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Call of Duty 4 is the one that changed things. Before that the series had been popular but Call of Duty 4 catapulted it to another level. It broke away from the World War II setting the series was primarily known for and shifted to modern times. Not only that, it revolutionized the multiplayer scene with an addictive reward system among other things. At the time, the development duties of each game bounced between Infinity Ward and Treyarch and the next game would come from Treyarch. That game is Call of Duty: World at War and it released only a year after Call of Duty 4 and took players back to World War II. It also marks the start of the Black Ops subseries.
Developed by Treyarch and published by Activision, Call of Duty: World at War was released for PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Wii in November, 2008. For this review, I played the PC version. I actually think World at War is a somewhat gutsy entry. At the time it came out, we had just come off the World War II setting that was so prevalent in the genre. It was becoming stale and Call of Duty 4 is one of the games that took us in a different direction so for World at War to take us back is interesting. Granted, I read Treyarch started development on World at War directly after finishing Call of Duty 3 so I guess the World War II setting was already set in stone.
Much like the previous entries, World at War lets players participate in numerous World War II battles from the perspectives of different soldiers and shows the efforts of the Americans in the Pacific and Soviets in Europe. It’s the American campaign that really stands out here simply because it centers on battles in the Pacific which something not many World War II shooters did up to this point. There were some, don’t get me wrong, but most World War II shooters, even the bigger titles and that includes previous Call of Duty games, primarily focused on the European theater. In fact, I played this once before around the time it came out and completely forgot the game took you to Europe. It’s nice and refreshing to see attention given to the Pacific theater and at the very least, makes for a nice change of scenery.
I’ll get sounding like a broken record out of the way first. World at War feels like more of the same. In fact, the core gameplay feels exactly like what you would expect a World War II Call of Duty entry that released after Call of Duty 4 to feel like. It takes you back to the battlefields of World War II with some elements carried over from Call of Duty 4. It even runs on the same engine but with some improvements made. The environments are more destructible and the violence was amped up. Burnt skin and clothes and dismemberment are all on display here.
Despite the core gameplay being relatively unchanged, the increased violence and gore here helps elevate the action slightly. At least I think so. World at War definitely conveys a darker tone than the previous entries. The whole “War is Hell” thing. It still feels like it’s aiming for that cinematic style but with more mature themes. World War II was a violent conflict and World at War makes that abundantly clear. The game showcases the same type of flashy action the series is known for complete with action-packed set pieces but the underlying theme of death is a constant presence and darkens the mood a bit.
Heads and limbs can be blown off, blood can come flying out of bodies and splatter on surfaces, and you can see the innards of dismembered bodies. You can use a flamethrower and molotovs to burn enemies to death and set areas on fire. Burnt bodies will show visibly charred skin and clothing. This kind of violence and gore does add an additional layer of realism to the action and also makes the gunplay feel more satisfying.
In typical Call of Duty fashion, you’ll primarily be running and gunning through most of the campaign and you’ll always be accompanied by friendly soldiers. You’ll engage both German and Japanese soldiers and the AI is basically on par with that of the previous games, more so when talking about the Germans. The Japanese behave a little differently. They’ll come out of the ground and hide in tall grass, rush you, and snipe you from trees. Some Japenese soldiers actually blend in with the environments. It’s actually kind of refreshing because it means you need to be a little more careful and maybe not charge into every situation. Some of the ambushes are scripted but it’s not uncommon to approach an area and trigger Japanese soldiers to appear all around you and then you’re suddenly surrounded and heavily outnumbered.
The action in World at War is both linear and flashy. It’s always made clear what you need to do and where you need to go. The game will take you down many linear paths which often lead to more open-ended areas where encounters take place. The linearity keeps you and the action contained and there’s very little downtime. Battles often contain a lot of shouting, explosions, and gunfire. Friendlies and enemies are shooting each other, lobbing grenades, and bullets are whizzing passed your head as you move from cover to cover picking off whatever enemies you can and trying not to die in the process. All typical Call of Duty stuff.
World at War wouldn’t be your typical Call of Duty game without the occasional set piece or scripted scenario to break up the run and gun action. One mission has you driving a tank and destroying enemy armor and defenses and using its flamethrower to burn ground forces. You’ll have to snipe enemies using the bombers flying overhead to muffle the sounds of your shots and one mission lets you call in rocket strikes to destroy Japanese defenses and armor.
