'World at War' a triumph
One of the perks is a ruthless pack of dogs.
Nov. 18, 2008
After the "Call of Duty" series suffered a couple of disappointments under the developer Treyarch, Activision decided to go with Infinity Ward for "Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare." The developer decided to go with a modern battlefield and change the game's engine. Some of those corrections helped to create 2007's top selling game worldwide.
More than a year has passed since then, and Activision has given Treyarch the chance to right their wrongs and develop this year's "Call of Duty: World at War." The beauty of "Call of Duty: World at War" is that Treyarch decided to take everything that was good with "Call of Duty 4" and to build on that. As a result, the newest in the series is one of the best WWII games to have ever been created.
When a WWII game is created, the expectations are that there will be a D-Day level as well as some of the other more highly known western front battles. Treyarch has decided to change the way players view the WWII shooter by putting you in the shoes of soldiers in the U.S. Marine Raiders on the eastern front as well as the Russian Red Army.
The single player experience is one of the best in recent memory, and this is really seen when you are playing the eastern front missions with the Marine Raiders. This part of the war was known for the guerilla warfare used from island to island, and the game is no different. There is a real sense of paranoia, as your enemies will come from the grass, trees, foxholes and anywhere imaginable. You'll find yourself endlessly checking trees for the next gunner. While this doesn't mean that the Red Army experience is slouching in gameplay, that is just how good the Marine Raiders' missions are.
After you complete the campaign, which can be played with up to four players this year, you unlock the Nazi zombie mode. Yes, the game mode sounds like something crazy Rob Zombie would come up with, but it is surprisingly addictive. It is a pure arcade mode that can also be played co-op, complete with purchasing upgrades while fighting off hordes of Nazi zombies.
One of the improvements worthy of note is that Treyarch has taken the game and decided to shine light where "COD 4" didn't. This means adding gore and more obscenities in the dialogue, cutscenes and gameplay, which then adds to the more graphic display of war.
The real bread and butter of the game is once again the online play. The gameplay itself is essentially the same as the predecessor, with new names and labels for the existing guns and perks, as to fit the WWII theme. Some of the new "upgrades" are found in sticky grenades, Molotov cocktails, a flamethrower and the more advanced method of leveling up.
Two of the biggest innovations in this year's game come in the tanks (which can be found in the western front mission levels) and the dogs. Firstly, the tanks can be quite a force to be reckoned with if used properly, but they can be taken out and thankfully, they aren't invincible. The best new improvement is with gaining the ability to use dogs after getting seven kills consecutively. Sure, the unmanned aerial vehicle is back as plane recon (3 kills) and artillery has replaced air strike (5 kills), but the releasing of the dogs has to be the largest improvement over "Call of Duty 4," in terms of originality. The pack of dogs that you unleash on your opponent is ruthless in tracking the enemy and effective in either getting kills or distracting them enough for you or your teammates to get a kill.
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