Call of Duty World at War Review & Rating

Call of Duty World at War is basically Call of Duty 4 with a World War II wrapper thrown on it and a few more playable modes tossed in for good measure.  While the game doesn’t really break any new ground, CoD 4 was so awesome that it doesn’t really need to.  However, Treyarch kind of took the quick and dirty road and harvested some elements of CoD 3 that should have been left buried in the past.

Gameplay

What does all of that mean for players of Call of Duty World at War?  It means that they are thrust into a great looking, fast paced, well thought out shooter full of spectacular visuals, immersive audio, and stellar combat mechanics.  Unfortunately it’s plagued by rigid scripting, enemy re-spawn trigger points, and annoyingly ineffectual button mashing counterattacks.
The game refuses to fall into the old WWII cliché and chooses to focus on the American campaign in the Pacific and the Russian one in Eastern Europe.  Players shoot through the game in the boots of two grunts from different worlds tasked with stopping two vastly different marauding empires. 
While the Russian portion of the game feels a little stale and maybe a bit outdated (too much like previous installments of CoD) the Pacific campaign brings gameplay to another level.  Among the chief innovations is the tactics the Japanese soldiers’ use.  Instead of sitting back and picking you off from a distance, they actually wait camouflaged in the bushes, in trees, and in spider holes, or just lay on the ground pretending to be dead until you waltz right into their ambush.  When they come at you screaming like lunatics with their bayonets poised to sink into your gut it’s very scary thing indeed. 
While this tactic adds a great element to the game unlike anything else I’ve ever seen, it also leads to one of the worst—the button mashing counterattacks.  While button mashing is just plain annoying of its own accord, the defensive actions in CoD WaW are so ineffectual that even if you react fast enough (which isn’t likely) you still find yourself impaled on two feet of steel with a wild-eye Japanese soldier screaming in your face. 
The second great addition this game brings to the WWII genre is the flamethrower.  While other games have tried to incorporate this awesome weapon, CoD WaW does it right.  The flame effects are so mesmerizing that you’ll likely find yourself roasting Japanese out of the underbrush and setting fire to entire fields just to watch them burn.

Like CoD 4, the World at War single player campaign is ridiculously short (only 6-8 hours at best.)  While the game is clearly geared toward multiplayer, it’s kind of disappointing to see such a lackluster attempt at appeasing lone gunmen.  However, it is kind of cool that most of the single player campaign is playable in co-op mode (save for a few levels such as the vehicle levels and the sniper level.)
The multiplayer in WaW is really something to behold.  All of your favorite modes of combat return including death match, headquarters, and search and destroy and come bundle with a couple of new ones: capture the flag and war mode.  Treyarch even threw in death cards (much like the skull card in Halo) which players can use to challenge themselves by limiting their weapons and resources the sticks and stones card limits your weapons to a knife and dud grenades) if they feel the games is just too easy for them.

And what would a World War II game be without zombies?  That’s right, zombies.  There’s a mode in multiplayer called . . . well something in German but everyone just calls it Zombie Nazi mode.   Players approach this mode as a helpless soldier steadfastly defending a bunker against unending waves of undead goose-steppers.  It’s fun for a while but gets old fast and just feels too much like a gimmick to be of much value.

Graphics

The game was built on the same engine as Call of Duty 4 so it’s graphically on par with all but the most advanced games on the market today.  Single blades of grass, hair, and arterial spray showcase just how detailed the CoD franchise has become.  While it’s not going to win any awards against games like Crysis, you don’t have to have a supercomputer to play it either.  All the tested game platforms are able to handle the game well without and glitches or hitching to speak of. 

Sound

The audio is another area where the game excels though most players may not even notice it.  Keifer Sutherland and Gary Oldman lend their voices to key characters within the game and add to the feeling that players are actually inside a great World War II movie.  The detailed sound effects and stirring score both supplement the great voice acting but it may be hard to appreciate the individual sound of an empty clip being ejected from a rifle when it’s drown out in screams of agony, explosions, and gunfire.  All of the chaotic noise combines to create a level of immersion and authenticity that few games can match.

Value

While the game was definitely designed with multiplayer gameplay in mind, the single player campaign is still a lot of fun.  The scripting is great (although a bit restrictive at times) and the sequences flow in a very cinematic fashion.  The campaign is just way too short to justify the game’s price tag—unless you’re into multiplayer as well.  In that case, CoD WaW is every bit as fun as CoD 4.  You will have to adjust to the non-fully auto weapons, limited magazine capacity, and the more primitive style of combat but if you’ve ever played a World War II game in the past, it shouldn’t be too much of a stretch.

Final Verdict

CoD 4 fans were quick to dismiss this game as a redheaded stepchild and relegate it to the corner but I bet most of them who have played it are glad they didn’t.  The game is great fun even if it does carry some baggage from CoD 3 with it.

Pros:  Exceptionally exciting and cinematic storyline, fluid combat system, beautiful set pieces, and character models.

Cons:  Limited single player campaign, reliance a few best forgotten relics from CoD 3, no real ground breaking evolution in gameplay or visuals.


Overall Score: 9/10