 A quality WWII shooter with good multi-player support |
| Review Date: November 12, 2008 |
| Reviewer: Halicon5, Casper, Wyoming United States |
I am tired of World War II shooters. They clutter the market and a lot of them just aren't that fun, in my opinion. This game is an exception to that. The Wii version is basically the same package you would get on the other consoles but I'll be the first to say is the PS3 and XBox 360 versions of this game are superior on pretty much every front that I've seen. In fact, much of my review could be applied to the other versions of the console. My roommate owns the XBox 360 version and it pretty much wows me on every front. If you have the choice, choose one of the more powerful versions, but I'm not disappointed with the Wii version, with only a few exceptions.
Call of Duty covers multiple campaigns in the WWII. At this point I've played about 33% of the single player campaign and several well-spent hours on multi-player. I'm hooked. The game is very well presented with quality cut-scenes and video with old-school WWII footage. Sound is well done and the graphics are very complex, although textures tend to be low-res at times. Some people have complained about the frame rate, but I honestly have not seen any serious frame rate issues. Control is very well done, accurate, and smooth and offers a variety of control schemes to select from, but I prefer the default controls. The game supports the Wii Zapper, which I own and really have no intention to try. It isn't that the game's support for the Wii Zapper peripheral is bad, but more that I think the Wii Zapper is a plastic hunk of junk.
The story focuses on the Pacific theater and German theaters and players will play as a US Marine for part of the game and a Russian allied soldier and sniper in the other part. The Pacific theater portion of the game is fairly formulaic and tells a generic story about a marine which doesn't do much to engage me in terms of story, but the Russian half of the game has gripped me. I was actually disappointed when I switched back to the Marine simply because the Russians had much cooler dialogue. That, plus Russian accents are pretty much rockin', even if people do associate them with communists... not to say Marines aren't cool either, because they are quite awesome too... I digress. What's nice is seeing something a little different.
Like every other WWII shooter out there, this game wallows in a palette of brown, grey, red, and other "World War II" colors. The Pacific campaign has frequent patches of jungle vegetation, which is surprisingly complex. The Russian campaign is more focused on urban and rural combat in a traditional European setting. Levels lead the player along a fair amount and don't give you a lot of room to stray, though some areas do feel more open than others.
Multi-player is probably one of the strongest aspects of this game and will provide a lot of replay value. Up to eight players can compete in death-match and team death-match. Sadly, there is no capture the flag, defend the hill, or anything like that, but what is offered is very solid. In multi-player you can earn experience, level your character up, and gain upgrades. There appear to be a lot of things to unlock, especially if you can complete all of the challenges. In fact, just attempting to complete all of the challenges will probably take someone at least 20 hours. Once a group of players are brought together to play, the game keeps you together until you decide you want to leave the group. This is nice, because there is no need to wait for several minutes between matches just hoping to find players. I really like the multi-player. Except for one thing. FRIEND CODES! Yes. Friend Codes are back and as much of a pain as ever. Please Nintendo, just abandon the friend codes concept, because it really hurts online play. Also, there is no voice chat. I recommend using Ventrillo or some other internet chat service if playing with friends.
The Good:
+++ Quality FPS controls. The pointer controls are smooth and accurate.
+++ The game is not bogged down with gimmicky Wii-waggle controls, a problem many other Wii FPS titles suffer.
+++ Excellent sound effects. Battlefield explosions sound nice and squad members chatter back and forth.
+++ Decent story line split across two campaigns.
+++ The Russian levels are simply awesome and full of atmosphere.
+++ Best online play offering that any Nintendo Wii title has delivered so far.
+++ The game is challenging, even on the easiest level, but also provides a good checkpoint system.
The Bad:
--- Mission objectives are sometimes unclear in single player.
--- Cliched Marine heroes storyline that's been done over and over. The story feels forced, although the voice acting is well done.
--- Friend codes. They're not friendly, nor fun.
--- Limited multi-player modes when compared to the other consoles.
