Call of Duty: World at War Game Review

Okay, It's a Great Game. Now Stop Throwing Grenades at Me.

I lie on the cold ground; birds of prey perched on the corpses that surround me. German soldiers walk around looking for survivors, shooting at any sign of movement. As I lie here, bracing myself for a bullet to the head, I have just one thought: This is awesome.

Moments of cinematic drama form much of the appeal of Treyarch’s first person shooter Call of Duty: World at War, which attempts to give players the feeling that they have been plopped into the middle of a World War II movie.

The Wii controls are the best first person controls for the Wii since Medal of Honor: Heroes 2, although when sniping I had to turn off an aim-assist feature that stupidly insisted on moving the gun slightly away from the target. Some critics say Heroes 2 had better controls, but while it’s been a while, I feel that aiming is better in World. More importantly, the gameplay is considerably more enjoyable. Level design is consistently good, you have many exciting journeys down narrow, enemy-infested tunnels and you get to play with flame throwers and rocket launchers.

World is weakest when it comes to grenades, both in terms of sending and receiving. Throwing grenades feels rather random, you point where you want them to go and press a button, but I never felt I had much say in where they went, and wish the remote had been used to create a sense of tossing. Also, you have a primary and secondary grenade, and to throw the secondary grenade you have to tilt the remote sideways, because of which I often tossed the wrong grenade.

Grenades are a bit annoying to throw, but really aggravating when they land near you. The enemy has a seemingly unending supply of them. If one lands near you a small picture of a grenade will appear on screen with an arrow telling you where the grenade is. Unfortunately, it is easy to overlook in the heat of battle, and ofttimes I would get blown up without even realizing I was near a grenade. I would be much happier if the screen flashed red or something. Most of the times I died it was from a grenade blast, and while by the time I reached the game’s halfway point I had gotten better at noticing the grenade marker, it always felt annoyingly understated.

World is very nice looking for a Wii game, effectively giving you the feel of the battleground. (Apparently publisher Activision isn't impressed though, since their press kit only has one screenshot for the Wii, as opposed to 16 for the Xbox 360 and PS3.)

World also has a very nicely done online multiplayer mode. Levels are nicely laid out and varied, and players who play effectively are rewarded by the opportunity to call in a reconnaissance plane that puts enemy locations on a map or release attack dogs: It is really great when you can release dogs on your enemies, but really awful when they release them on you.

Multiplayer is fun, but I am a single player gamer by disposition, and for me the varied gameplay of the single player campaign, combined with the effective control scheme, make World the best first person shooter yet for the Wii.

The game shines brightest at those moments where you feel you’re experiencing something close to what really happened all those years ago, as when the Russian army chases down fleeing Nazis. It’s a relatively easy mission against disorganized, panic troops, but it is fascinating to see your comrades, furious at the destruction in their country, screaming “KILL THEM ALL,” as they march forward relentlessly.

It is disturbing to come across a group of surrendering, unarmed German soldiers surrounded by Russians with a take-no-prisoners attitude, but as with all the moments in which you feel the visceral thrill and drama of war and history as they converge, it is also just downright awesome.