Call of Duty: World at War Review
- Posted December 4th, 2008 at 08:57 EDT by Steven Williamson
- 23,331 views
- 39 Comments
Review Score
- PSU Review Score
- 8.5
- Avg. user review score:
- 7.8
Summary
One of the best shooters this year, Call of Duty: World At War is an explosive and powerful cinematic experience.
We like
- Cinematic visuals and soundtrack
- Great A.I makes it a rewarding challenge
- Brilliant co-op and multiplayer modes
We dislike
- Extremely tough in places.
See PSU's review on Metacritic & GameRankings
The explosive opening sequence in Call of Duty World At War signals the beginning of an emotional and thrilling ride through some of World War II’s Pacific and Eastern Europe campaigns. We’ve taken a different approach than usual to writing this review, splitting it into two parts to try and give you a taster of what to expect from this unpredictable, energetic and immensely enjoyable first person shooter. In the first part, we relay an account of the opening first half-an-hour or so of the campaign, whilst the second section concentrates on our gameplay impressions.
Spoiler alert!
Mission 1: Semper Fi
The campaign begins in true Call of Duty style by thrusting you straight into the action as you wake up in a hut on the Pacific Ocean island of Makin Atoll having been captured by Japanese soldiers. You’re greeted with the disturbing sight of your comrade interrogated by the enemy and then cruelly tortured, with a nasty cigar burn to his face, for his unwillingness to co-operate. In foolish defiance he spits in the face of his aggressor who then unshields his knife and brutally slits his throat. He then takes a few paces towards you brandishing his weapon menacingly. Just as you think you’re about to suffer the same fate, a group of soldiers storm the hut and wrestle him to the ground just in time. It’s the rescue squad! Hooray!
An ally thrusts a pistol into your hand and then it’s a mad and chaotic dash through the village as Japanese soldiers, now alerted to your presence, take up positions outside of their wooden huts dotted on the beach and along the glistening waterfront. Under the canvas of the moon, explosions light up the sky and muzzles flash as you and your team fight an intense and bloody battle. A grenade is thrown and one of the wooden huts catches alight. The door bursts open and an Imperial Japanese soldier spills out, his body in flames. He clutches onto one of your comrades hoping to take him to hell as well, but an accurately placed bullet from your pistol manages to hit him right between the eyes. You’ve saved Private Ryan! Trophy unlocked.
After clearing the village of all hostiles you head into the undergrowth, wading through deep water with your gun close to your chest. As you approach a clearing the silence is deafening and you suspect something is afoot. Suddenly a flash-bang goes off blinding you temporarily. It’s an ambush! Japanese soldiers, who had been lying in the water amongst the reeds, spring up from all around you. A shrieking suicidal soldier runs at you, leaps onto your chest and attempts to bury his bayonet into your skull. A quick press of the right thumb-stick sees you counteracting his move, affording you time to plunge your knife deep into his neck.
Following a feverish gunfight, you approach a Japanese village on the shores of the Pacific where a friendly boat is moored ready to whisk you to safety. Firstly though, you’ve got more enemies to contend with. You shoot a hole in a petrol can that’s sat in the back of a truck, release the brakes and then send the vehicle careering into the heart of the village where it explodes sending enemies scattering for cover.
Your teammates lead the charge, running into the village all guns blazing as they pick off enemies along the way. Finally, you reach the objective point where you set up explosives in preparation for blowing up the village. Thinking the coast is clear you head to the extraction point on the beach, but ‘out of the blue,’ an enemy soldier launches himself off the balcony of a nearby hut and swipes at you with his sword. Luckily, an ally manages to shoot him just as he’s about to thrust his weapon through your heart. You’re dragged to safety, hurt but still alive. Finally you have the first chance to pause for breath in this adrenaline-fuelled opening sequence as you board the rescue boat and speed across the water to safety before embarking on your next exhilarating mission.
