Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare exploded onto the scene in 2007, absolutely overwhelming gamers with its expansive multi-player and a refreshing modern-day setting. However, Activision worked with Treyarch this time around and brought us back to the all too familiar war that many of us have learned about from the umpteen-thousand shooters that have come from it.
Gameplay
World at War follows two separate plot-lines that focus on the battles in the Pacific involving the United States and the Japanese Empire, as well as in Eastern Europe with Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. You'll control Private Miller and Private Petrenko as you hop back and forth between their respective campaigns while war is waged around the world.
If you've played any of the other games in this franchise and/or if you're familiar with first person shooters at all, you know what to expect. In most of the scenarios, you will be on foot, advancing through fields, bunkers, trenches, blown out buildings and the entire WWII ilk. You'll have to lead your squad towards the all too familiar checkpoint marker and be given fairly generic objectives. I don't know how many times we are expected to take out AA turrets, machine gunners, and heed the obligatory “USE THE PANZERSHRECK!” commands that Call of Duty fans have been subjected to since the first game was released in 2003.
In a couple of scenarios you'll find yourself piloting a tank, taking out other tanks, which we have also done many times before. Normally I might complain about this monotony, but this is a World War II game. This is what happened, unless Treyarch wanted to fabricate history and add alien technology subplots. This is the same old war, but it’s still just so damn satisfying to shoot Nazis in their big heads.
All in all, there is nothing exceptionally new here, World at War is simply a very well executed first person shooter with almost no flaws in the game play. The default controls are very well laid out, but of course being on the PC, everything is customizable. With my Razer Lachesis, I mapped zoom, reload, grenade, special grenade and melee to a different button on my mouse. Most of this is just out of religious habit, but also I found that trying to mash “V” while being ambushed by a Japanese soldier proved unreliable, as I would often hit “C” which is used to crouch. I don't have to tell you what happened if I chose to crouch while being stabbed.
World at War also takes on almost exactly the same gameplay style as Modern Warfare. You will create an online profile and earn points by killing, capturing points and activating recon planes and unleashing air strikes upon your enemies. New in this release is the ability to unleash a pack of bloodthirsty dogs to locate, and often kill, your enemies. They are truly terrifying to hear run up behind you because it’s one bite, one kill for these pups.
All the familiar modes are here; Free for All, Team Deathmatch, War, Capture the Flag, Headquarters, Domination and Sabotage, where you will work with your team to try and bomb your enemy's objective. Back are the perks that you will earn as you gain experience points for your player profile. Camouflage will make you invisible to enemy radar which is one of the most useful ones in my opinion, as well as Stopping Power which will increase the damage your bullets do by 40%.
Call of Duty 4's multi player mode is largely the reason it was such a huge success, and World at War is no different. The maps are well designed with tons of places to hide, offering very wide open spaces to sprint across, and tight quarters where you will no doubt fear the Trench Gun. Earning points to level up RPG style will make you want to play a little longer each time you log in. You can also create several different customizable load-outs to adjust to your playing style on the different maps. It’s simply an addicting aspect of World at War's multi player mode.
Graphics
One word came to mind over and over again while playing World at War; polish. No, not relating to Poland. Like car polish. The visuals in this game are absolutely stunning, provided you have a decent rig to play it on. With a GeForce 8800 GT, Intel Core 2 Duo at 3.29Ghz and 4 gigabytes of ram, this game never choked while running at my monitor's 1080p native resolution. Your men's faces have the shine of sweaty, grizzly faced warriors, explosions glow red and orange with scorching flames and red embers will fall from the sky while you're duking it out amidst burning rubble.
The graphics engine used in World at War is the same as the one used in Modern Warfare. At this point, Treyarch seems to have optimized it to near perfection. The visuals are very attractive to look at, and while not as insanely detailed as Far Cry 2, there were instances where I thought the scenery looked a lot more attractive due to the gruesome, macabre nature of World War 2.
Sound
We've come to expect an amazing sound from the Call of Duty franchise and World at War does not disappoint. There are so many different sounds in the mix when you're in the middle of a fire fight and there are bomb shells exploding and tanks rumbling around you. This game should set a standard for this genre in terms of authentic and engrossing sound, and having a surround sound set-up only makes it better.
With the Americans, you'll hear Kiefer Sutherland narrate as Gary Oldman narrates the Soviet campaign in a convincing Russian accent. You can expect very professional and spot on voice-acting from these Hollywood heavyweights as well from the rest of the cast in World at War.
The music in this game takes the intensity of war to a new level. Every piece of music, from a classy, somber orchestration to intense, driving electronic sounds amplifies your senses. World War 2 never sounded better.
Plasma Factor
Most people would jump right in to World at War's multiplayer mode because of its robustness and customization, and that’s something we've come to expect, but the game's single player mode surprised me the most. It is a true work of art from start to finish. The level of immersion in this game is unparalleled. You'll spend about as much time on this as you did with the single player mode in Modern Warfare, which I feel is a little short, but you can never have too much of a great thing.
Conclusion
Treyarch managed to perfect the WWII shooter here, focusing on less popular battles and providing some top notch narration to pull you through the trenches and bombed out buildings in Eastern Europe, and through the islands in the Pacific. Not only is the single player mode satisfying, but Call of Duty 4's multiplayer mode is back and is only getting better. This is without a doubt, one of the best multiplayer first person shooters that has been produced in a long time and will keep you glued to your computer screen for quite a while.
these post was picked up from gameplasma.com