Call of Duty: World at War Review

Back when Call of Duty's multiplayer experience hit a new high

After making the decision today to include reviews on my blog website: Trinity Titan News, I knew the first review had to be for the classic, Call of Duty: World at War, as I have been playing the game a lot lately and its still one of my favourite games of all time. Released on November 14, 2008, this was a game, all CoD (Call of Duty) fans will remember playing, as it was the first Call of Duty game to have the 'zombies' co-op game mode.

Different is Better

Treyarch have been loved ever since the release of Call of Duty: World at War, as they proved they could compete with Infinity Ward's (CoD developer) CoD: Modern Warfare series.

After the excitement CoD fans (including myself) received after playing CoD: Modern Warfare (aka Call of Duty 4) I knew it would be difficult for Treyarch (other CoD developer) to follow, but they have certainly shown they can compete, as "World at War" offers CoD fans a whole new experience.

Even today, "World at War" is looked at by fans of the CoD series as being one of the best CoD games and even first-person shooters ever made. Treyarch certainly offered that bit more than Infinity Ward were offering at the time, since Treyarch added the iconic 'zombies' co-op mode, still being used in Treyarch CoD titles today, including; World at War (of course), Black Ops and Black Ops 2. 

Treyarch had a strong era on their hands, being that of World War II, having been the most spoken about and best-known war to ever happen, making this an important title to get right. This adding more pressure to the titles success, especially since Infinity Ward's Call of Duty 4 raised the bar so high.

Single Player Campaign

Treyarch's "World at War" shocked gamers everywhere on its release, as most CoD fans (at least I believe, most fans) will have set foot onto the single player campaign first and it was a super-fun experience and still is to this very day a great experience playing on the solo campaign.

For the first time, "World at War" allowed gamers to join their friends in playing the campaign, as Treyarch introduced the co-op campaign, enabling up to 4 players to join and play the campaign co-operatively.

The single player campaign really feels like you are in an all-out war, as explosions are going off all around you in the environment, from close and far distances. The authenticity of the single player campaigns environment, was, and still is ground-breaking, feeling so life-like, adding to the fun playing the campaign.

Playing alone, or with friends, the fun to be had playing the campaign is immense. No matter how many times you repeat playing the campaign, the excitement is always the same, emerging you into the gameplay and the cut-scenes which were all-but too entertaining.

The changes in the environment is always a pleasure as the missions change from fighting in the jungle, to suddenly fighting in an open field in a tank, armed to the teeth with explosions. The fun is truly endless, as the experience just gets better and better, the more you play the campaign.

Usually I stray away from doing the highest difficulty setting in story modes and on CoD campaigns, but in "World at War", I felt the strange urge to complete the game on the hardest difficulty, called veteran. Sounds difficult? Well, the name was accurate, as you need to be a veteran CoD player to complete the campaign on veteran difficulty.

I still remember doing the veteran difficulty for the first time and it was a dreadful experience, as it was, and still is extremely easy to be killed. As enemies endlessly throw grenades and put a bombardment of gunfire in your direction, making it a tedious task to achieve each and every mission.

There were, and still are simple tricks to achieve the CoD campaigns (including "World at War's"), which generally includes using cover (i.e. walls, buildings, cars, and even trees, etc.), laying down when the screen goes red after being shot one-too many times and taking it slow around corners, as to not get shot. There are other minor tricks to remember, but that covered the obvious ones.

Another trick to achieving the "World at War" campaign on veteran difficulty would be to do it with 1, 2, or 3 other friends, as this will increase your chances of clearing out the enemy quicker without dying.

Multiplayer

The spotlight for CoD games, ever since Call of Duty 4's multiplayer mode, as this presents hours upon hours of endless fun, as you can play with friends, against friends and other players around the world to complete objectives, all with the simple objective to kill the enemy.

"World at War's" multiplayer allows players on certain, larger maps to access tanks, yes tanks, to kill enemies from close and far, being a whole new function, players had never been able to do before.

Treyarch's prestiges and ranks (levels) for "World at War" are typically expected prestiges, having a total of 10, along with 65 levels until the player is able to prestige.

The levels at the time were the highest we had seen in CoD multiplayer, as Call of Duty 4 only had 55 levels until the player was able to prestige. The prestiges however, were still the same as always, at the standard 10.

The multiplayer experience took on a whole new meaning in "World at War" as players were able to wonder endlessly around small, medium and large maps, rather than the usual small to medium maps we still see today in CoD games.

This was the perfect time for a World War II game, as we had just been exposed to the awesomeness of Call of Duty 4, playing in the modern warfare era, leaving us all craving something different and the World War II era was just what CoD fans needed. 

The guns were all new and exciting, including the MP40 and the Thompson assault rifles, being my two favourite guns in the game and probably your favourites as well, I'd imagine.

The perks were all-new and interesting, benefiting players in the multiplayer experience, making it blissfully simple to journey around each multiplayer map, getting those easy and not-so easy kills.

The kill-streaks for the multiplayer game mode were out-of-this-world good at the time of "World at War's" release, as they enabled players to have the recon plane (3 kills), artillery (5 kills) and attack dogs (7 kills), which were extremely satisfying to receive. Although, today's CoD games offer far more choice in kill-streaks (aka score-streaks), providing CoD players a more personal experience, best fitting their style of gameplay.

There are countless reasons why "World at War" had one of the best (if not, the best) multiplayer experience, any CoD game has ever given us before. Another great usable weapon on "World at Wars" multiplayer was the 'flame-thrower' which stands out in my mind whenever I think of "World at War's" multiplayer.

'Zombies' Co-Op Mode

It is impossible to forget the iconic 'zombies' co-op mode which was first put on "World at War", which started the fan following for the 'zombies' co-op game mode on Treyarch's CoD titles.

It all started with the original CoD map, Nacht der Untoten (German for Night of the Undead), playing Nazi zombies, based on the idea of the Nazi army rising up from the dead as mindless 'flesh eating' zombies trying to kill you. It is the job of the player/players to kill wave-after-wave of zombies until the zombies kill all of the players and theoretically the game could last forever if someone is left alive on the map.

Other maps soon followed, as apart of DLC packs, offering new zombie killing experiences there-on allowing players on 'zombies' co-op mode to receive perks, more guns and enter onto larger maps to take on the endless hoards of zombies.

This is an extremely addictive game mode, as certain CoD fans specifically buy CoD games, due to them having the 'zombies' game mode, although sadly only Treyarch currently offer the 'zombies' game mode in their CoD titles.

Conclusion

Call of Duty: World at War is a hard-hitting game, offering a superb single player, multiplayer and 'zombies' co-op mode which have helped reshape the CoD franchise.

I remember "World at War" as being one of the best experiences I have ever had playing a first-person shooter, allowing players to do more than any other CoD game which had come before it. Even today's CoD games seem less enticing to play than "World at War", proving just how great the game was, and still is.

Call of Duty: World at War was released on November 14th, 2008 and is available on the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Nintendo Wii, Playstation 2, Nintendo DS and PC.

Do you agree that Call of Duty: World at War was one of the best CoD games ever created? Or, would you go a step further and say that Call of Duty: World at War was the best CoD game ever created? ...Leave your answer in the comments section below.