Treyarch’s Christian Busic talks about Call of Duty 2: Big Red One
By Michael Lafferty

“At the heart of Call of Duty 2: Big Red One is the Call of Duty experience that has set the standard for WWII first-person action games since its inception on the PC”

In the world of combat games, one name continually stands apart in terms of graphics and gameplay. The fact that the Call of Duty line allows and encourages mods makes the game extremely fan friendly.

Heretofore, CoD has established itself as a solid player on the PC and has even taken a foray onto the consoles. But life in the CoD universe is about to get much more frenetic. Coming soon to a PC near gamers is Call of Duty 2, which promises to graphically advance the series. But console gamers are not left out of the picture. Call of Duty 2: Big Red One promises to offer an experience quite apart from its PC brethren.

In CoD 2: Big Red One, players will fight as a squad of the legendary American 1^st Infantry Division, otherwise known as the Big Red One. The action will take place on various battlegrounds throughout the World War II theatre, and promises to be an intense experience. But don’t just take GameZone’s word for that.

Christian Busic, Creative Director at Treyarch took time to chat with GameZone about this title.

Question: What makes the American 1st Infantry Division more exceptional than other fighting units and why is it compelling enough to be at the heart of a game?

Christian: “Members of The Big Red One were the first American troops into combat in WWII. An integral part of Operation Overlord, it was again the Big Red One who led the amphibious assault on Omaha Beach on D-Day, arguably the most remembered battle of World War II. Part of Operation Torch, The Big Red One was the first into North Africa in 1942 where they defeated Rommel’s infamous “Afrika Korps” and secured the surrender of over 40,000 German soldiers. In Sicily, after storming the beach at Gela in Operation Husky, they came face to face with more than a hundred tanks of the Herman Goering division.

“From Omaha Beach, North Africa and Sicily to the Battle of the Bulge and the breaching of the Siegfried Line on Germany’s doorstep, the Big Red One did it all.”

Q: In Call of Duty 2: Big Red One, will players be faced with a similar gameplay mechanic as with the rest of the Call of Duty series?

Christian: “At the heart of Call of Duty 2: Big Red One is the Call of Duty experience that has set the standard for WWII first-person action games since its inception on the PC. Call of Duty 2: Big Red One has the epic battles, the cinematic intensity and the historical authenticity but takes the squad interaction to a much more personal level. We’ve expanded the original PC A.I. system and developed it to not only excel on the consoles, but to also give players a more immersive experience with their squad mates. By developing Call of Duty 2: Big Red One in this direction, as a single-squad experience, we’ve really taken the ‘no one fights alone’ philosophy in a more focused direction. In Call of Duty 2: Big Red One players won’t switch perspectives; they’ll play as the same Big Red One infantryman throughout the entire game. Additionally, players will interact with members of other fighting units, translating into a deeper experience – players will serve as an ordinary soldier doing extraordinary deeds. Players will become familiar with their squad mates, the officers and the rest of the men fighting with them across three theaters of war. They’ll get to see the changes that inevitably take place as young men live through a global conflict and come home as a different person, if they come home at all.”

Q: There is Call of Duty 2, and then there is Call of Duty 2: Big Red One. What differentiates these two titles?

Christian: “For 2005, we wanted to give Call of Duty fans a chance to have two different games, each with a different experience. Fans will be able to enjoy Call of Duty 2 on their PC or Xbox 360 and also enjoy a different slant with Call of Duty 2: Big Red One on their Xbox, PS2 or GameCube. We wanted to create something brand new for the current generation consoles. With that approach, we knew that we had to hit the major tenets of the Call of Duty franchise: the epic battles, the cinematic intensity and the historical authenticity. But we also wanted to give players something different – a new take on the traditional Call of Duty experience – so we decided to develop a more personal approach to the ‘No One Fights Alone’ philosophy. Moving the game to a single squad really gave us the opportunity to do that, while providing a deeper understanding of what it’s like to be in a squad. Call of Duty 2: Big Red One allowed us to develop characters more fully and really give them life, further drawing the player into the intense experiences of an infantry soldier in WWII. Along those lines it was going to be necessary to evolve some of the gameplay systems used to create that ‘personal’ feel. One of those systems is the A.I. module, which was developed from the original Call of Duty PC title and is a substantial step forward, giving Call of Duty 2: Big Red One a much more authentic combat environment as well as a much more immersive feeling.”

