OK another review coming your ways and this one is on a video game, Call of Duty World at War, which was the fifth in the COD series so let's load up the rifles, bayonets, flamethrowers and get ready to go to war....
So a quick bit about the story of the game as it starts during the second world war in August 1942 where a marine Private Miller is held captive by the Japanese on Makin island and Miller witnesses the torture and execution of one of his fellow soldiers. Just before Miller is set to suffer the same fate he is rescued by Corporal Roebuck (voiced by Kiefer Sutherland) and his men who launch an attack on the Japanese soldiers on the island. The story then moves two years ahead at the start of the battle of Peleliu with Miller and Roebuck arriving in ships onto the fortified shores, Miller then radios an air strike to destroy to Japanese tanks to allow the American tanks to move ahead. The battle continues and near the end Sergeant O'Sullivan is killed by a Japanese soldier with a katana, after which Roebuck takes over as Sergeant and leads the squad, and during the mission Miller obtains a flamethrower to burn out soldiers in the bunkers and a bazooka to destroy tanks.
After this story then shifts to Moscow in September 1942 during the Battle of Stalingrad, and the playable character is Private Dimitri Peterenko who lies in the aftermath of an assault on Russian soldiers, who lie dead everywhere. Dimitri soon comes along another solider, Sergeant Viktor Reznov, who tells him he is on a secret mission to kill a German general named Henreich Amsel who is behind the massacres. Together the two of them work together and regroup with Dimitri's squad and Dimitri succeeds in killing Amsel as he flees for his life and afterward Reznov and Dimitri escape together in a boat. The following mission for the Russians takes place in 1945 during the battle of the Seelow Heights where Reznov meets up with Dimitri and saves his life and they continue their fight against the Germans. And the story also continues to alternate between the Americans fighting the Japanese in Okinawa and the Russians fighting the Germans in Berlin.
Following the commercial and critical success of Call of Duty Modern Warfare the year previous in 2007, World at War does a fine job in following it up and it still remains one of my own favourite COD games. There was at the time criticism aimed the series for shfiting yet again back to the 2nd world war when they have already covered it extensively in the first three games and thereby adds precious little new to the series. And while you might say that is a fair argument what it did do is take what was so good about Modern Warfare and transfer it into the WWII setting, especially with the new heightened sense of drama and intensity as shown in MW the year before it is very much still there in World at War. The game also adds a slightly different take on the previous games by instead of it just solely focusing on the Germans as the primary antagonists, the Japanese are now also your enemies as well. And its always been the strength of the Call of Duty games that it tells the story of the war from different sides.
Which brings me onto the gameplay which is still as effective as before and the controls of the game and combat are pretty ease to pick up (unless you use the Nintendo Wii version then its a bloody nightmare as the Wii remote controls turning your movement, which is a real pain in the ass! (not to mention your arm!). The game also adds in a few new features such as the fixable bayonet to your rifle which can be used as a melee weapon and there is also the flamethrower, which you can use to burn your enemies to death with (bit nasty really but kinda fun as well) although this is only featured in the American campaign when you fight the Japanese. Another new feature in the game also is the ability to use rifle grenades, which come in handy during the American campaign, and these are attached to your rifle and can simply be launched to do some serious damage. The game also covers fighting in different environments, such as fighting in an airplane taking on the Japanese in an aerial assault during one mission, as well as battling past German tanks in another while playing the Russians. In addition to this game also utilises the previously used health metre system by the screen turning more red as you take more firepower, and you must duck out of sight to avoid taking heavy fire or you will run risk of being killed in battle. The game also features the usual multiplayer modes, a co-op mode and also a new inclusion is a new fun mini game called Nazi zombies, which is good fun and also a bit creepy as the zombies start to really come at you as the rounds progress and you only have so much ammo and weapons to defend yourself with against the baddies.
As for the graphics, the World at War looks great and the environments all look superb in HD graphics, regardless of which version you play with the Xbox 360, PS3 or the PC version, and even the Wii version looks quite good in comparison (although cos it isn't HD it takes a hit on the frame rates). The game's expansive environments all look mighty impressive and the different effects are also very impressive such as smoke, debris, rain, not to mention the fire from the flamethrowers. The character models are also pretty good too and are an improvement from the previous ones as the series had become more visually sophisticated. The game's music score is also pretty good as well as it was scored by Sean Murray and it has plenty of suspense and drama to it and it blends the Eastern and European themes together really well. And there is also the voice acting in the game which is excellent, and kudos deserve to go out to Kiefer Sutherland who voices Sgt Roebuck, who's fate you can decide later as a choice in your gameplay, and also Gary Oldman who does a great job as Viktor Reznov, the Russian soldier, who reprises his role in Call of Duty Black Ops. And the game's audio in general is great as well with the intense COD atmosphere perfectly captured again with the intense noise of gunfire, explosions, planes, tanks, not to mention to the new sound of crazed kamikaze Japanese soldiers screaming "Banzaiiiiiii!!!!" as they charge toward you!
Getting on the game's flaws.... well World at War doesn't have any real glaring flaws as such although it is fair to say that overall it doesn't really add a whole new amount of content to the series than what has already been before. And the WWII setting by this time has already been done to death, and with Modern Warfare (or COD4) it was a breath of fresh air for the series as it started to look a bit stagnant after the rather average Call of Duty 3. The game's single player campaign is also a bit on the short side and will probably last you about six or seven hours although given how the most recent single player campaigns have gotten even shorter (Black Ops II was said to be just four hours!) its not too bad in itself. The game also has some rather graphic violence in it as well but then again war is as they say is hell, and we have some rather unpleasant visages of Japanese soldiers being burned to death, and soldiers in general having their limbs blown off etc which certainly saw the series become more gritty and realistic in its content. And this is shown instantly at the start of the game where Miller is beaten and watches one of his team mates being brutally executed, but in the context of the games violent content since then, overall its not quite as bad. Another strange anomaly in the game is actually in Sean Murray's otherwise fine score where he decides to use some heavy metal guitars in some of the battle scenes, which just doesn't fit and feels like it should belong in something out of Guitar Hero and not Call of Duty!
Despite all that however Call of Duty World at War still remains one of my favourite entries in the series and its well worth checking out and giving it a go.
And I shall leave you there the now.
Auf Weidersehen!
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