Call of Duty: United Offensive is an expansion pack

Expansion pack

An expansion pack, expansion set, or supplement is an addition to an existing role-playing game, tabletop game or video game. These add-ons usually add new game areas, weapons, objects, and/or an extended storyline to a complete and already released game...

 for the first-person shooter

First-person shooter

First-person shooter is a video game genre that centers the gameplay on gun and projectile weapon-based combat through first-person perspective; i.e., the player experiences the action through the eyes of a protagonist. Generally speaking, the first-person shooter shares common traits with other...

 computer game, Call of Duty. It was developed by Gray Matter Interactive

Gray Matter Interactive

Gray Matter Interactive Studios, Inc. was a computer game developer, which was acquired by Activision in January 2002. Gray Matter was previously known as Xatrix Entertainment, Inc....

, with contributions from Pi Studios

Pi Studios

Pi Studios is a computer game software developer founded in 2002 by Robert Erwin, John Faulkenbury, Rob Heironimus, Dan Kramer and Peter Mack whose first commercial work can be found in Activision's Call of Duty: United Offensive...

, and published by Activision

Activision

Activision is an American publisher, majority owned by French conglomerate Vivendi SA. Its current CEO is Robert Kotick. It was founded on October 1, 1979 and was the world's first independent developer and distributor of video games for gaming consoles...

. It was released for Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...

 on September 14, 2004.

Since October 13, 2006, the game has also been available to buy on Valve's

Valve Corporation

Valve Corporation is an American video game development and digital distribution company based in Bellevue, Washington, United States...

 content delivery platform, Steam.

Gameplay

The biggest changes made by United Offensive are in the multiplayer aspect of the game. There are new maps which are much larger than the ones in the original game, new weapons from the single player campaign, an in-game rank system which grants additional bonuses with more points, and vehicles such as tank

Tank

A tank is a tracked, armoured fighting vehicle designed for front-line combat which combines operational mobility, tactical offensive, and defensive capabilities...

s and jeep

Jeep

Jeep is an automobile marque of Chrysler . The first Willys Jeeps were produced in 1941 with the first civilian models in 1945, making it the oldest off-road vehicle and sport utility vehicle brand. It inspired a number of other light utility vehicles, such as the Land Rover which is the second...

s.

Characters

Cpl. Scott Riley is the first playable protagonist of United Offensive in the American campaign. Riley participates throughout the entire Bastogne

Bastogne

Bastogne Luxembourgish: Baaschtnech) is a Walloon municipality of Belgium located in the province of Luxembourg in the Ardennes. The municipality of Bastogne includes the old communes of Longvilly, Noville, Villers-la-Bonne-Eau, and Wardin...

 campaign by defending Bois Jacques, capturing and securing the crossroads and town of Foy

Foy, Belgium

Foy is a village in Belgium, near Bastogne.-Battle of the Bulge:In World War II, Foy was occupied by German forces during the Battle of the Bulge. The American 101st Airborne Division held the Bois Jacques just outside of town. After being relieved by George S. Patton's Third Army, the 101st retook...

, and capturing Noville

Noville

Noville is a municipality of the canton of Vaud in Switzerland, located in the district of Aigle.-History:Noville is first mentioned in 903 as Nova villa. In 1162-1173 it was mentioned as Nouila...

.

Sgt. James Doyle is the second playable protagonist in United Offensive, serving as the playable character in the British campaign. Doyle is a Royal Air Force B-17 gunner who is shot down over the Netherlands on the RAF's first daylight mission using the B-17s. The Dutch Resistance, with the help of the SAS, rescue him before he is captured by the Germans. Doyle is then sent to Sicily with the SAS to knock out several huge cliff mounted cannon, not unlike those in The Guns of Navarone

Pvt. Yuri Petrenko is the third playable protagonist in United Offensive. Petrenko participates in the entire battle by defending their trench bases, securing Ponyri's streets, destroying German armor in Prok, and assaulting and defending Kharkov until the arrival of Soviet reinforcements.

Ranking system

United Offensive introduces a ranking system to multiplayer. As players' scores increase, they gain ranks. Each rank spawns with new perks/benefits.

Multiplayer mode features objectives such as planting or defusing explosives, destroying or protecting objectives, capturing or protecting flags, and assisting friendly flag carriers. The ranks are reset each map and are not persistent.

New Multiplayer modes

United Offensive adds three new multiplayer modes to the game: Domination, Capture the Flag and Base Assault.

Domination

The objective of Domination is to control all of the control points on the map. There are three of these control points scattered around the map, and are usually found in key strategic locations. To capture a control point, a player must stand near it with no enemies nearby. After a certain amount of time, the area is captured by your team. Every time a team captures a control point, they add a point to their overall score. To win, a team must either have the higher score when time runs out, or capture all of the control points on the map.

Base Assault

Base Assault requires teams to use heavy weaponry such as tanks and artillery strikes to attack their opponent's bases and destroy them. On each map, both teams have three bases they must defend and attack. Once a bunker takes enough damage, it is not destroyed, but exposed to infantry attack. To completely destroy a bunker, a player must sneak into the basement of an exposed bunker and plant an explosive. Then they must keep the other team from defusing the explosive so it will explode and destroy the bunker. A team wins either by destroying the most bunkers before time expires, or completely destroying all of the opposing team's bunkers. In some modifications of Base Assault games, teams must use only anti tank weaponry and satchel charges instead of tanks to destroy the bases.

Capture the Flag

The most traditional game mode is Capture the Flag. Each side has a flag that they must protect. The objective is to steal the enemy's flag and take it back to their own base to score a point. A team can only score if they have their flag intact. For example, if you take the enemy flag, but the enemy also takes your flag, neither team can score until one team retrieves their flag. A team wins either by capturing the flag a certain amount of times or capturing the most flags at the end of the game. A limited selection of maps are available for CTF play.