Call of Duty: World at War
Posted 02/11/09 at 10:00:00 PM by Norman Chan
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The odds have always been stacked against Call of Duty: World at War. This sequel revisits an undeniably exhausted FPS setting—World War II—and wasn’t designed by series creator Infinity Ward, but Treyarch has delivered a sufficiently compelling shooter. World at War doesn’t bring any lasting innovations to the FPS genre, but it has enough unrelenting shootouts and dramatically scripted events to keep us immersed in the action.
Like Call of Duty 4, the seven-hour single-player campaign is split between two parallel plotlines, each showing a different theater of war. Wading through the swamps and jungles of the South Pacific to rescue POWs and raid airfields in one campaign is very different from sneaking through the ruins of Stalingrad to stalk Nazi generals. Though these battlefields feel a little too familiar, the missions are filled with enough gritty and explosive set pieces to keep us distracted from the feeling of déjà vu.
Just don’t expect much resistance from the AI enemies. Your foes are easily dispatched and don’t react realistically in combat; the concept of suppressing fire, for example, is nonexistent. Waves of enemy grunts will perform kamikaze rushes or snipe you from trees, but their behavior feels like that of theme park automatons (albeit with bayonets). Still, the large-scale firefights are varied enough to be memorable.
Cooperative multiplayer with three other players is the best way to play through the campaign, though the competitive co-op mode wasn’t as fun since players don’t have much incentive to help each other. We also couldn’t warm up to the new vehicle maps or the new set of multiplayer in-game perks. An unlockable Zombie game mode is a pleasant surprise, but it won’t take the place of Left 4 Dead.
Call of Duty: World at War doesn’t disappoint us, but it never matches the riveting excitement of Call of Duty 4. It’s worth your gaming dollar if you like first-person shooters; just remember to manage your expectations.
Call of Duty: World at War
Infinity Ward
Lengthy single-player campaign is engaging; fun co-op mode.
Treyarch
Unimpressive AI; tired setting; makes us long for Call of Duty 4.
Why does everyone hate on
Submitted by chaosdsm on Wed, 04/01/2009 - 6:17pm
Why does everyone hate on WWII games now??? I love em, especially ones done as well as the Call of Duty series. There are thousands WWII of missions that haven't even been looked at in the gaming world & I for one would love to be able to play them all!
Timely Reviews
Submitted by thatmarlerguy on Thu, 02/12/2009 - 12:25pm
What's the deal with game reviews being posted long after the game comes out and the hype has diminished? The review for Fallout 3 wasn't posted untill expansion packs were available, and this review is posted months after the release of CoD as well.
Late Reviews = less helpful
However, I don't read this mag for game reviews, so it's not a huge deal.
Late Reviews
Submitted by maniacm0nk3y on Sun, 03/15/2009 - 7:13am
I rememeber them saying this and it does make more sense. They specialize with hardware, and tech. Not video games. Also, it might take awhile for software to hit their offices. Besides if people were serious enough about game reviews they would go to a site dedicated to them....
No thank you treyarch, I can
Submitted by BoxyBrown on Thu, 02/12/2009 - 10:43am
No thank you treyarch, I can wait for the next modern warfare. Maybe IW and Treyarch should combine into one studio. IW can handle all the gameplay elements and Treyarch can make the maps. That would be awesome.
Nam next please
Submitted by plaskon on Thu, 02/12/2009 - 9:00am
The Pacific missions in World at War prove to me that a good Vietnam game is possible. Especially if Infinity Ward was in charge. Could you imagine what they could do with tunnel rat missions or recreating the sniper scene in Full Metal Jacket?
BIG time!
Submitted by BizSAR on Thu, 02/12/2009 - 1:18pm
Oh man, I can't agree more. The best we have in the Vietnam War era is BF:V, a fave. I would love to see something along those lines with just as fantastic soundtrack, current engine, etc. only done with a COD flair...or maybe even from Crytek...
~BizSAR
I love the game...
Submitted by Devo85x on Thu, 02/12/2009 - 5:05am
I love the game personally except for some of the multiplayer (how the hell do you avoid dogs on hardcore?!?!?) and some of the SP levels get rly old rly quick. but other than that I think they added some stuff that rly helped me enjoy MP and SP both. for example: snipers without a scope? I love running around on hardcore with a bolt action rifle and being able to 1 shot everyone. and the SP level where you have to fight through the streets/buildings of Berlin and eventually get flooded out of a train station, has to be my favorite level of any WWII game ever!
Submitted by xs0u1x on Wed, 02/11/2009 - 9:29pm
this really shouldnt have been marketed as a new game, but rather a mod/expansion to cod4. i cant really think of any way its different from cod4 besides ww2 setting.
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