Call Of Duty: World At War

22 Oct 2008 at 15:59:23 by Andy Alderson

Treyarch’s last foray into the Call of Duty franchise, Call of Duty 3, was much maligned for its linear gameplay, poor narrative and various technical issues. And so it was with widespread relief that Infinity Ward returned to the series with the fantastic Modern Warfare. However, while the single player game in COD3 was disappointing, many overlooked the fact that Treyarch actually did a pretty good job with the multiplayer. Its maps were mostly large and well-designed, the inclusion of vehicles did not ruin the combat experience (as was feared) and the excellent War mode provided some focus to the action. Accordingly, I was not as nervous as some to hear the news that Treyarch was once more at the helm of a Call of Duty game. 

War mode makes a return in Call of Duty: World at War, presumably at the expense of COD4’s Domination, and it appears as if Treyarch is keen to hang on to its one innovation in the series. In War, players must capture and defend territory, much like in Domination mode, with the difference being that the points must be captured in sequence and only one point is available for capture at any one time. This worked very well in COD3’s sprawling countryside maps, creating focus points for battles. Unfortunately, it does not seem to suit the COD:WAW multiplayer model.

War mode's success depends on the maps and those included the WAW beta don’t appear to be as well-designed as those in COD3 or COD4.  Makin (a beach-based affair), Castle (a Japanese stronghold) and Roundhouse (a rubble-strewn trainyard) are all fairly small, narrow maps which, whilst very nice to look at, feel a little restrictive. When playing in War mode this means the artificial choke points (created by pushing everyone to the same capture point) soon become messy and frustrating, with too many players crammed into the same area. In COD4 you could sneak around to undefended flags and capture them, creating a new front for battle and taking the heat off your teammates. In War mode you’re basically pushed into a linear slog that doesn’t feel nearly as satisfying. Add to this the new kill-streak rewards and what you get is a cramped, claustrophobic multiplayer game in which you will die a lot (often within seconds of spawning).

Like in Call of Duty 4, Treyarch has implemented a reward system for consecutive kills and it’s already become the beta’s controversial talking point. While the bonuses for three and five kills are pretty much the same as in COD4 (Overhead Recon and Artillery respectively), the reward for seven kills is dividing gamers. Obviously, as we’re back in WW2 the Apache helicopter was not an option for Treyarch and so for seven kills you now have a pack of angry dogs at your disposal. An imaginative idea which, unfortunately, becomes a major annoyance in the game. Within minutes, most games are teeming with slavering canines and it’s hard not to sigh when the manic barking begins.  Rather than being fearsome, they’re just a tedious distraction from the real business  of shooting people and you’ll find yourself spending too much time killing them. Unless you’re using a rifle, in which case my money’s on the dogs.

The weapons are another problem for the WAW beta, with some serious balancing issues in play. The rifles (bolt-action especially) seem underpowered and you can put a rifle round into an enemy’s back only for him to turn around and spray you with an SMG. Even with a damage perk selected, the rifles still don’t feel right. Also making a return from COD4 is the perk system which allows players to give themselves an edge in one area of combat. Little has changed, other than some of the names and it seems as if Treyarch didn’t want to mess with the formula too much.

It’s clear that the developer did not want to alienate the COD4 crowd (it would be foolish to, given its phenomenal success over Xbox Live) but it feels as if Treyarch has erred on the side of caution a little too much. The WAW beta feels like a WW2 reskin/mod for COD4 and whilst some improvements have been made – the sound design is much more bombastic and the visuals are certainly impressive – if WAW is to keep people playing in the long term, it needs to push the formula further. However, should Treyarch make some balancing tweaks in the run-up to release (and include some larger maps), there’s every chance World at War will have a compelling, action-packed multiplayer mode.

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