Call of Duty : World at War

Activision have gone back to their Call of Duty roots. After the modern warfare of CoD 4 the series returns to World War 2 to cover the US assault of the Pacific Islands and the Russians push from their homeland all the way into the heart of Berlin.

After the success of CoD 4 many had expected “CoD 5” to be more of the same, attacks in the Middle East or at least a story based in today’s theatre. While I totally understand where these opinions are coming from The second World War in CoD’s eyes has not been fully completed (even after completing this title) and as a result I would class this more as CoD 3.5 rather than a continuation of the franchise.

While World at War may be a jump back in the Call of Duty timeline it certainly isn’t a jump back in game engine. As with CoD 4 everything is beautifully rendered and mechanically identical to the previous outing. With the outright brutality of the Pacific and Russian campaigns in reality, Treyarch have done everything possible to throw equal levels of harrowing moments and the horrors of World War 2 into the game as is physically possible. You start in the shoes of US private Miller on Makin island. Having been captured by the Japanese the game cuts right into an interrogation scene as you see 2 fellow officers lashed to a post outside a cabin being beaten while your closest comrade refuses to give the information being asked and is promptly burned by a cigarette to the face and then has his throat slit by a guard. While you do not see the cut itself the mood is set by seeing the blood spray up the adjacent wall. Just as it seems to be your turn you are rescued by Corporal Roebuck (voiced brilliantly by Kiefer Sutherland) and then thrown straight into the action.

Throughout the story you will repeatedly switch between Miller and the other main character Petrenko who has an equally tense opening to the game. Here you start in Stalingrad after the rest of your unit has been executed by German troops. In a scene that marks an almost perfect reconstruction of a scene from Enemy at the Gate you are among a pile of dead or dying comrades in a fountain. German troops pass and one decides to take his machine gun and finish the soldiers around you that are still hanging on to life by a thread. Once the threat has passed and you start to move you are quickly introduced to Sergeant Reznov (voiced by Gary Oldman) who like you has been faking death. Reznov is a sniper but due to his damaged hand can not do the job properly so you are enlisted into his hunt for the cause of the massacre, one General Amsel. Reznov teaches you quickly in the art of sniping and you then dart from building to building in search of Amsel.

As with other CoD titles your NPC companions are the driving force giving you orders throughout each mission. Roebuck plus a host of other fellow soldiers guide you all the way from your rescue on Makin all the way to Okinawa and the completion of the US campaign and Reznov and the unfortunate Private Chernov drive you through the Russian campaign from Stalingrad to the Reichstag itself. However these allies also provide one of the most annoying parts to the game….AI. The enemy AI in certain situations will send a single or multiple soldiers running after you, while the rest of the time your comrades will happily shoot down wave after wave of enemy soldiers without a thought it is these select few enemies that become seemingly invisible to everyone else and happily breeze past every other soldier on route to you while your allies stand rooted and let them whoop you senseless while you are in a cover position focusing on everything in front of you. With just how insanely difficult this game can be as you ramp up the difficulty setting this can quite easily result in 10-20 minutes work of inching from cover to cover to trigger a checkpoint being completely ruined…and that’s another thing!!! While I appreciate each game will have trigger points in which to carry on each section it can be VERY annoying having to be the only unit that can advance the rest of your group by continually putting yourself in harm’s way. Is it really that difficult to program a game to allow you to use suppressing fire on an encamped unit and a fellow NPC then driving forward and triggering the next sequence? Instead you are greeted by having to run into the open, continually drawing the fire of every enemy, while the rest of your allies stand some distance behind simply to stop the endless wave of respawns.

As already mentioned as you work your way through the campaign you will jump between being a US Marine and a member of the Red Army. The switching between characters as well as the cuts between missions are done via a blend of animated cut scenes spliced with actual WW2 footage. These scenes are also narrated by Roebuck or Reznov and accompanied by stats from the war to truly drive it’s horrors home such as US Marine survival rate during the Pacific campaign. However whereas with previous CoD WW2 outings you switch between characters and cover a short time span so the main campaign may only cover a matter of days or weeks World at War jumps your character forward between missions by months and years. As a result much is left untouched and leaves very little scope for future development in any potential releases. For example Stalingrad was a hellish encounter in reality that saw fighting last months from German invasion pushing the Russian forces back building by building to the Volga before the Red Army surrounded the city and effectively starved the Germans into submission. When hitting Stalingrad on my first play through I fully expected most of the Russian campaign to be based entirely in Stalingrad as you fight for survival and then see the tide turn and push against the remaining desperate Nazi forces. However a short sharp mission (although brilliantly done) and you jump forward years to Seelow Heights and the last great obstacle between the Russian forces and Berlin. By missing out the tank battles of Kursk and the major see saw battles at Kharkov much of the war on the Eastern front has been missed. Whereas in the case of the Pacific campaign you jump from Makin to Peleliu and on. Major offensives such as Iwo Jima, Saipan and Manilla all remain untouched not to mention the huge possibilities for naval missions.

