I've been playing DOD since it's conception. It's a solid infantry combat action game. To me though, it's far from realistic. It feels more like Counter-Strike than anything else. I'm a big fan, but I'd like to see a more realistic approach to infantry combat. One game in particular that I'm watching is Resistance and Liberation for Half-Life 2. They have some great material up on their website, and their ideas sound solid. I think the url is
www.resistanceandliberation.com.
I wouldn't buy DOD retail, not worth the $30 if you ask me. You're not getting much for that price, especially when you can download it for free. You're not losing anything either. If you don't have half-life, you can buy it for about $10 and download DOD. That would be a great value.