Call of Duty: World at War

"Another Wii Shooter, does this one step up?"

I've had my fingers crossed for this game on Wii since it was announced to be on the console alongside 360 and PS3. At first I thought it was a mistake, but I heard more and more info and become curious. I finally got my copy on day 1 and presumed to play. The only other Wii shooter I've played was Medal of Honor: Heroes 2 and enjoyed the controls, but I thought the graphics could do better, World at War sadly enough doesn't hold up much better, but it is still solid and sets the bar a little higher for Wii shooters.

Call of Duty: World at War was developed by Treyarch/EXAKT games who also made Call of Duty 3. Call of Duty 3's turn out wasn't spectacular however. So the team is back to deliver and they do just that.

The story is run through WWII clips and FMV sequences and is absolutely brutal. Both story and gameplay set the tone well for WWII and immerses you in the tension felt by the soldiers in WWII. The game also does a good job in the 2 main themes of WWII: Survival (from the USMC perspective) and Revenge (from the Russian perspective). Though some elements do still manage to feel tacked on such as the fact this is another game in the running WWII games (there's a point when one gets tired of watching WWII sequences and hearing about the statistics of the number of deaths in WWII. Another such tacked on element is the fact that some story elements can get old (your Russian guy escapes death 4 times, its predictable...).

There is no escaping that Call of Duty: World at War for Wii is a port of the 360 and PS3, in addition, MANY features are left out of the title as well. Such features removed/downgraded included graphics, several multiplayer modes, certain perks, the death cards element, zombie mode and even missions. This is absolutely inexcusable; Wii is certainly more capable than this.

The game consists of a single player mode, a squad mate mode within it, and multiplayer. Single player is a generally linear FPS shooter that goes through the American and Russian campaigns and transitions between the 2 in between levels. Although linear, the transition between climaxes of the Marine and Russians missions simply leave you guessing and this is a scintillating element. The campaign is absolutely brutal and focuses on the aforementioned themes of survival and revenge and executes it perfectly. Although at times the American missions can get a bit stale with the constant swearing of the soldiers, nothing takes away the tension in the air and the growing fear of being stabbed by a Japanese Banzai soldier (play on Veteran and you'll see what I mean). There is one problem though: The framerate doesn't stay at its low 30 FPS and can drop to a lower amount when there is a lot of action on-screen, sometimes the game gets to a point where it is virtually unplayable. As for the squadmate addition, it is basically another reticule on the same screen controlled by a second player (or you can get two guns if you're Rambo like that I guess.......), but it is a pointless attempt to add a casual element to a Mature title on the Wii.

The multiplayer is arguably, the most exciting element of Call of Duty: World at War. The multiplayer goes back to Call of Duty 4 with the perk and level up system. The premise is simple: level up to unlock more guns and perks. Perks are what set Call of Duty apart from other online shooters; they are basically abilities that you can have in battle (also include extra items) such as extra Stopping Power, faster reload time, and the selling point of this game: The Flamethrower. The mutliplayer is excellent and very varied and greatly increases the game's longevity from 5 hours to hundreds of hours. The multiplayer does have its own fair share of problems however, forcing players to bear unbearable lag at times (the matches are completely host dependant and if the host has a bad connection, the game will lag and will become virtually unplayable) and Treyarch has also taken out all non-deathmatch based gamemodes, leaving Wii owners with a skeleton of a multiplayer to enjoy. Despite this, when there isn't lag, the framerate stays constant and NEVER slows down in multiplayer.

The graphics in this game are absolutely nothing in comparison to the counterpart versions and looks very similar to that of a Gamecube or a PS2 game. The environments and character models look like someone forgot to render them. Despite all this, the particle, smoke, and lighting effects make up for the graphical premise of the Wii version. The flamethrower shoots bursts of fire and the burning effects look great. The environments are also much more interactive than games like Medal of Honor; for example, boxes will expel shards of wood when shot.

The sound generally sets the tone for the tension of WWII and can be applauded. Kiefer Sutherland also does a fantastic job with his voice acting. Voice acting in general could use some work on the foreign people (The Japanese, Russians, and German) part in that their accents can sometimes can get in the way, but it is a generally a decent job. The weapon sounds are directly from the other versions as well as the voices, but they sound believable. The Garand sounds like a real Garand, and with the Wii remote in your hands simulating, its all the better for it.

And whats a Wii game without brilliant controls? This game follows suite with a brilliant control scheme, however, it doesn't do justice to Medal of Honor or Metroid Prime 3 Corruption in that it provides less options, but it comes very close to doing so. The Wii pointer IR functionality in this game is just another way to say the Wii is the perfect console for the FPS genre.

In closing:
In closing, its a valiant purchase...if one doesn't own the other consoles from which the game was ported off of. It is easily the Wii's best shooting title and snatches the throne from Medal of Honor: Heroes 2...but that's not saying much. If you do own the other consoles and want to check this game out (the Wii controls are a new innovation to the genre), give it a rent, but there is no escaping the fact that this is a port of an easily better game.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 04/13/09

Game Release: Call of Duty: World at War (US, 11/10/08)