Sunday, January 11, 2009

Review: Call of Duty: World at War

For everyone who doesn't know what Call of Duty:  World at War is; it is a game that takes place in world war II where you play from two perspectives which happens to be the Americans, and the Russians.  Treyarch has done their best to compete with their big brothers,Infinity Ward, to provide us with a game that attempts to reach the level of COD4  (Everyone by now should know that COD4 is)  

GAMEPLAY:
Well to begin with, COD: WoW is an FPS.  It is pretty straightforward.  And with the Call of Duty series the controls are tight and the games are "usually" fun.  It's nice to finally see some use of Japanese weapons (Looking at you Medal of Honor) that truly feel like they are different than the rest.  Now lets get one thing clear, some weapons just suck A$$ and that is what shooters are all about.  The single player experience is pretty straightforward, kill some enemies, except this time they developers bring in a new element(CO-OP).  Now I'm always sort of sketchy with co-op because sometimes it is just thrown into a game so developers can say they did it.  I am still sort of skeptical at this point but the co-op zombie thing is a blast.  It simply just puts you into a typical zombie cliche world were you need to survive.  Now the multiplayer is about as fun as you would expect it to be.  (Pretty much the same concept of COD4).  Some of the map designs for multiplayer are questionable but overall provide a diverse selection.   People are of course idiots sometimes where they kill their own teammates (ENACT REVENGE) and exploit glitches (KILL THEM).  Oh and don't even bother playing this game on veteran if you want to have fun.  Trust me, play on normal and you will have fun.  On veteran its like the developers decided that fun wasn't even a factor anymore.  It is ridiculous!! You are constantly asking yourself "WTF" all the time.  You die in one hit,  the enemy lugs thousands of grenades at you......it's ridiculous, just trust me

ART STYLE:
I really don't know what to say here.  I mean the game sure does look good if that's what your looking for, (You graphics whore) but the COD4 engine still looks beautiful to this day.  It's nice to see some more blood in a game (Don't worry you can turn it off.....) as well as some brutal action.  One event comes to mind when you complete the Russian Campaign and your running to hoist the flag in your victory, to only be shot while your superior takes his sword like weapon and just destroys him.  It is certainly beautiful.....well maybe kind of morbid, but oh well we are all used to gore.  

STORY:
Spoiler Alert: WWII ends in this game!!!!  This is one area of all Call of Duty games were I feel they all lack.  You won't get attached to the characters, just trust me you won't be crying at the end of this game.  You already know how the game ends before you even get that stupid plastic crap of the box.  This is not a game about story.  It is about the gameplay and the multiplayer

OVERALL:
This game is good.  It is one of the more well made WWII shooters out there.  If you are tired of WWII you may want to shy away from this game but trust me this is probably going to be the last great WWII game for awhile so you may want to check it out.  This is a game about the gameplay and multiplayer.  I have already seen people prestige to level 10 all ready (FREAKS!!!)  But don't fret, there are still people on the first prestige.  The Nazi Zombie thing is freaking fantastic but there is only one level and no end in sight.  You have the evilest enemy types in gaming history together, NAZI'S and Zombies put together.  Trust me you won't feel ashamed for killing them.  If you liked COD4 then you will like this game although you will find things to complain about, I know I did (GLITCHERS).

BAMF/WTF Moments
wtf:  When people glitch (really, do you suck that bad to get kills)
bamf: Your Russian Superior, what can I say.....he is a badass
bamf: Using a flame thrower on tree snipers (little bastards)
wtf:  How many times in WWII games have we ridden in a boat to have it blown up before we hit the beach.
wtf:  Veteran difficulty.  Note to developers: "Fun"  Not "ridiculous"
wft/bamf:  The Russian guy you play as almost dies all the time.  This guy has terrible luck
bamf:  opening out onto a huge battlefield were you ask yourself "where the f#$% do I go"


The Rules of The Game

Ok, so this is my first blog onto my page.  I will not be reviewing a game within a page, rather, I am going to tell you the criteria on which a game will be judged. 
I have been playing games since I was five years old when I got my first system, the Super Nintendo.  It was a beautiful thing.  From age five I was able to play and many people state that games for me are easy to pick up.  There are many games that have impacted me through my life. (That's a whole other blog)  When I review a game I am not going to give it a score or a percentage.  Gamers today sometimes won't even play games if games get a C or 75%.  This is wrong because some of those games are still fun.  Instead I am going to write my review and hopefully people will trust that I know what I am writing about.  These will be the criteria for my reviews.


GAMEPLAY:
First, is the game fun?  This is possibly the most important aspect of a game.  Does the game do something different than another games?  Are the controls hindering the fun?  Does the game get repetitive?  These are just some of the questions that will be answered among this criteria.

ART STYLE:
One of my biggest pet peeves among gamers these days is the talk of graphics.  While I do understand that good graphics does compliment a game it doesn't mean that it is good though.  Instead I am going to look at the art direction that the game has.  I will not rate graphics but instead rate the style and how well it immerses you into the action.

STORY:
This one is pretty obvious for gamers out there.  Does the game trigger your emotions as a person?  Are the characters laughable?  Is the dialogue good?  

At the end I will of each review I will give an overview on the game as a whole and then close on that.  I will also mention other things within my review such as the multiplayer aspects and the sound quality of games but these I feel aren't the most important things in games.