Treayarch takes a second try on enhancing the Call of Duty series And yes, they did it.
In World at War, we'll take a timemachine back to the World War II from the modern day. You'll be fighting as an US Navy soldier, Private Miller in the front-lines of the conflicts of Japan and as Private Dimitri Petrenko of the Soviet Red Army, fighting your way from the ruins of Stalingrad all the way to Berlin.
The characters don't show much emotion, but the game 'successfully' captures the horrors of the war. It's brutal on both sides of the conflict, and no mercy is shown. The voice acting is great, although there isn't much chatter, but other than that, non-stop action.
The battles move on very smoothly, and you'll never be bored nor hear silence in the war. To give a little variety, a few missions you'll step in a vehicle, but it's not really the most loveable element of the
game, even though it's all smooth in terms of gameplay.
The Contrast between the two battlegrounds is huge; The Japanese might 'banzai attack' you from anywhere, hide in the trees, or in small dug holes in the ground covered with foliage, whereas the Wehrmacht have heavier weaponary and might burn you down with a flamethrower. Speaking of which, the game has a great variety of weaponry. The guns have a nicely unique feel to them, and they sound great as well.
The visuals are great, and the game runs great on a modern system. Yes, it's the Call of Duty 4 engine, but the visuals aren't in any way outdated. The music gives a quite intense feel to the game at times, and also the sounds of war give an impression of a massive battle.
In-game cutscenes make intense scenes and great cinematic kind of feel to the game.
After the singleplayer's done, you'll propably enjoy the Multiplayer.
The multiplayer uses the great multiplayer system of the Call of Duty 4, which allows you to make classes, customize your weapons, choose perks that improve your class in numerous different ways. You earn them getting experience in the multiplayer, and getting new ranks. You'll level up quickly at the start, and it's not like those who already have the highest possible rank, have the most advantage.
There are also tanks in multiplayer of the World at War, they might feel a little overpowered at times but nah, they're great.
There's also something else that's new; four player co-op.
You can play the campaign with three of your buddies, and this a nice addition to the Call of Duty series.
In the end, World at War is propably one of the best World War II First Person Shooters of all time. It's fun to play, everything's smooth, and it'll really suck you in.
If you're looking for a FPS, this is something you should definitely give a try, even if you're new to the Call of Duty series in whole.
The singleplayer packs about 8 hours of gameplay, depending on what difficulty setting you play, or what kind of a game you are, and the multiplayer is a long lasting, great experience that will definitely keep you playing.
-Jankka