Call of Duty: World at War

"Hey, we've seen this somewhere before..."

Alright before you start telling your computer screen that I'm an idiot and have no business bashing this game let me at least attempt to build credibility for myself. I'm an avid gamer who started out with some platormers on the PSone and I haven't stopped gaming since. At heart I'm truly and RPG fanboy but I've played a lot of first person shooters including all of the Call of Duty series. This may be my first (written) review of a game but I'll have you know I've been a very opinionated person for as long as I can remember, and that's all reviewing really boils down to anyway.

But anywho.. back to what you suckered yourself into reading this review for, the game. First of all I'd like to ask yourself if you liked Call of Duty 4. I myself would answer yes because frankly that was a great game. Well guess what? World at War is Call of Duty 4 with a makeover. Unfortunately this makeover must have been done by Helga the stylist who should really be in women's wrestling instead of the fashion industry. I'm not saying the graphics are bad they're still pretty good but the gameplay itself is somewhere between stale and well, really stale.

You can really break down the little pieces into 3 categories: The campaign, multiplayer, and the suprisingly fun Nazi Zombie mode.

Campaign: 5/10
The newest installment in the Call of Duty series sets you back in the shoes of yet another poor WWII soldier with countless Japanese and Nazi soldiers trying to stop your inevitable victory at every turn. While I consider myself sort of a WWII junkie I even found the fact that Treyarch decided to bring the genre back from what we all thought was good and dead. Although this is the first Call of Duty game to feature the eastern theatre of the war (that's Japan if you didn't know what I was talking about) its really all just the same. You'll go through playing through a few major battles of the war but unlike Call of Duty 4 the story doesn't quite come together entirely so unless you've been studying up on your history it just feels like a bunch of random battles linked together. While some of the missions are actually quite fun it does get pretty repetetive quickly and without that story component pulling you in tightly its fairly easy to lose interest. Overall it plays much like any other WWII campaign from the last few years so unless you're new to the genre don't expect much "wow factor" here.

Multiplayer: 4/10
As soon as you've had your fill of NPC killing you'll inevitably end up in the multiplayer modes. The prestige system is back, straight out of Call of Duty 4, and while this time it offers mild incentives for entering your next prestige such as gamerpics, more custom weapon slots and 2 zero point achievements its not likely you'll get that far anyway. World at War takes Call of Duty 4's multiplayer, slows it down and sticks you in a slew of unbalanced and underdeveloped maps. Gone is the fast-paced tact of the previous game and instead Treyarch presented an online experience that seems less than satisfactory like it did with Call of Duty 3. The power-ups and perks are only slightly edited from Call of Duty 4 (ie "Recon Plane" instead of "UAV" and "Second Chance" instead of "Last Stand") offering only a slightly new and very uninnovative gameplay. There are vehicles on some of the maps but they often unbalance the game, creating a frustrating experience. If you like gore however, Treyarch decided to go crazy with this one letting you blow off your enemy's limbs when you kill them (there's a reason for that little warning about graphic images).

Nazi Zombies: 8/10
Hey look! something original...oh wait its just countless enemies of increasing difficulty assaulting a central position ( HORDE MODE *cough cough*) All tasteless sarcasm aside, this is the game's one redeeming factor. After playing through the entire campaign you'll unlock this entertaining multiplayer mode. While you can only play with 2 players one one console you can fend off the zombie apocalypse with 4 of your buddies online. The game offers a bit of strategy as well as some decent gameplay that actually makes up for some of its earlier faults. Its not perfect but its fun enough to keep you playing this game.

In conclusion I'm giving this game a 6/10 due to the fact that it contains a possible 1% of original material. If you've gone far enough to read this review its probably not going to stop you from buying this game and despite its faults I wouldn't advise you to miss it if you can spare the $60, I'd just check if there are some other games that are maybe just a bit better first.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 01/05/09

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