Call of Duty: World at War is a familiar beast. It has the World War II theme; one that has been the setting for three out of the four previous Call of Duty titles. Vehicles are included, something that World at War shares with Treyarch’s Call of Duty 3. Heck, it even shares the same engine from Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. With Call of Duty: World at War not being that much of a departure from COD4, you’d expect that World at War would be a great game right? Well the verdict is still out on single-player experience but Activision gave gamers a small taste of how the multiplayer is through its beta on Xbox Live.
Beginning with the weapon selection, players will encounter tremendously weaker and slower weapons compared to those of COD4. Though, this is to be expected due to the timeframe being in the 1940’s. So if you’ve never played a WWII FPS (which would be astonishing), be prepared to pick up an American BAR or American Thompson submachine gun and fire away at your enemies. The big difference is that you’ll be reloading a lot since the guns don’t hold a lot of ammunition. The inclusion of the flamethrower has to be the biggest drawing power of World at War’s weapon selection.
Many of the perks have returned including: Juggernaut, Martyrdom, Iron Lungs, Stopping Power and many more. That isn’t to say that Treyarch hasn’t thought up of unique perks for WWII such as Monkey (faster at climbing trees), Frogman (faster at swimming), Second Chance (reviving fallen compadres), Flak Jacket (decrease damage from explosive), Reconnaissance (showing tanks and artillery on map), and a lot of other interesting changes. While this isn’t a huge detour from what COD4 accomplished, it’s at least appropriate for the WWII theme.
The levels included in the multiplayer beta leave a lot to be desired. One level, Makin, was way too dark for my tastes. Another level, Castle, was Japanese-oriented and didn’t have too great of a layout. The last level was a large train yard with tanks incorporated into it that leech away all the fun COD4 featured. Here’s hoping that vehicles can be turned off as they simple ruin the balance of the game (at least the tanks do). Outside of that, Treyarch has to work on the spawning system as there was too many times where I spawned behind my teammate to only be gunned down five seconds later in a firefight.
Another change from COD4 is the ability to call in the dogs to hunt down your opponents rather than a helicopter to reign down from above. While the dogs are probably the most unique idea that Treyarch has included within World at War, they have a lot of glitches and balancing issues to work out with them. The dogs continuously chase down your enemies and often will get stuck behind crates. The other big change is the move from air strikes to artillery strikes, a move that isn’t as useful as it was in COD4. By the time the artillery strikes arrive, your opponents will have had the time to move out of the strike zone to safety.
Outside of the multiplayer, there is information about Call of Duty: World at War that we’d like to discuss that relates to the single-player. The single-player campaign will escort gamers through Germany, Japan, Pacific Island and Russia. Throughout the campaign, players will have the honor to listen to Gary Oldman (Batman Begins) and Kiefer Sutherland (24) as voice-actors, both superb actors from Hollywood. For the first time in the Call of Duty franchise, cooperative play is being introduced – a feature that gamers have been begging for a long time. Up to four players can play together via split-screen or online.
It’s safe to say that if you are a big fan of the Call of Duty series, World at War won’t disappoint – just don’t expect anything revolutionary. It stays true to its roots and doesn’t bend the rules too far to create an extraordinary adventure. Call of Duty: World at War is a lot better than I expected since COD3 was such a letdown, but Treyarch has some big shoes to fill after Infinity Ward’s stellar showing with COD4. Call of Duty: World at War will hit store shelves on November 11, 2008.
