fun

Best CoD ever made

The original Call of Duty has aged surprisingly well. Sure, it has some early 2000s markers, mostly in graphics and controls, but it's still a very enjoyable experience. You get a nice amount of variety in maps and mission types, though there is some repetition(find the enemy documents, blow up that gun, take out those tanks) but there's enough intensity and creativity to still make the experience fun. Something that did surprise me was how challenging the game can be, even on normal mode. You die pretty easily so at times you have to think outside the box when trying to achieve your mission objectives. Playing the game on Hardened or Veteran only exacerbates the difficulty but if you want a "realistic war experience" these difficulty settings are for you. But whatever your preferred difficulty mode this is a very fun game. The action is frequent and challenging, enemies are fairly competent opponents(putting aside moments of bizarre stupidity in which enemies will walk right up to you and your men) and the different locations you travel to give you variety in gameplay and some very nice visuals, despite the dated graphics. The voice acting is decent but nothing special, and the characters and story are pretty basic. But the game's primary focus of putting you in exciting battles and vicious combat scenarios is overall effective and will bring you back for more. Call of Duty is clearly dated and not all that deep of a game. But if your looking for an exciting war based shooter then this is the game for you.
Pros: Exciting combat
smooth controls
varied locations
nice visuals
decently challenging
Cons: minimal story and character development.
occasional brutal difficulty
enemies can be predictable and sometimes downright stupid
squad members can be useless sometimes.