A reader, and long-time COD fan, offers his verdict on the story campaign, Zombies mode, and multiplayer of WWII. Call Of Duty is a franchise that has certainly had its ups and down the past couple of years, not helped by three year development cycles that has meant the past five titles have been near future or futuristic with 3D movement.
And while many have called the franchise ‘dead’ online, (despite Black Ops III topping 25+ million units last year) the news of a return to its roots this year was met with euphoria all across the community, old and new And with the news, as I’m writing this, that Call Of Duty: WWII has broken the record for the best-selling digital full game on PlayStation 4, and has surpassed $500 million worldwide in it’s opening weekend, it seems it’s been a hit. Although World War 2 isn’t anything new to the franchise, it sure is a refreshing change of pace. A necessary one, and I’m glad to tell you that it’s a great game. Although the campaign isn’t great, the multiplayer sure is.
The Campaign Your journey as private ‘Red’ Daniels starts on D-Day, the opening sequence putting you in his shoes as he travels with his platoon on a landing boat. The door is opened and countless men are torn down in brutal and visceral fashion, made even more shocking with the exemplary graphics. The sheer terror comes when a soldier falls dead next to you with no head left. This reality really hits home. It isn’t long before you jump out the side of the boat and make your way to cover.
It’s easily one of the most shocking, real, and intense openings of the franchise. A kids’ game this is not. The campaign lasts around six hours and includes a tightly knit narrative between the men themselves, which focuses on the weight of leadership and sacrifice and covers most of the theatre of war in Europe, as well as the liberation of France.
There’s a satisfying noir stealth mission, which also requires you to remember key information about your false identity. This is one of the different approaches used in the campaign in terms of variety, as another mission tasks you with saving a women’s younger sister, involving well thought out stealth mechanics and an intense escape as the Nazis engage in battle all around you, although the game quickly reminds you of the casualties of war. The instances where the campaign falls down is some unneeded overdone action sequences, most noticeably a set piece that feels like it was robbed from Uncharted 4.
When the campaign can showcase such events as D-Day so accurately, anything other than real events feel hollow. Of course there are certain liberties taken over the course of the game, but I don’t feel the need to do it with car chases was a good choice. By the end I was quite emotional, given the weight of the attachment I had to the characters, and also Daniels backstory. The themes are explored fairly well, but this campaign isn’t a patch on Treyarch’s World At War. If certain unnecessary sequences had been left out it could have been a great campaign, but unfortunately it falls short of a bronze star.
Multiplayer I must admit I was sceptical coming in, in regards to the full roster of maps. Given Sledgehammer Games’ last game was the fiercely underrated Advanced Warfare, although the maps were made for 3D movement compared to boots on the ground. And I certainly didn’t want a repeat of Ghosts. Luckily, I can tell you that they succeeded in both layout and size, and even more in atmosphere and immersion.
No map is too big or too open and the majority of maps flow well, but the map Gustav Cannon is a predominantly sniper map, making it a personal nightmare and one to vote against rather than for. My personal favourite map is one from the beta: Pointed Du Hocke, which lets you fight in the trenches and has the right amount of hectic action and pace for me. All around, the maps are really good and thankfully a massive step up from Ghosts. The biggest addition besides Divisions and Headquarters (a great social space with an awesome 1 vs. 1 arena to play against your mates) is the new multiplayer mode War. This has its own maps separate from the normal modes, and is the best mode added in recent years. It plays as a game of tug-of-war between the Allies and Axis forces, taking turns to attack or defend objectives.
At launch there are only three maps, although they are much bigger than the standard maps. Each map is based on actual battles (akin to Battlefield 1’s Operations but ¼ of the size) and one is based on the D-Day landings. This is the closest you’ll ever get to Saving Private Ryan: The Game. It is extremely immersive and focuses on objective, not kill/death ratios for once, with there being no scorestreaks usable in War and no K/D ratio on the scoreboard. This is certainly the most refreshing mode in the game. The Divisions system allows you to choose the best unit for several situations in multiplayer, with each of the five divisions representing each gun class in the game, and they also have a levelling system which means they level up as you play and give you specific abilities.
For instance, the Airborne Division lets you runner faster and for longer as you level up, as well as the ability to attach suppressors to your submachine guns whenever you like. This leads to having to make a decision on which division and gun to use, given what mode or map it is. One thing I’ve loved about the new, restricted perk/basic training system is using the basic training called Requisition which allows me to earn my scorestreaks and experience the full game. I have struggled to earn scorestreaks in the more recent games, as I’m around average in skill and the scorestreaks have got much harder for someone like me to earn. As for the rest of the basic training perks it’s more or less the same as always, but that is made more important given you can only have one. You, like with Divisions, have to make a decision which makes leaning on one setup in previous games a thing of the past. A quick note on the Headquarters social space, which is, as you guessed, very similar to Destiny’s Tower.
The comparison is obvious, as you can get daily and weekly challenges to improve the longevity and diversity to each day you log in. You are rewarded with loot crates or credits to spend on collections to unlock cosmetic variants, but I’m pretty sure guns will be added in the future. Before you get mad, the system is akin to Modern Warfare Remastered, which proved to be the fairest and best system that has been used in Call Of Duty so far. It’s certainly much more reasonable than Star Wars: Battlefront II or Need For Speed Payback. As for Zombies, I have to mention that I love the Nazi Zombies’ intense and genuinely scary return to a proper horror mode. Specifically, I love David Tennant’s character, who is hilarious in his reactions and dialogue. Zombies won’t take that much of my time up, but that’s just me and that isn’t a judgement on the mode. Sledgehammer have done a great job and I’m impressed by their efforts. So if you haven’t enjoyed the past trilogy of Call Of Duties with advanced movement, this is a great return to classic COD.
As I said, this isn’t near the heights of World At War in terms of campaign, but the single-player is definitely worth a playthrough. The main fun to be had is the multiplayer and its consistent maps, War mode, gun balance, and Divisions system. Zombies fans should really enjoy Sledgehammer’s take on the mode. It may not be the series’ best (that’s Modern Warfare 2 and 3, and Black Ops II and III) but it’s a very enjoyable and fun entry all around! I think it’s definitely something I recommend you buy. (I’m sure some will disagree with my series favourites!) Thanks for reading. By reader Charlie Ridgewell
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