Call of Duty: World War II

Activision has answered most of their fans wishes with the new Call of Duty by taking it back to its roots. The last three games in the Call of Duty series have been hit with an increasing amount of negative reviews, mostly due to advanced movement being implemented into the series. As we all know, some of the best and most well received call of duty games have been based around past and present war settings. The series took a turn into the future with Advanced Warfare, Black Ops III, and Infinite Warfare being the last three titles released. While they still racked up large amounts of sales, a lot of players who have been with the series for a long time have not been satisfied with these games, stating that Call of Duty should go back to being a boots on the ground game. Well, these fans got their wishes this year. Step into action as a World War II soldier in the newly released Call of Duty: WWII by Sledgehammer Games and Raven Software.

Campaign

Let’s start things off with the campaign. In the very first mission, you get to storm the beaches of Normandy (D-Day) as PVT Daniels, a young soldier from a small town in Texas. From there, you (PVT Daniels) will fight through the German troops throughout the campaign until the Nazi’s fall back and surrender to end the war. I don’t want to go into too much detail that would ruin the campaign for people who have yet to play, but for anyone who has enjoyed the previous Call of Duty campaigns, you will not be disappointed. The newest and most notable change to campaign is the deletion of health regeneration. Now, players have a health bar which will not be replenished unless you find or request health packs from your fellow soldiers. Now, these health packs are limited and it makes you change how you play the campaign. Personally, as a seasoned Call of Duty player, I chose to play through the campaign on Hardened difficulty my first time around and I will say the change in health regeneration made me change the way I played the campaign. At times, I felt annoyed about this change, but it made me slow down and play the game more tactically which resulted in more enjoyment on my end. The cut scenes throughout single player are very detail oriented, and almost feel as if you are watching real soldiers fight due to the high graphic quality. Along with the cut scenes, the graphics in this campaign were very impressive, and the whole time I spent playing the campaign was visually appealing. Sledgehammer added classic mission styles back into games such as undercover ambush attacks, stealth missions, and an airborne mission where you are the pilot of a fighter jet. Overall, the storyline as a whole was put together very nicely and I enjoyed every moment of single player campaign.

 

Zombies

The all new Zombies brings back the popular game mode of fighting your way through hordes of deadly zombies, while attempting to achieve the highest rounds possible. After a few runs with some friends, I can honestly say I enjoy the zombie’s game mode for the first time since the original Black Ops. Like the previous games, CoD: WWII allows 4 players to work together to fight through hordes of zombies that get more and more difficult as rounds pass by. Also, each player can pick between four different units: Offense, Control, Medic and Support, which all provide different in-game abilities. You can also rank up and unlock custom classes to help fight the horde more effectively.  The currency used in the game mode are classified as “jolts”. While some of my friends already figured out what objectives you can complete to help survival, I have not yet done them myself. From the games I did play, I had a lot of fun with the more affordable guns and armor that you can purchase. The map itself is also very large with the ability to go through the underground and power up items to help take out the zombies. Fortunately, I was lucky enough to play with more experienced zombie players and in one game I pack-a-punched the Thompson and BAR, which turned these guns into deadly weapons against the zombies. Sadly, this game was played until round 19, when all of a sudden the server disconnected. Despite the crash, I had a lot of fun with the weapons both regular and pack-a-punched. There is a giant boss that spawns after a series of objective completions, but I have yet to fight this so called “boss”. Zombie fans will absolutely love the new zombie game mode and I cannot wait to play more.

 

Multiplayer

Finally, we can settle in and talk about the multiplayer in this game. Overall, I absolutely love multiplayer and I think both Sledgehammer and Raven Software (War mode) did a good job to bring back classic warfare fighting in online. First things first, the new Call of Duty online headquarters is an amazing new feature which lets friends and other online CoD players hangout in a base that has a list of things you can do from there. While in headquarters, you can do the following:

 

• Test out weapons and attachments in the firing range. As a player, you can also challenge others to a shootout mode and whoever scores the highest points from hitting targets wins.
• Create and customize an emblem to stand next to your player card.
• Prestige your divisions
• Sign contracts for online games to complete and earn XP.
• Test out every score streak against AI bots.
• Play classic Activision games that cost a small amount of armory credits,
• Customize your character and weapons.
• In the headquarters, there is a small 1v1 arena in which 2 people sign up to play. Randomly, there will be a list of 3 weapons and each player is given the option to ban one weapon. The remaining weapon is was each player gets to battle in a short 60 second, 3 kills to win match. Winner earns king of the hill title until they lose.

 

Honestly, the 1v1 arena is an awesome feature and I have played numerous matches with friends that are filled with fun and competition.