Gameplay Impressions
Developer, Treyarch (missing in action since ... (continued on next page)
Comments
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The_Hells_Angels |
The_Hells_Angels- 9:06am GMT - December 4th, 2008
- 2
Im so happy I didnt buy this game, everybody seems to be happy with it cause they say "IT CALL OF DUTY MAAAAN" but who cares really!!! they moved back AGAIN to that crapy WWII, who cares about WWII? I played enough COD 1,2,3 brothers in arms and etc with WWII. the ONLY reason they sold more than 4,5 milion copy of COD4 was only the fact of modern warfare. everybody likes new weapons and guns and stuff. not a crapy old rusty lifle that cant even shoot th guy from 2m distance lol
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iHustle- |
iHustle-- 9:49am GMT - December 4th, 2008
- 5
were going in to 2009 n there still making ww2 games..i mean real just think how meny ww2 games has there bin made from ps2 up till now..wayyy 2meny...this game was a realy big let dwn..thank god there gona make a modern warfare 2!! that should b good
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tadpole3159 |
faulkner8991- 9:54am GMT - December 4th, 2008
- 6
i like it, single player is strong and full of emotion, graphics are plain old ugly but so was cod4 so what ever. multiplayer is fun and tanks bring cod back to its roots a bit. perks are better than ever and trophies make the game last forever. its fun :)
@no.5 aint there enough modern shooters? all shooters have been done and done again, its just because fps is so damn popular. and tbh the last ww2 game i played was cod3 two years ago so a ww2 game every two years cant be so bad can it
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nine9gr81
- 10:20am GMT - December 4th, 2008
- 7
The co-op split screen for this game has to be worse then halo 2 split screen...its horrendous, you have a 42 inch lcd tv and the both screens take up about a 1/4 of it..WTF!!!
Why dont combine COD and Turning Point? How about a vietnam game?
Seems pretty logical and true to say that everyone is getting tired of the same old war games. so y dont
they give ppl a different perspective on wars. Instead of always being the US, why cant we be Japan, or italy or Germany, its a freaking video game, the US doesnt have to win.
And activision just announced COD: Modern Warfare 2...so i think we know where this is gonna go. 2020 = COD Futuristic Modernized Warfare 15
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terminator12259 |
tacitassassin25- 10:29am GMT - December 4th, 2008
- 8
is it just me or do the graphics look like early ps2 games
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EFFORTLESS8 |
r_e_f_l_e_x- 10:43am GMT - December 4th, 2008
- 10
go rent socom you will not be dissapointed!!!!!
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hitman8062 |
hitman8062- 11:09am GMT - December 4th, 2008
- 11
I have never owened a WWII game so im actually glad its in WWII so i can have someyhing different.
Im getting this and Resistance 2 tomorrow so if anyone wants to play with me in eather game add me.
psn id: hitman8062
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teevanator |
teevanator- 12:02pm GMT - December 4th, 2008
- 12
does "extremely hard" make it 1.5 less than cod 4?
ps ww2 is awesome :)
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Girugamesh |
Shidousha- 4:40pm GMT - December 4th, 2008
- 14
And 6.5 on Mirror's Edge? No wonder everyone criticizes PSU's reviews.
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just8
- 4:53pm GMT - December 4th, 2008
- 15
this game was a massive dissapointment for me, single player was too short, and i found myself not really caring anyway, and multiplayer wasn't addictive or fun in anyway! so much so that, i gave it to my brother before reaching level 30, you know a games weak when all the hype around is based on a flame thrower! it also had none of the class and subtleties of cod4, for one example swearing for swearing sake is just imature.
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svtschmidt
- 5:33pm GMT - December 4th, 2008
- 19
@7 Any game where the US doesn't win is a game I don't want to play. jk
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RogurtNChzz |
RogurtNChzz- 7:23pm GMT - December 4th, 2008
- 21
getting it for CHRISTMAS!!! WOOOT .....i hope!
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chomperbull
- 8:04pm GMT - December 4th, 2008
- 22
the graphics are horrible and this game sucks the only thing i enjoyed was nazi zombies this game deserves a 6/10 and whats up with the splitscreen u only use half ur screen
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NICKKELANIUS |
NICKKELANIUS- 8:15pm GMT - December 4th, 2008
- 23
just to tell you that first pic of online , that map DOESNT EXIST
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Russy1980 |
Russy1980- 4:34am GMT - December 6th, 2008
- 26
Surely they didn't just mark this game down for being 'difficult in places'.... oh my god....
