Call of Duty World at War
If you played and loved last year’s Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, and according to the statistics that’s pretty much everyone who owns an Xbox 360, playing World at War will be like slipping into a pair of comfortable old mud-caked boots.
While Treyarch, the studio responsible for all of the odd-numbered Call of Duty games, has developed the game it shares an engine and much of its technology with Infinity Ward's previous title. Good thing too, as COD4’s template has proven to be gigantically popular both in terms of its single player campaign, and its online modes which have boasted player numbers dwarfing those of Halo 3 on Xbox LIVE for much of the year.
There are changes, of course, but initially they appear to all derive from the narrative setting of the 1940’s frontlines rather than any conscious striking out on the design team’s part. The controls are identical and fans will immediately settle into running, ducking, reloading, hitting the ground when under heavy fire, and clawing forward to the safety of cover: the muscle memory will serve you well.
But the setting does have an effect on the way in which you utilize the tool set. Tight jungle corridors funnel gameplay in a way that leads to more frenetic and aggressive combat than in the previous game. In the three levels we played there were no drawn out sniper duels, rather battles were up close and brutal, especially so at the punishing Veteran difficulty.
Players concerned that the vintage weaponry will have had an impact on accuracy will be pleased to hear that World at War’s guns feel precise and balanced both in the single- and multi-player games. Having been built using the Call of Duty 4 graphical engine, and with two years development time, Treyarch has applied resources and time into gameplay balance and building upon the COD4 template rather than reinventing it from the ground up.
Principle among their innovations is the new co-op mode that allows up to four players to play through the campaign together. Far from being a gentle distraction, the introduction of a scoring system adds a competitive element to the mode, forcing players to rush against one another for headshots and combos. The balance between co-op and competitive play here is distinguished and should ensure that the mode wins a great many fans.
With new bazookas, sticky grenades, useable vehicles and a meaty flamethrower, there’s enough novelty and innovation to entice COD4 players away from their home of the past 12 months and, if the full game can bear out the quality seen in the Beta, it looks as though Treyarch will have done the Call of Duty name proud.
