Author: random515
Title: Call of Duty: World at War Review
Posted: Monday, September 7, 2009 at 9:40 am


The Call of Duty series has long been a staple of the World War II first person shooter genre, until it came screaming into the modern age with 2007’s truly excellent Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Many fans, then, were disappointed when it was announced that 1) Treyarch would be developing the fifth game, not Infinity Ward, and 2), it would be heading back to World War II. But fear not, o ye faithful fans, Call of Duty: World at War is an admirable addition to the franchise[break].

In traditional Call of Duty style, through World at War’s 10-12 hour campaign, you will play from two different perspectives: as Private Miller of the US 2nd Marine Raider Battalion, and as Dimitri Petrenko, a Red Army soldier, taking part in the war in the Pacific and the push through Germany to Berlin, respectively. There is also one mission in which play as a gunner on board a PBY Catalina, similar to the AC-130 gunship mission from Call of Duty 4 (see screenshot below). The difference is that while the AC-130 mission offered a feeling of cold detachment, this sequence gets you right into the heart of the action, getting the adrenaline pumping through your veins.


The PBY Catalina mission puts you right into the heart of the action.


This is typical of much of the game, again contrasting with CoD4. In Modern Warfare, you principally played as a highly trained Special Forces operative, expertly making kills without mercy or remorse. In World at War, however, you will slog through the trenches, wielding knives and bayonets liberally. Oh, and flamethrowers too.

The first time you deliver the fatal bayonet stab through the heart of an enemy soldier is truly a horrifying experience, and one I personally was not prepared for. Instead of simply falling over dead, just another impersonal body left in your wake, you can see the expression of shock and pain cross the face of your victim as you drive home your blade, see them fall to their knees clutching their wound as a fierce battle rages around the both of you.

This would, perhaps, be a good place to mention that this game presents a more mature experience than previous Call of Duty games; it is undoubtedly the most bloody and violent, with bullets and explosions literally tearing soldiers apart. A shotgun round from short range can easily take off an arm in a gruesome if unrealistic fashion, and grenade blasts will send spurts of crimson claret high into the air.


This bloody execution scene sets the tone for the game early.

World at War is built on a modified version of the Call of Duty 4 engine, and Treyarch reportedly focused on improving the visuals and audio, and it shows. The graphics are excellent; some of the environments, especially during the Pacific campaign, are just plain beautiful, though you usually don’t have much time to appreciate this as you are busy dodging Japanese bullets with your name on them. The audio again, is excellent, with great sounding weapons and well acted dialogue.

In terms of gameplay, the only really unenjoyable experience is one mission in which you drive a tank through several fields, assaulting improbable numbers of enemy tanks and German soldiers with rocket launchers. This potentially great mission is marred by clunky controls and the fact that you are usually being pounded by so many rockets that your view is obscured by smoke. This smoke can also cause frame rates to lag annoyingly on the PC version.

The multiplayer modes are where World at War has most obviously borrowed from Modern Warfare. Just like in CoD4, you start off as a lowly private and as you gain ranks by earning experience points (done by scoring kills, winning matches, and completing objectives in objective based modes), you unlock new equipment and perks, allowing you to customize your characters however you wish using the five custom class slots.

Multiplayer has, of course, been updated to fit the WWII setting, with new maps and kill streak bonuses. The modes have remained mostly unchanged, although Capture the Flag makes a return after being absent from Modern Warfare. You are also now able to player through the single player campaign cooperatively with up to four friends, online or over LAN.

Perhaps the most interesting (and bizarre) addition to multiplayer is a mode that is perfectly summarized by its description at the main menu: “You drove deep into the heart of their Reich. You thought they were dead. You were wrong…” It’s…Nazi Zombies!


It's Nazi Zombies!

This absurd game, unlocked upon completing the single player campaign, puts you and up to three other players in an abandoned house on a foggy, moonlight night. Oh, and the house is being assaulted by undead German soldiers. You start off with just a pistol and earn points by making kills, allowing you to buy new weapons, ammo, and repair barricades. This mode is interesting, to say the least, and although it inevitably ends in your horrible death, it provides a fun change of pace (as long as your not too scared of zombies).

There is really very little to complain about with Call of Duty: World at War. It looks fantastic, it sounds fantastic, and the gameplay is, for the most part, thrilling and fun (the cries of “BANZAI!” as Japanese soldiers appear from nowhere to surround you will leave you quaking in your boots). The only complaint that this reviewer has, really, is that it lacks the freshness that Call of Duty 4 did. It sticks pretty much to the formula developed by Infinity Ward and borrows quite liberally from its predecessor. But when that predecessor is one of the finest FPS games of the decade, is that necessarily a bad thing?

Summary
The Good
- Classic Call of Duty fun
- Same superb multiplayer system as CoD4
- Co-op campaign
- Great graphics and audio

The Bad
- The same pretty much everything as CoD4

Overall score: 8.5/10

- By Ira Herbold

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