World War II has never been so fun. From the exceedingly dark and gritty storyline to the improved multiplayer component, Call of Duty: World at War definitely earns its props, surpassing all my expectations.
Many were initially sceptical when developer Treyarch first announced they were bringing the franchise back to its World War II roots, myself included. However, instead of having players invade the beaches of Normandy or parachute into random cities throughout Europe, Treyarch has instead opted to focus on the Japanese controlled Pacific and Berlin during the last days of the German resistance. In addition to a brand new theatre of war, the developers have also improved upon many aspects of the Call of Duty 4 engine, delivering enhanced Artificial Intelligence (AI) and improving the visuals to portray everything from beautiful lush jungles to collapsing cityscapes.
For those of you out of the loop, World at War carries a “Mature” rating from the ESRB – and with good reason. After gazing upon the burning flesh of flamethrower victims, hearing their death cries as they fall to the ground as smoldering corpses or watching fellow soldiers hacked and stabbed to death by enemy swords and bayonets (spraying copious amounts of blood in the process), it becomes abundantly clear that World at War is easily the most brutal entry in the series to date.
Kicking things off, World at War’s campaign mode offers a total of 11 missions with three different ways in which you can experience the action; single-player, two-player offline split-screen, and online four player co-op. With the co-op modes, Treyarch has drawn inspiration from Call of Duty 4’s arcade mode, pitting players competitively against each other to collect points by eliminating as many enemies as possible or reviving downed allies. By killing adversaries in specific ways (headshots, grenades, etc) or completing challenges, players will be able to accumulate more points. Treyarch has also included “Easter Egg” bonuses as well for those who are willing to spend the time looking for them. Furthermore, when you kill a certain number of enemies consecutively, you can earn multiplier bonuses to build your overall score faster. These scores are then calculated into online leaderboards, providing an overall co-op rank for your stats.
As far online multiplayer goes, Treyarch has kept the system set up pretty close to its COD 4 roots, minus a few enhancements. The challenge and ranking systems have remained virtually untouched, although this time around the developers confirmed that players will actually be rewarded upon reaching level 10 prestige, though they refused to divulge any further details on the matter. Elsewhere, there were a total of two new online modes that we managed to get our hands on. The first was “Capture the Flag”, a feature that was notably absent from Call of Duty 4. The second was actually a revamped version of Domination, where the two teams would fight over a linked line of control points. The only way to move onto the next area was to control the location linked to it – a tug of war, essentially.
In regards to perks, the majority of those from World at War’s predecessor have made a return including Juggernaut, Martyrdom, and Stopping Power. In regards to new additions, Treyarch has added Toss Back (resets fuse on tossing back enemy grenade), Second Chance (ability to revive allies), and vehicle perks. For those who are interested, the complete list of Call of Duty World at War perks can be read here. With Kill Streak abilities, the number of kills to acquire something hasn’t changed, though the abilities unlocked are somewhat new. For three kills, players can call in a recon plane to expose enemy positions. For five kills, players can call in an artillery strike, which destroys anything in a selected area. Lastly, for seven kills, players can “unleash the dogs.” What’s especially noteworthy in regards to this perk is that it is not limited to specific areas (Modern Warfare’s helicopter could only shoot visible players from the sky). Dogs, however, can leap over objects, climb stairs, and sniff out players inside buildings, making them difficult to avoid.
As with its predecessor, a lot of attention will no doubt be focused on World at War’s visual quality. In short, this latest instalment in the popular FPS series looks amazing. Not only has Treyarch upped the ante on detailed textures, but also new technology has been implemented to allow for environmental destruction, more specifically, the use of the flamethrower to set ablaze enemies and destroy vast fields of grass and trees. Equally impressive is Berlin, with its crumbling architecture and war-torn streets emanating a particularly epic visual quality. Furthermore, the PS3 iteration appeared to run smoother than its Xbox 360 counterpart, with noticeably crisper textures and faster streaming. Treyarch even confirmed to us that the PS3 runs their texture processing better than Microsoft’s machine, hence why the PS3 release has the upper hand.
Overall, Treyarch has proven themselves by presenting a title worthy of not only de-throwning Call of Duty 4, but also setting a new bar for first person shooter World War II games.
Call of Duty: World at War is set to release on November 11.