Q: How many missions will players be able to undertake in Call of Duty 2: Big Red One? How much ground does the game cover in terms of gameboards or maps?

Christian: “Players will travel from war-torn Europe to the blistering desert expanses of Tunisia, to the countryside of Italy, France and Belgium and even into Germany, right up to Hitler’s doorstep over a three-year span. Since the Big Red One was involved in almost every major conflict throughout Europe and North Africa, there was no shortage of epic battle locations for our team to choose from when making the game. Players will get to be part of conflicts on a scale that is even more massive than anything they have experienced on the consoles in a Call of Duty game before.”

Q: Will this title offer multiplayer gaming?

Christian: “Call of Duty 2: Big Red One will feature broadband online multiplayer for PS2 and Xbox, but it’s still a little early to release any details just yet.”

Q: Having seen gameplay from Call of Duty 2, and being very impressed, will Call of Duty 2: Big Red One by using the same graphics engine or is another engine being used to render it? 

Christian: “Call of Duty 2: Big Red One will utilize its own proprietary rendering engine. One of the cool things that Treyarch brought to the project is its graphics libraries, which have been in development since the inception of the PS2, Xbox and GameCube.

“At this point, we know how to get the very best out of the current generation consoles and that knowledge – coupled with our matured libraries and the awesome art team from Gray Matter – has allowed us to create one of the best looking games on these consoles to date.”

Q: What weaponry will be available in this game? Will players be able to use motorized transportation?

Christian: “One of the exciting new additions to Call of Duty 2: Big Red One is that we’ve given the player new enemies to face. In addition to the German army, the player will also face the threat of the Vichy French (a faction of Nazi-sympathetic French) and the Italian army, each bringing with them their own weapons and vehicles. A number of weapons in the game had never been fired or recorded since WWII. Even the major WWII television shows and motion pictures hadn’t recorded any of these weapons – we’re proud to say that they make their debut in Call of Duty 2: Big Red One.

“Some examples include the Chatellerault Light Machine Gun, Hotchkiss Model 1914 and MAS 36 rifle. A few of the new Italian additions include the Carcano M1938 6.5mm Bolt Action Rifle and the Breda Modello 1930 6.5 mm Light machine gun and we’ve also included the Walther P-38 9mm automatic pistol from the German arsenal. In order to produce the most realistic and authentic weapons possible for Call of Duty 2: Big Red One, we went out and acquired actual versions of the guns and photographed them extensively. Then we set up sessions at remote firing ranges and recorded the sounds and captured video of the guns in action. The end result is the most accurate representation of these historic weapons ever. As for vehicles, the Big Red One used extensive land, sea and air support so we were sure to include that in the game as well. We’ve also added a lot of variety to these vehicles. Players will get to do a lot of different things: from commandeering German tanks to calling in mortar strikes from the deck of a naval landing craft. This type of variety in vehicle missions is definitely another first for the Call of Duty franchise.”

Q: What has been the biggest challenge you have faced in bringing this game to life?

Christian: “Overall, the biggest challenge for the team has been the high standards we set for the game and ourselves. Specifically, since it had been decided very early in pre-production that, in order to be able to bring the very best possible Call of Duty experience to Call of Duty 2: Big Red One, it would be necessary to adapt the state-of-the-art Call of Duty A.I. system for use on the consoles without producing merely a ‘port’ of the PC game. This was undoubtedly one of the biggest challenges for the technology team since the system was not only incredibly robust, but was also designed for the PC platform in both terms of memory usage and PC-specific gameplay elements. These issues would have to be engineered to excel on the consoles, while remaining functionally intact. Additionally, the system would have to provide extraordinary squad-level A.I. specific to the Call of Duty 2: Big Red One experience. I have to say we’re really pleased with the great results we’ve seen. It’s a real compliment to the programmers on the team that even from the earliest builds, the game ‘felt’ like a Call of Duty game.”

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