Putting AI and missed opportunities aside the game itself reflects the campaigns with a strong sense of realism. The feel of the 2 campaigns is very different. In the case of the Russians it feels very run and gun. You are almost willed to push ever forward at pace and the German forces always feel as if they are fighting for their lives while being on the back foot. Even when you are bogged down working your way through a trench, slowly working your way through a German camp or pushing through the dark underground metro system in Berlin ducking MG emplacements it always feels as if you are pushing closer to your overall goal. The war in the Pacific is a different beast entirely. Fighting is mixed between dense jungle and caves or wide open plains. The feel of this half of the game is especially menacing as you will be ambushed on a number of occasions and in a variety of ways. Your enemies will suddenly pop out of long grass and banzai charge and on a number of occasions you will be shot by a seemingly invisible enemy only to find that there is a sniper hiding in a nearby tree. As a result although you forever push forward you feel the need to be cautious and to check every inch around you before continuing on. As with previous CoD titles short vehicle missions make a return also however only on 2 occasions. In the Pacific you become a gunner on a PBY attacking a Japanese convoy from the sky before turning rescuer and aiding an allied convoy. The Russian vehicle mission is more open as you take charge of a tank forcing it’s way through enemy lines to rejoin the main forces. Both missions are a refreshing break from ground battles however they leave you wanting more and seem to serve only as a minor distraction from the infantry missions.

Weaponry as with all previous titles is accurate to the period as well as accurately modelled. Many of the previous weapons from previous outings return such as the Springfield, BAR and MP40 along with a few welcome additions. The most noticeable is the flamethrower. The flamethrower shows off the length in which the game engine has developed since 3 as you can destroy entire sections of grass and trees . As with mounted guns ammo is unlimited and works on an overheat system. While extremely effective in close quarter combat the inability to fire prolonged bursts forces you to constantly probe or to switch guns. A good thing as it is understandably overpowered. The flamethrower (and molotovs for that matter) are best employed when fighting foes in cover. For example the tree snipers and banzai chargers waiting in the long grass can be completely nullified by use of a quick blast destroying their cover and “burnin’ ’em out” Melee attacks have changed from simple gun stock blows to knives or (if you hold the right type of rifle) a bayonet thrust and in addition to the bazooka at certain stages you can find rifles in which to attach grenades to the nuzzle and use as makeshift grenade launchers.

If there is one thing World at War does excel at it is the multiplayer options. As is the case with all multiplayer shooters the usual capture the flag and death match modes and their variants are all here. However unlike similar titles you can access a number of cooperative modes also. Up to 4 players can work side by side through the entire story mode either as simple helpers or in a competitive mode where points are awarded or subtracted for enemy kills or deaths. This alone can totally sidestep the poor ally AI and make even the most difficult setting enjoyable. For each action you take in multiplayer whether it be competitive or cooperative you are rewarded experience points and “level up” going through each army rank. This is where the game really shines. Each level up as expected opens up new guns as you go however to allow a difference in higher level opponents there are a number of options that come into play. As with unlock able guns as you level up certain perks will over time become available. These perks will range from increased health to tanks reloading faster or bullets doing more damage and each generic class already comes with it’s own preset perks….however CoD allows each player to “create” 5 classes. Effectively this means choosing a primary and second gun as well as grenades and 3 perks. The perks are categorized so noone regardless of level gains a massive advantage by stacking personnel perks by say having 2 types of heavy damage perks. Individuality is pushed even further through the challenge system. This system exists on both coop and competitive but both are entirely different and result in different things. The challenges will be for example kills in a prone position or a set number of kills with a certain weapon. Once that challenge is completed you then gain a bulk of experience and start stage 2 which will then ask for kills with the same gun using headshots. Completing subsequent challenges rewards you with addition parts for each weapon that you master. For instance an MP40 can be equipped with a suppressor that while shortening range will not give away your position on the map when fired. The possibilities are huge and can be tailored to suit each players preferred playing style so while novices will initially struggle with the highly competitive opposition by simply toughing it out you then gain rewards that make each battle a little less daunting.

I can’t stop talking about multiplayer without touching on CoD’s new mode. Nazi Zombies!!! Yes that’s right I said zombies. For those players who complete the main campaign you are treated to a cutscene with a crashed pilot being closed in on by a pack on the undead. After the scene finishes you find yourself in a semi destroyed building with barricaded windows and doors and a blood read 1 marker. Rushing from window to window you will eventually see a number of the undead shuffling towards the building and a point counter in the bottom right of the screen. Shooting each zombie awards you with points (more for headshots) After killing a set number you then progress to stage 2 and so on with each level resulting in more zombies that move faster with each round that passes. Should these zombies make it to a window (and they will no matter how good you are) they will then pull off each and every board and then clamber inside the building and chase you. You character is decidedly weaker than in the main story and will die after 2-3 hits. After killing each round of zombies or when you have made enough space you can then repair the openings giving you more time to adjust for the next wave. You start with a pistol and limited ammo however as you move around the room you will see chalk markings on walls in the shape of certain guns or weapons. The points you earn from zombie kills and barrier repairs can be spent to buy these weapons or to refill your ammo. In addition to weapons you can also spend the points to open doors or blockages to other areas of the house. These new areas have substantially better weaponry but also open more routes for the zombies to attack you as well as the attacks still coming from areas you have already been. This mode while limited in size is huge fun . Playing alone is taxing yet enjoyable but to benefit properly from this mode you HAVE to get online and hook up with others

So to sum up the single player game while looking beautiful with it’s CoD 4 engine feels more like an expansion to Call of Duty 3 than a stand alone game. While finally seeing The Pacific War the campaigns don’t feel complete and miss a whole heap of major battle possibilities. The team AI is weak often leaving you to fend off enemies at close range while trying to force yourself to each area of cover and make them push forward and join you but the immense multiplayer saves this game from being simply mediocre.

Graphics 9.5
Sound 9.5
Gameplay Single player 7.5 / Multiplayer 9.0
Playability or replayability 9.0

Overall 8.5

A great multiplayer game let down by it’s solo gameplay. If it wasn’t for unlocking the zombie mode and being able to cooperative play through the campaign replay value would be EXTREMELY poor. After enjoying all previous CoD WW2 titles I’m truly hoping that this is not how Call of Duty’s World War 2 franchise is going to bow out.