Call of Duty Road to Victory If I have learned one thing from my years of holding a controller, it's that gamers love to kill Nazis. So many titles have hit the marketplace since the dawn of gaming that take place during WW II that it's a daunting task just to keep up with them.

With so many incarnations there are few franchises that are worthwhile though Activision's Call of Duty is one of them.

With a different spin on the standard first-person shooting genre, Call of Duty gives you multiple perceptions regarding the conflict. You don't just look at the game through the eyes of an America, British, or Canadian soldier; you peer through all of them. It's one of the things that has kept the franchise fresh through six incarnations and two direct sequels. With that many releases since 2004 though is it possible that the series is beginning to fizzle and lose its appeal? One look at Roads to Victory and you may think to yourself that the answer is "yes".

Call of Duty: Roads to Victory is essentially a culmination of the franchise translated to fit into the palm of your hands. There really is nothing outstanding here in terms of story presentation or immersion that we have come to know and love. For me the series has always done well with getting you "into the moment" and making you feel like you were a small part in something bigger than you. Unfortunately, that's not the case with the PlayStation Portable incarnation. This may have something to do with the fact that the game was developed by Amaze Entertainment and not Infinity Ward or Gray Matter. In the end though, it's not necessarily the lack of immersion and compelling storytelling that cause Roads to Victory to feel defeated; it's the entire experience.

It's safe to say that Call of Duty has become synonymous with great gameplay. Someone who has played any of the games can attest to that. In Roads to Victory though, the first-person elements just don't jive well with the control set up for the PSP. Granted this particular example isn't necessarily exclusive to this title but other games in the genre as well.

In Roads to Victory you are given the ability to change control options though the original is probably the best. That basically means you'll be targeting Nazis with the face buttons due to the system's lack of a second analog stick. The end result is a clunky, unintuitive interface that leaves a lot to be desired and a bad taste in your mouth for playing another FPS game on the PSP.

Amaze seemed to anticipate this crappiness though because they included an overly simplistic auto-targeting system that virtually sticks homing beacons on your bullets. Sure this makes up some ground for the poor control scheme but it also sucks almost all of the challenge out of playing. What's the point of trying when you're almost always scoring a headshot with little to no effort? The only other option is shutting the auto-aim off but that's suicide thanks to the terrible and unresponsive controls.

Enemy AI is downright awful as well. In most circumstances, you'll take damage based upon sheer bad luck or failed controls. It's not entirely uncommon to see Nazis standing in place, looking off at Neverland, or running in circles. Needless to say, this aspect is nothing like we've come to expect from the Call of Duty franchise and drags the game down.

Bad control issues and poor AI aside, Roads to Victory offers 14 mostly linear missions that typically don't allow you to deviate or explore. You're very restricted as far as where you can go and how you have to approach situations but it's far from feeling like you're on rails which is a good thing. This leaves the latest Call of Duty title feeling like a step in the wrong direction.

Adding to the disappointment is a lackluster multiplayer presentation with ad-hoc being the only means of connectivity. This will leave fans accustomed to the larger more grandiose multiplayer matches looking for more. In the end I understand that in order for a handheld title to be released you have to lose a little of what made the original so great but Roads to Victory loses too much in my opinion. Fans of FPS titles looking for something to play on the road may find that this game is a so-so way to pass the time but there are better selections out there.

While the gameplay element of Call of Duty: Roads to Victory certainly leaves one wanting, the graphics at least deliver somewhat. Character models and animation are generally good and the environments hold up well enough as well. Unfortunately there is an inherent lack of textures and finer details to be found as you'd expect with the PSP. Slowdown and load times are another sore sport that brings this title down a couple of notches. Still, there are many moments where the game is quite beautiful; in a bullets flying, explosions killing, Nazi party kind of way.

The audio simply outshines the other areas of presentation for Roads to Victory. With a fantastic soundtrack and great voice acting you'll be hard-pressed to find something to complain about while listening to the game. The PSP's speakers can't quite handle the quantity and quality of sound effects but if you have some headphones you'll be in good shape.

Overall, Call of Duty: Roads to Victory stands as a relatively unremarkable entry into the franchise. The control is flawed and attempts to handle the system's limitations in an imaginative, yet dysfunctional manner. There are many problems here from the button configuration and poor AI to auto-targeting. The graphics are decent with a few impressive moments though the sound in the game is easily the feather in its cap. This is a game that only diehard FPS fans will appreciate and even then should only be considered if you have exhausted other options and want to shoot Nazis while you're traveling.