It's a very difficult job following on from one of the greatest title's ever to grace the gaming world (Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare), but Treyarch and Activision have produced a master-class, which follows on proudly from it's predecceser.
CAMPAIGN:
The game's campaign splits time between two different fronts. For half the game, you'll play as an American Marine taking on Japanese forces as you push from their forward island bases all the way back to Okinawa. The other half puts you in Russian boots as you strike back against the Germans, pushing them out of the motherland and sieging Berlin. Like the previous game, the campaign jumps back and forth between the two perspectives.
The campaign provides a good amount of first-person shooter variety, but it excels when the levels are wide open and all hell is breaking loose around you. There are more than a few moments where you're charging against an entrenched enemy, and the game does a good job of making these moments feel appropriately chaotic. You'll also see the requisite vehicle sequence and some up-close indoor battles. Overall, a quality single-player campaign which will keep you going for hours.
MULTI-PLAYER:
Once again, the Call of Duty multi-player has the ability to leave you playing for hours on end without losing interest, and drooling for more action. In what feels like no time at all, you could check your score and find that you have played it for 5 hours or something!
Some of the major changes include:
- Rank 65 before Prestiging.
- Tanks available for some maps.
- 3 kills (Plane Recon), 5 kills (Artillery), 7 kills (Dogs).
- Different Perks and Guns.
- Different game modes/maps.
Overall, the World at War multi-player has stayed in touch with COD4, and is still very enjoyable to all who play it, resulting in hours on end of playtime. The new additions are very clever and there is just something about COD online. It can't be rivalled. There seems to be a touch of genius about World at War, and still you will find yourself desperately trying to climb up the ranks and get to Rank 65 on the 10th Prestige! It is just brilliant!
VISUAL/GRAPHICS:
Fire seems to be a big visual theme in World at War. Large portions of the campaign are devoted to running around with a flamethrower and burning as many Japanese soldiers as possible. You'll run through burning buildings. And if you play long enough, you'll be able to unlock that flamethrower for use in multiplayer. The fire effects, thankfully, are good enough to warrant their featured position. The flamethrower snakes around as you wave it and burns up most nearby grass and trees as you go. Creeping through dark, but still-burning buildings shows off the game's terrific lighting, as the soft glow of the flames reflects and flickers onto the nearby walls. All of the lighting, is done extremely well, and playing this on a HDTV will be truly stunning.
In conclusion, I think it's safe to say that everyone will agree on World at War being an extremely good FPS that had ticked all the right boxes. However, there will be divided opinion on whether or not it's better than last years masterpiece. My advice...buy World at War now, but keep COD4. World at War is extremely well made and should be bought by anyone who is as fan of the COD series, but COD4 is just too good to throw out or trade in and should still be kept for all the right reasons.
Hope my review was helpful and feel free to leave any comments.