CALL OF DUTY: WORLD AT WAR

Treyarch - Xbox 360 - £40 - 1 to 2 player offline, 2 to 18 player online and system link

Well I did not have high hopes for this game, Treyarch made Call of Duty 3 which in my opinion was the worst in the series. Not because it was set in world war 2 (in fact it's my favourte setting for a shooter even though most people think it's been done to death already!) but because it was poorly designed. A combination of poor map design and dodgey gameplay desicons as well as a multiplayer game were it was to easy to spwan camp put the final nail in the coffin for me and many other people I knew who where playing the game on release.

Call of Duty 4 (or CoD4) changed the game engine and fixed a lot of the problems but most noticably it was set in the present day which was a major draw for a lot of people. It turned out to be a cracking game both single player and multi-player thanks to the perks system and the great narrative and set peices in the singple player campaign. To say that this new Call of Duty has it's work cut out for it is a little bit of an understatement but it's now running on the CoD4 engine which upset a few people but at least it means we still get perks and an multi-player game that's not inherently broken which is a good thing I suppose.

So what is the deal with this new Call of Duty? Well it's set at the time of the war when we (the western forces) technically won the war but were still mopping up to do in Japan and in Nazi Germany. While the story does not have the same sense of drama as CoD4 and is not as long the game is still very fun, epically in co-op mode but more on that later. The single player has you playing as the American and Russian forces dealing with the Japanese and German forces respectively. That said there are some very cinematic set pieces in this game and the enemy, especially the Japanese have some very sneaky and underhanded tactics up their selves which will surprise you the first time you play the game let me tell you.

The single player game has you using a whole variety of weapons but this time the difference between each of the weapons is greater thanks to the standard of technology used back in the 1940's compared to present day weapons. Bolt rifles have a satisfying weight behind them when you fire and reload them while the SMG's, while still full auto contain a lot less ammo per clip than their modern day counter parts thus meaning the weapons are a little more balanced in this new installment. There are also more unconventional weapons like Molotov Cocktails and Flamethrowers to incinerate your enemies with as well as the standard semi-auto rifles and pistols and fully automatic heavy machine guns which have epic kick unless you are couching and prone.

CoD:WoW also has a Co-Op mode which I mentioned before. This handy game mode allows four people to play most of the single player campaign at the same time. Two levels are not playable in this mode because they are glorified on rail sections or boring storyline tutorials so you are not missing much. In this mode the game can keep track of your score, killing more enemies in quick succession will earn you a multiplayer and thus more points. You lose points for friendly fire and dying obviously. This mode really makes the campaign a lot more enjoyable and gives you an incentive to keep playing it to other than to unlock the rather cool Nazi Zombie mode or the games numerous achievements.

So in summary the single player is actually surprisingly good even though it's shorter than the previous CoD title and lacking the character development of the other player characters from that game. The presentation is fantastic with some great graphics and some great voice acting from people like the guy who plays Jack Bauer in 24 ("OUT- FUCKING-STANDING MARINES!!") but that's not the point. The real star in the sound department other than the gun sounds is the music which is just a joy to behold, especially in the Russian side of the single player campaign. It's safe to say while the single player campaign and Nazi Zombie mode are very competent in keeping the players attention the real star of the show so to speak is the adversarial multi-player modes that CoD:WoW has to offer.

You will be delighted to know that this is not entirely COD4 with a new skin, oh no, this new version has some changes which might delight or annoy you depending on which side of the "I like my war games modern" or "I don't like paying for games that use the same engine" fence you are on. New perks, attack dogs instead of attack choppers, and tanks to name a few changes but the main difference is the weaponry and the fact that the game now has heavily armed Tanks which have not been seen since Call of Duty 3. The maps and weapons seem to be more balanced than previous titles before it. Treyarch have had ample time to tweak the multi-player experience thanks to the fact that they did not have to program a game engine this time round. Of course there are a few teething problems one of which is people glitchng though scenery which is being fixed from what I can report from the Treyarch fan forums at least.

Personally I have had a lot of enjoyment of of this game which is surprising because I had very low expectations thanks to Call of Duty 4. That said I can't give this game a massive score because while it's different enough not to be called a rip off it's not groundbreaking enough to merit an nine or a ten. Call of Duty World at War is a very enjoyable World War 2 romp with some great set pieces in single player and some fantastic multi-player variations on an already existing and very popular FPS. Overall if you are looking for a new shooter to play online then you can't go wrong with this game, even though it's probably not going to win any awards for originality or make any Game of the Year lists it's still bloody good fun unless you hated CoD4 then I would suggest picking up Left 4 Dead or Gears of War 2 instead. [8/10]