IGN's Call of Duty: World at War Review

November 11, 2008 - War, as Fallout 3 so famously puts it, never changes. While the weapons and tactics may differ, it's still about chaos and fear and the overwhelming of the senses as adrenaline surges through your veins. That's a hard experience to capture on a screen, but the Call of Duty series comes close thanks to its constant redefinition of what "11" is in terms of intensity for first-person shooters. Last year's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare delivered an awesome and varied single-player experience that was matched with an even better multiplayer suite, and it made for some really big shoes for Call of Duty: World at War to fill.

[Apocwhen]

Great review, hopefully this will shutup all the nay sayers now.

[Lifendz]

what essentially was a IW's engine with WWII skins on it. I might've picked it up but R2 online is so much fun and I just got LBP that I won't have the time. AAA score is impressive though. And the dogs being sent rather than the helicopter is crazy fun.

[CEO OF N4G]

Personaly i dont like this game.I just dont like the hole idea of a WW2 setting again.Dont get me wrong im not saying the game will not be as good as cod4 all im saying is im tired of WW2 games.And with other great shooters like gears2 and resistance2 its hard for me to buy this game.

[airheadluffy]

its not that i think the game sucks its just that its basically cod4 in WW2 with a couple of new features. i think thats great, but i dont have the money to buy all the games right now so im not about to buy the same game i already have. maybe if the price comes down ill buy this game.

[Mozilla89]

Is it just me or the guy who was doing the voice over sounded like he lost a bet and was forced to do the video review? lol Anyways wasn't expecting it to get such a high score but when IW did most of the work for them already...well its hard to mess up.

[Kleptic]

wait...people weren't kidding about the zombies where they?...I thought that was a joke...

I simply can't go back to WWII again...i'll possibly rent it...as the single player looks good as far as WWII games go (a hell of a lot better than BIA:HH)...but this is simply a tease until CoD 5 from IW comes out next year, as back to modern warfare is where i'll be staying for a while...or in the future even sooner, as Killzone 2 is the best fps I have possibly ever played on a console...

[kornbeaner]

All IW did was make a great engine. Everything else from coding, animation, story, sound, design, production and everything else that was done for the game was done by Treyarch.

Thats like saying that EPIC did most of the work on Last Remnant because SquareEnix used the unreal engine for that game.

hard work still had to be put into the game. And while having a great engine like the CoD4 engine is a great for a developer, having that engine is far from "...most of the work...."

[Mozilla89]

I'm not saying they didn't put any work into it. I know they did but its like they looked at COD4 and said we want to make this but just place it in WW2. Hence all the references to it juts being a WW2 mod of COD4. Now the Last Remnant looks or feels like no other Unreal game, its a new game by itself World at War doesn't. It's more like they added some new skins, textures and effects. I'm not saying its a bad game just that it's more of the same.

[psnDevistator356]

I just don't want to be playing the same game for the 402nd time(exaggerated of course). Oh and Zombies(lol) aren't going to do it. That's why we have left 4 dead.

[badz149]

and I'll shut up now but I'm still not going to buy it! bad reviews never stopped me from buying a game and so does good reviews will never do any good for a game I'll never buy in the 1st place.

(~paste lips with glue~)

[wil4hire]

COD4 was moving forward, and it was a beautiful thing.

Upgrading a thompson isn't anything I want to do anytime soon. Im sure it will be good, but no better that DOD Source.

YEAH i said it.

COD going backwards = no sale. I'd buy a cod5 current day+ in a heartbeat.

A FRIGGEN HEARTBEAT

[thebudgetgamer]

tomorrow will inevitably come cod waw ps3 vs 360

:)

[ape007]

treyarch follow the safe way,the same route as IW's masterpiece cod 4

everyone has to admit that cod 4 engine is a beast

everything in cod 5 is just like cod 4,controls,feeling,framerate,s cope

even it has the same menus,killcam and that traditional IW precise control not seen in the awkwardly done cod 3

am gonna buy it,am die hard cod fan,I liked the new dark,gory,beach feeling

1-up for treyarch

IW,next year,I want to be completely blown away

[Sarcasm]

You guys need to stop with the "oh it's just COD4 with WWII skins" because it's not.

[coolfool]

to say that this game is just COD4 with new skins is doing treyarch a massive injustice. Just because they used the same engine doesn't mean there is nothing they can mess up. Does it mean that anyone who uses this engine is guaranteed to make a AAA scoring game? Of course not.

There was plenty for Treyarch to mess up, the plot, the settings, the voice acting, the music. It would have been so easy for them to do what has already been done before but somehow, they have taken the saturated genre of WWII and still created something new and exciting.

Don't discredit their work, they are good set of devs and the more of them we have the better!

[Snyph3r]

Is it worth $65? WTF with the price increase? This is more expensive than all of the better games? GEOW2, R2, LBP, Farcry2 and so on are way better games but cheaper than this?

[Rice]

Nice good job treyarch..

[kosha]

Yep I think theyve shown that their not crap devs with this game.

[LarVanian]

Bravo Treyarch. You've just earned back lots of respect (including mine)

[Danja]

Yeah i weas quite surprised at the score , but seriously I was they would just quit witht he whole WW2 theme already....and keep the Franchise moving forward like COD4..i'll give it a rent to see if I like it then maybe i'll buyu it,.,

[Final_Rpg]

Cod4 engine? Check.
Little to no improvement graphically? Check.
Lack of significant changes to gameplay? Check.
Set in overdone WW2 setting? Check

Who buys a game that has no evolution between it and its predecessor? Face the facts, the game is just COD4 in new environments. They haven't changed up anything. I'd rather this just be an expansion released for COD4. If you're into the online experience I'm pretty sure you're better off stick with 4. To be fair, at least it brings a new decent campaign alongside it. Shame it's not doing anything that hasn't been matched by COD4.

Best thing about this game is the Co-op. That's one thing I wished was part of 4, especially since it was such a short campaign. In my opinion, if you're looking for a decent jump in quality from 4 to WAW don't be surprised if you come out of the experience feeling disappointed. On the plus side, you're getting a solid title. I just get annoyed because they haven't moved forwards... Makes me feel like they are just in it for the money, like the guitar hero franchise, most of EA sports titles and the Tony Hawks series.

Maybe I'm just greedy because this game doesn't deliver when put next to the big blockbusters of the year. Even the reviewer stated this game as an acting filler until the next infinity ward game. It must be insulting for Treyarch. But look at the content. What have Treyarch done to push ahead of Infinity Ward? This game is just riding on the success of 4. Be your own developer Treyarch.

[Sarcasm]

"Little to no improvement graphically? Check."

Actually the graphics are much much improved over COD4. It has an actual water physics engine, more destructibility in the environments, much more detailed character models, animations is improved, AI is improved, and it looks like it's already running in a higher resolution than COD4's 600p.

So please, stop spreading misinformation.

[mugoldeneagle03]

And I was waiting for this review before I purchased it.

Same gameplay, same fun, & trophies = The buy. It's just a shame they couldnt put as much effort into Bond.

Either way, ill see you guys on this weekend :)

[Snyph3r]

Price went up $5

[Bubble Buddy]

Great score. But I got no money left after a whole attack of games so maybe I'll give it a rent. :).

[Gish]

Damnit it looks fun. But money crunch is hurting... I have no clue what to use my $40 bestbuy cert for now... I don't have a 360 thank god because it would be an even harder decision then.

[specialguest]

To my private charity for broke-ass gamers. When you donate, you'll get a monthly update on your receipiants social health and well being, but best of all, you'll know that through your generousity, you'll be making one gamers life happy for the next 3 months. Also, it can be used as a tax write off.