MacHouse game rating: 8.5/10






Video game publisher Activision Blizzard has recently released the PC version of this year’s one of the most anticipated games Call of Duty: World at War. Call of Duty: World at War was developed by Treyarch. In Call of Duty: World at War, players are back to the scenes of World War II battlegrounds. The game comes with three different game modes: solo, co-op and multiplayer. This game review is only concerned with the solo game mode – single-player campaign.

Our game machine is iMac 2.8 GHz Core 2 Duo with ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro and 256 MB VRAM. It’s full resolution is 1920 x 1200 pixels. We have played several PC games that were released this year with this machine. Such games include Sins of a Solar Empire, Pure, Crysis Warhead, Farcry 2, Dead Space and Fallout 3. Call of Duty: World at War is the first game where we have trouble playing it at the full resolution.

What are system requirements for this game, by the way? I spent some 20 minutes at Call of Duty Headquarters a few days ago. But I couldn’t find out what system requirements are for this game. The only useful information that we found on the Internet is an article posted by GameSpot in September 24 where Treyarch’s project leader Cesar Statsny mentions that they have achieved high graphics performance for Call of Duty: World at War under the same system requirements for Modern Warfare. Such minimum system requirements are shown as

Processor: AMD 64 3200+/Intel Pentium 4 3.0GHz or better

Memory: 512MB RAM (XP)/1GB RAM (Vista)

Graphics: 256MB Nvidia GeForce 6600GT/ATI Radeon 1600XT or better

The lowest resolution supported by this game is 640 x 480 pixels. We are not able to play this game smoothly at 1920 x 1200 pixels. In fact, if we lower the resolution to 1280 x 1024 pixels, the game lags a bit. So we’ve eventually lowered the resolution to 800 x 600 pixels to play single-player missions.

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One minor problem that we’ve run across with this game is key control. Personally, I use arrow keys for character movement. Unfortunately, Call of Duty: World at War doesn’t let you use number buttons on the key pad. The game does support at least five buttons and the Mouse wheel. Also, you can use in (insert), home, delete, end, page up and page down keys. Call of Duty: World at War requires you to control many keys. (See Screenshot 02-4) In a mission called Vendetta, you need to have keys for Stand, Crouch or Prone and Hold Breath. In another mission called Burn ’em Out, you will face a machine gun hill ahead. So you may have to use a different key to throw smoke-nades other than the one for grenades. (See Screenshot 05-6.) The point is that if you decide to use arrow keys for character movement as I do, it won’t be easy to accommodate keys for all game functions at the same time without number buttons on the key pad. 

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Another minor turn-off is the way the character that you control walks. When he runs, he makes sounds like he is running. But when he walks, it sometimes makes no sound, making it look as if you rode a snowboard. That’s quite awkward and fun-killing.

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Call of Duty: World at War includes 15 single-player missions. If you finish one mission, the difficulty mode that you have chosen to complete it will be recorded. The supported difficulty modes are Recruit, Regular, Hardened and Veteran. Screenshot 07 shows the mission select screen. It indicates that I completed the first mission under the ‘highest difficulty’ (Hardened) mode.

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Actually, if you take a close look, there are 16 missions listed, right? If you complete all 15 single-player missions, you will get access to an extra mission called Nacht der Untoten where you find yourself inside a closed house with windows and doors barricaded. You will be attacked by dead German soldiers. If you die once, the game will be over.

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The single-player campaign of Call of Duty: World at War starts with a mission titled Semper Fi. You will play U.S. Marine Private Miller, whose reconnaissance team were sent to Makin Atoll in the Gilbert Islands of the Republic of Kiribati. He and Private Pyle are captured. When a Japanese soldier is about to kill him, an invasion team led by Sergeant Sullivan and Corporal Roebuck come to rescue them.

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After playing another two American missions including Little Resistance and Hard Landing, you will play two Russian missions. The first one is Vendetta. In Vendetta, you will play the character of Private Petrenko, who witnesses German soldiers kill near-dead Russian comrades of his. One survivor is Sergeant Reznov. He is a trained sniper, but he got his arm injured. He says “Do what I say, and we can avenge this massacre.” Your ultimate mission is to kill General Heinrich Amsel.

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The last American mission where U.S. Marines fight the Japanese is Breaking Point. American troops land on the Okinawa Island. They march towards the Shuri Castle with no ammunition. Reaching a supply drop, they will be attacked by Japanese soldiers. Some of them will climb trees to sniper-kill you.

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One aspect of the game that makes World at War different from any other Call of Duty games is the way how Japanese soldiers attack Americans. Some of them come out of spider holes and throw grenades. Some of them climb trees to sniper-kill Americans. They will eventually say “Tennoh, banzai!” and rush to you. (Tennoh means Emperor in Japanese. It literally means the king from heaven.)

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After Breaking Point, you have two Russian missions to complete the single-player campaign. In these missions, you will play the character of Private Petrenko again and push Germans back towards the Nazi headquarters building. In the second to the last mission called Heart of the Reich, you will be ordered to destroy four Flak 88s. Germans will fight quite fiercely by throwing grenades. In the very last mission, you will fight Germans inside the Nazi headquarters building. The entire single-player campaign will end when… Sorry… I suppose I shouldn’t kill the thrill and fun before you play it. I can tell you that you will watch a historic cinematic movie where the Enola Gay drops an atomic bomb over the City of Hiroshima.

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The single-player campaign of Call of Duty: World at War has two special missions. Blood & Iron is a tank mission. You will drive a Soviet tank to destroy enemy tanks, bunkers and watch towers. In another mission called Black Cats, an American airman onboard PBY (Patrol Bomber) Catalina attacks Japanese naval fleet and Zero Fighters.

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There is something missing in this game. I haven’t played Call of Duty 3, which is only available for game consoles including Playstaion 2, Playstaion 3, Xbox, Xbox 360 and Wii. In all other Call of Duty games including Call of Duty, Call of Duty: United Offensive, Call of Duty 2, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, there is at least one mission where you shoot enemy soldiers and vehicles, sitting at the back of a jeep. I call it a rocky ride mission. Call of Duty: World at War is the first game without one.

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Call of Duty: World at War has a few new features. As I mentioned earlier, the way that the Japanese fight Americans are totally different. They climbs trees. They come out of spider holes to throw grenades. And their banzai attack is scary. Another new feature is an extra mission called Nacht der Untoten. Furthermore, when you play the single-player campaign, you can find sort of hidden rooms. If you see a symbol with a helmet and a rifle, you can collect something called a death card. It seems that you will get something extra not in the single-player campaign but in the co-op game, though.

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Whether or not Call of Duty: World at War will be a good buy depends on how you plan to play it. There are people who mostly play the single-player campaign. If you are one of them, this game may not be a good buy. That’s because there are only 15 single-player missions. It’s true that some single-player missions are quite difficult to complete. But, depending on the difficulty mode you choose, you can finish all single-player missions with a total of 24 hours or less. That was a major criticism for Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. On the other hand, if you plan to play the game online after completing the single-player campaign, it will probably be a good buy. It’s just that we haven’t played this game online.






References:

Call of Duty: World at War – Game Play Video Part I – 17 Minutes
Call of Duty: World at War Q&A – PC Graphics and Features






Call of Duty: World at War is a product of Activision Blizzard and Treyarch.