain a true classic and, even today, it is still played widely, although many servers are now fun and hack servers with some crazy sh!t going on. There are custom made maps in toy block landscapes, obstacle courses, you name it.

It is a shame that the series nowadays is a business model in which the same crap is released every year and kids today do not know how great the series was back then, but before I turn into a complete grandpa again, that is all I will say about it.

I definitely still recommend this true original classic.