 

Onto the multiplayer itself, I do enjoy it, but it has its flaws just like every other Call of Duty. The game only has 9 standard maps at launch, and I feel like that is a very low amount considering previous games have 12-16 maps at launch. I find myself consistently playing on the same few maps, and I would really enjoy more variety in the maps when playing online. I personally think it is kind of selfish to only release 9 maps to the public, knowing these maps will be worn down fast that pushes players to purchase DLC. The maps themselves are pretty good in my opinion, and I am content with the flow of gameplay in all of the maps. Other than a few minor things that irritate me (hit markers, head glitches, quick scoping), I really have enjoyed online multiplayer in WWII. The standard and hardcore playlists feature classic games such as team deathmatch, search and destroy, domination, free for all, and hardpoint (not hardcore) which we have seen in most all previous Call of Duty games. A new game mode that has been added is called gridiron ball. In the game, a ball spawns in the middle of the map and the objective is to grab it and score by either throwing it or walking it into the opposing team’s goal. Throwing the ball and scoring earns less points than walking it in, and balls thrown off the map reset in the middle of the map. I played a few matches of this game mode and it is quite fun, similar to capture the flag but the ball carrier has slightly higher health shields. The next and most notable new addition of game mode to multiplayer is war. War currently has 3 maps, each that are different missions, in which two teams have to attack and defend 3 phases of objectives. Each team gets a chance on offense and defense, with defense having a slight spawn delay. If the offense can complete all 3 objectives, they win the round. If the defense stops the offense from completing any of the objectives, then they win the round. If one side each wins a round, i am unsure how they determine the winner for statistics, but they encourage playing objective by removing kills and deaths from your soldier stats. I really enjoy that addition because it helps people want to push up more and fight without worrying about a high amount of deaths affecting their stats. War mode is very fun and has potential to earn a player a very high amount of xp, depending on how well they play. It is definitely one of those game modes you will want to party up for, as playing solo with random teammates against parties can be miserable. I have played numerous matches with friends and we have had a blast so far. The new game mode brings intensity to objective based games and is a very fun way to spend your time on multiplayer.

 

The new things that Call of Duty has introduced to multiplayer are the new divisions. On each create a class, you can chose from the following divisions:

 

• Infantry: The most versatile division in the game, it is equipped for mid to long range combat. The special skill of this division is the bayonet charge, which can lead to brutal melee combat.
• Airborne: This division makes players move fast while remaining quiet. Players in this division can attach suppressors to sub-machine guns at any time during combat which allows for more stealth based gameplay style.
• Armored: This division has the heaviest firepower, being able to mount machine guns.
• Mountain: This division focuses on long range combat, making sniper rifles more precise with aim assist and improving the aim through scope by blocking out surroundings from player’s view.
• Expeditionary: Shotguns used by players in this division have incendiary rounds that burn enemies to death.

 

The divisions are added to classes that suit each person’s playstyles, and have small perks that come with them. Speaking of perks, I am glad that this game did away with the three perk system and instead added combat training skills. These skills are as followed:

 

• Concussed – Take a British N 69 as a tactical and an extra piece of Lethal equipment.
• Inconspicuous – Quieter movement, and walk fast while crouched.
• Hunker – Early grenade warning, and take less explosive damage. Bonus: Fuse of Mk2 Fragmentation is reset on throwback.
• Energetic – Sprint again sooner, and no damage from falling.
• Scoped – While aiming down sights, have less idle sway and move faster.
• Flanker – While moving quickly, hidden from enemy Recon Aircraft. Bonus: Delayed detonation of enemy mines.
• Bang – Take a Mk Fragmentation as a Lethal and an extra piece of Tactical equipment.
• Forage – Resupply bullets from killed enemies, and swap weapons faster.
• Duelist – Take akimbo pistols as a Secondary. Bonus: Extra pistol ammunition.
• Serrated – Take Melee Weapon as Primary, and melee faster. Bonus: Two Throwing Knives and two Tacticals.
• Undercover – Killed enemy death locations hidden, and reticles do not change when targeted.
• Primed – Additional Primary Attachment, and flinch less when shot.
• Ordnance – Cheaper scorestreaks, and ability to re-roll your own Care Packages.
• Gunslinger – Fire guns while sprinting and diving.
• Lookout – Enemy targets appear from further away, and increased mini-map coverage.
• Hustle – Reload faster and while sprinting.
• Rifleman – Take two primary weapons, and swap faster.
• Instincts – Warning when targeted off-screen, and detect enemy explosive equipment.
• Requisitions – Scorestreaks do not reset on death, but cost more and can only be earned once.
• Launched – Take Launcher as Secondary, and resupply it from enemies killed without explosives
• Espionage – Enemy Scorestreaks and enemies you damage appear on mini-map.

 

Call of Duty has been due to upgrade its overpowered perk systems in previous games, and this new system has helped solved the problem of perks that gave players a large advantage over others simply because of their perks. I currently use Rifleman and Lookout on my Airborne and Infantry Divisions. These two divisions are the primary divisions I use simply because I stick to SMG’s and Rifles just like every other CoD game. I really enjoy the new additions to Call of Duty online and despite a few minor things I don’t like in the game, it is honestly a good time hoping in online and playing in multiplayer. I have not been too excited for a new Call of Duty in a long time and this game brought my excitement back. I look forward to playing more in the months to come.

Taking a look at the game as a whole, I would give this game a 9/10 rating as it is a very well rounded game. Campaign, zombies, and multiplayer are all packed with a lot of awesome new additions that will help bring back a lot of players who left the Call of Duty community.