THe graphics are better than COD4, the gore system rules. I much prefer the modern setting, but this still owns. Anybody saying they have played enough WW2 games, I can understand that, but to be honest I'm glad I didn't waste too much time playing Medal of Honour, COD1-3 or Brothers In Arms because WAW is the absolute definitive WW2 game, end of. With the exception of the co-op missions and the class Zombies, the online sucks compared to 4. Free-for-all etc, just feels like it's lacking something, and the maps are just too alike and too big for some games.
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Dofry
- 4:16pm GMT - December 9th, 2008
- 27
WaWt has the same flaws that every CoD game had (heavy scripting, player is the one who moves the scene forward, etc) and more. It's utterly hypocritical in it's revenge theme and it's short. The multiplayer is the only saving factor of this game and this should not be bought for any single player action. Co-op as always in any game is better. 69 for single player and 90 for the multiplayer.
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Kollakowski |
JamieKoll- 5:00am GMT - December 15th, 2008
- 29
I loved it, I liked it, now I despise it!!! Bought this on release day (like most people) and the change of pace, WW2 surroundings, etc were a breath of fresh air, beautiful graphics... and loving dis-memberment and gore! Then I got bored of every weapon have something wrong them (excpetion of the subby's), either rediculously large, vision obscuring sights (type 99), tiny magazines that you have to re-load after every kill (FG42) plus various others having crap add-ons. The biggest mistake I made was trading in COD4 for this, anyway I did a reverse trade at the weeknd, WAW for COD4. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I did own this game, but it's nothing in comparrison to COD4. Modern warfare weapons and maps are miles better. Bring on COD6 with IWs engine (and hopefully another modern warfare classic). WW2 games should stay in the past where they belong!!!
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UT3Freak
- 12:34pm GMT - December 30th, 2008
- 30
I understand COD 3 kinda sucked, old story just re-did. COD 4 was all new, modern warefare this rejuvinated the series. The step back to WW2 though old was fun to play on my PS3 (this time around). Everyone is right about enough of WW2, I agree.
Here is an idea how about a Vietnam COD---it would be cool to call in Napalm attacks from a F4 Phanteom or Helicopter support from a huey (like COD4). Then how about a Gulf War COD. Then maybe Yugolavia COD or Kosovo COD. There have been more wars then WW2.
The franchise needs to move on from WW2.
Getting back to COD5, this game was a blast to play, I really enjoyed it.
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Shae29
- 3:03am GMT - January 11th, 2009
- 31
Sorry if this doubled but i screwed up:
I Borrowed this game of my frined and i seriously loved it, the graghics and design of it are just plain awesome as well as the gameplay, i also like the game mode you unlock at the end of the campaign (i won't spoil it)
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theface102 |
theface102- 3:25pm GMT - January 18th, 2009
- 32
All you people that are saying this game is bad are wrong - its the best WWII game out there! The only reason people are saying its not that good is because they prefer Modern weapons etc - I do too but i still love this game and would never trade it in. The online play is just like COD 4! I admit that it is quite dificult in places but i just kept trying and eventually did it! The graphics are great (as good as COD 4) And the gore system is awesome! Blood spirts everywhere and arms and legs are left lying around! I love this game and would definately recommend it!
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kernzy08
- 8:15am GMT - February 3rd, 2009
- 33
There is no doubt that the campaign in COD5 was one of the best ive ever played, but why did they go back to WW2? to tell u the truth i think the multiplayer is wick, the guns r crap, the maps r crap nd i still dnt no what to think of the tanks. i dont understand how they where stupid enuf to go back to WW2 after the reception CoD4 got. i agref with that guy below, we've played enough WW2 shooters, its time to move on to modern warfare, hopfully they'll never be daft enough to make futuristic warfare
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DeepHorizon00
- 10:35am GMT - February 6th, 2009
- 34
This game could have been a lot better than this. COD4 was much more addicting and had much better multiplayer gameplay.
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bluecfc
- 7:20pm GMT - March 27th, 2009
- 37
you gotta be kidding me... you give Prince of Persia which bore me to death. one dimentional unchallenging game 9.0... i stoped playing it halfway through, and sold it. On the otherhand CoD:WaW is way more challenging with much more options. and you give it 8.5. yes its tough, but so what, that's what games are about.
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SuperDannyMagic
- 5:21pm GMT - November 9th, 2009
- 39
i think it is a very good game never played the game itself only online. think the graphics were good so people just need to stop moaning and get a better TV. with HD lead and give it a chance.
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