Preview: Call of Duty: World At War (360)

Obviously believing in the phrase “if you can’t beat them, join them” World At War borrows an awful lot from COD4. As soon as you start the beta the lobby system you’re greeted with is identical, right down to the challenges and custom weapon slots. It’s certainly no bad thing to follow the path set by one of the best online games of last year, but it just feels like Treyarch were too scared to stray far from the formula set down by Infinity Ward.

There are five modes on offer. Obviously you have the standard deathmatch and team deathmatches. The latter of which is split into two different modes. One lets you join as a party, which is good if you want decent communication out of your experience, the other is for solo players. A good idea really as it does become slightly unfair when you’re on your own with a bunch of random players whereas the opposition came in as a party. War was probably our favourite. It has already appeared in previous COD games, but for those unacquainted with the series then it’s a King of the Hill type game mode, where the idea is to follow the path through the level capturing all the points in order. If there’s no clear winner at the end of the round then it’s over to sudden death where the last capture wins. Finally we have capture the flag which pretty much speaks for itself. Grab the enemy flag and return it your base, all the while defending your own from the enemy.

The three levels featured in the beta don’t seem the best to really show the game off. First we have Castle. A Japanese map, it’s brightly lit with various buildings, gardens all surrounding, as the title suggests, a castle. Then there is Roundhouse, a fairly open area with plenty of rubble and destroyed buildings around a circular structure in the centre. Finally there is Makin. A wooden village setting at night with boardwalks connecting adjacent structures as well, as some foliage to sneak around in. All three of these maps though have the same faults.

The size is an important factor. None seem particularly big, making the whole sneak around crouching part of the classic COD formula pretty pointless. It also makes spawning a nightmare. We’ve lost count of the times we’ve spawned in the middle of gunfire. The maps also aren’t particularly friendly to those that like to take a breather every now and again. While we’re certainly no campers, when playing COD4 we’d like to just sit back for a while, maybe taking position in the top floor of a house. In this though that’s impossible with the majority, if not all, areas having about twenty different entrances and exits. It does force you to constantly be on the move, but it also forces you to run and gun making it seem like you’re playing Doom.

Maybe we’re being overly harsh. There was plenty to like about the beta, including the amazing new “perks” system which includes killer dogs and mortar fire, and the bugs we encountered (players being able to shoot from beneath the level being a highlight) will no doubt be ironed out before the games release next month, but we can’t help being disappointed. It had a tough act to follow and unless the single player (and co-op) campaign is a stellar performance then we feel this may get lost in the Christmas rush. 

UPDATE: After this preview was written the beta got an update which added a new game mode (Search & Destroy), raises the level cap to 24 and introduces some Hardcore playlists.

Words by Adam Gulliver