In my opinion, World at War features the best on-rails sequence in the series up to this point. If you’ve played the previous games, specifically the World War II entries, you’re probably familiar with the missions that have you defending an aircraft by shooting down enemy planes among other things. These are basically on-rails sequences that move you around an aircraft to different turrets. World at War has a mission like this, too, but it doesn’t drag on, it’s very flashy, and it throws something new at you frequently enough so the entire mission remains fun and interesting from beginning to end.
The mission I’m talking about is called “Black Cats”. It starts with you engaging Japanese PT boats and Merchant ships before responding to a distress call that the fleet has been attacked. At that point, you’ll have to destroy more ships and shoot down Japanese zeroes and even rescue survivors. Unlike some of the similar missions in the previous games, you’re not simply shooting down the planes that appear for five to ten minutes. You’re not just doing the same thing over and over again for an extended period of time. Planes and projectiles will be zipping around everywhere, boats are exploding, and it’s just mass chaos which really helps enhance this entire sequence. It’s a lot of fun.
As expected, World at War can feel like a shooting gallery but a very fun and violent shooting gallery, and this time around you don’t have to experience it alone. A Cooperative mode has been included and supports up to four players. Unfortunately, I couldn’t try the Cooperative mode or even the Multiplayer mode for that matter because I couldn’t create an online profile which is required to play both of these modes. For what it’s worth, I did play the Steam version specifically and bought it on sale not too long before this review was completed.
According to the internet, there are no more valid keys so anyone who buys the game new, at least from Steam, is fucked I guess. That is if they want to play any form of multiplayer. I did try some of the solutions I found online but had no luck. However, some of the successful stories I’ve read lead me to believe there probably are ways to get it working. I dedicated around a half-hour to forty five minutes to troubleshooting the issue before giving up.
Just for the hell of it, I did install the PeZBOT mod so I could play some multiplayer matches with bots. The multiplayer is structured very much like that of Call of Duty 4, reward system and all but also includes some changes. One of the killstreak rewards enables you to release dogs on your enemies and some maps let you drive tanks. I’m not going to dive too deep into the multiplayer because I didn’t really play it as intended and the bots were a bit janky.
For me, the big bummer of not being able to play online is not being able to play the Nazi Zombies mode as it’s truly intended. With others. I was actually looking forward to playing this mode only to discover I would have to go at it alone. I think you can jump into it at any time in the Cooperative mode but the single player component needs to be unlocked by beating the campaign.
I believe Zombies has become a series staple and World at War is where it started. Nazi Zombies is a survival mode that plays out in rounds. There’s about a handful of maps to choose from and in each round you’ll have to survive the horde of zombies coming to kill you and your team. Shooting and killing zombies and rebuilding barriers rewards you with points which can be spent on new weapons and access to new areas. Sometimes Zombies can release power-ups and temporary bonuses when killed and you can get perks from Perk-a-Cola machines in the maps. I did have fun with the mode but it became obvious pretty early on that it would have been a lot more enjoyable if I had others to play with.
Visually, World at War did look pretty good for its time and still holds up rather well. From the beautiful Japanese beaches and landscapes to the war-torn battlefields of Europe, the environments are both diverse and detailed. The texture work is good and the visual effects look great. Fire in particular looks excellent. As for the audio work, I do wish some of the weapons sounded more powerful and the action is backed up by an incredible soundtrack that features an excellent mix of tunes. From ambient songs to more dramatic orchestral stuff to more intense tunes that help add some tension to situations, it’s a very memorable and fitting soundtrack. Some tunes even come close to sounding what I’ll call creepy which does help convey the darker tone the game is going for. On the technical side, the game ran smooth and I encountered a few crashes which I learned were most likely the result of alt-tabbing.
World at War is definitely one of my favorite entries in the series and after thinking on it for a little while, I think it’s my favorite World War II entry in the series up to this point. It’s the same fun gameplay Call of Duty has always offered but the focus on the Pacific theater, increased violence and gore, and darker tone are all refreshing and make the experience feel like a breath of fresh air. Plus, the Cooperative and Nazi Zombies modes are certainly welcome additions. Nazi Zombies in particular is a nice change of pace and also adds some additional longevity to the experience. World at War gives you plenty of reasons to come back and it’s just a shame some of those reasons can be a pain in the ass to get working if you buy the game new as of this review.
I would recommend Call of Duty: World at War to fans of the series and World War II shooters. However, based on my experience, if you’re going to buy it on Steam, I would suggest waiting for a sale just because of the issues you may encounter trying to play online. But even if you can’t jump into the multiplayer or cooperative modes, the campaign proves to be very fun and you can at least blow away zombies solo. Definitely check it out.