I will say one final thing about this game. It is violent, which should be obvious since it's about WWII. The language is crude and even vulgar at times, probably accurately representing the things you would hear or say on a battle field. People die, and a lot of them die very horribly. This game is not appropriate for children and was rated Mature for a good reason. I strongly urge parents to reconsider any decision to purchase this title for their younger children.
To sum it up, Call of Duty: World at War is a quality first person shooter. The Wii version lives in the shadow of it's PS3 and XBox 360 brothers, but is still a great game. This is probably the best all-around FPS title available on the Wii at the time of this writing. Buy it on any console and have some fun saving the world from facism. |
Best online wii game with solid single player
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| Review Date: November 21, 2008 |
| Reviewer: Kevbo, Jersey |
Single Player:
It has a great story that is very mature but well scripted. It is also quite challenging on the harder difficulties.
Mulitplayer:
This is where the game shines. All the perks, classes, attachments, upgrades, levels, leaderboards, stats are in there which is great. Plenty of maps that are varied both in terrain and style. No waiting for games and I haven't experienced any lag yet. I couldn't find the awesome filters and searches that MOHH2 had but the quick match has worked flawlessly for me so far.
Controls:
There are a good amount of options that let you adjust and fine tune both normal and 'down the sights' camera controls and bounding boxes. The cursor is responsive and smooth.
Finally the game just plays great. The single player is fun and gets you some practice for the multiplayer. The hit detection online is good and the graphics are much better than most games. If you like online FPS then stop reading and go get the game.
9.0 Presentation
I actually really like how the present the story and explain the history with real footage and good scripting.
8.0 Graphics
They did a great job creating open jungle levels and big multiplayer maps. The guns look really nice as well
as many other textures.
8.0 Sound
Great gun and bullet sounds as well as explosions. Some of the foreign voice acting could have been better but no complaints.
9.0 Gameplay
Single player is fast and intense. Multiplayer is addictive and rewarding. Controls are varied and responsive. Most importantly, it is FUN!
9.0 Lasting Appeal
I can see myself playing online for quite some time. I also noticed that there are already many many people playing this game so the more the merrier ;)
8.8 OVERALL
(out of 10 / not an average) |
Well Done! Well Done!
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| Review Date: November 21, 2008 |
| Reviewer: J. Washburn, San Diego, CA |
I have been reading all the other reviews over the past few days and some of them made me wonder if the game was worth it or it was gonna be a dud. I was really worried about the aspect ratio in the coop mode. I was worried about the online play. I was worried about the scoring system. I was worried that a game I really enjoyed, Call of Duty 4, was going to be tainted by a bad game. WoW was I ever glad to be wrong.
Let me tell you about Call of Duty: World at War.
Its realistic. Its honest. Its brutal. Its massive. Its haunting. Its chaotic. Its mind-numbingly astonishing. Its everything COD4 introduced and everything COD4 could not be. It hits home. It makes you appreciate the terror our men faced during those times. It makes you realize that war is not pretty, its evil and sick; and the landscapes, buildings and natural surroundings are just as deadly as the people that hide in them.
For those of you who have ragged on this game I think your nuts. The controls are the same. The ranking systems are similiar. The coop play is amazing. The single player story line is terrifying. The maps on multi player stay with you long after you stop playing... the belfry that you can snip from, the cat walk beside the giant water tower that you can hide on, the tanks, the bunkers, the assylum and its haunting rooms, the air field, the normady beach, the cliffsides, the jungles...
I was playing last night on one of the online maps. I was running away from this guy and I had ditched him and found a small hiding place to make a stand and ambush him. As my heart slowed and I gained my bearings I started looking around... thats when I realized I was in a room with bars on the windows and a broken wooden door not far from me. I started examining the room. I looked up and thats when my heart stopped. I saw a long set of pipes that trailed the ceiling and at the end of each set of pipes was a sprinkler or a shower head... I was in a gas chamber. I was standing inside a chamber that was recreated from images out of a WWII concentration camp.
World at War is incredible. It is beyond imagination. I am floored and I am left without anything more to say than - WoW.
Buy this game. If you loved COD4... hold onto your SixAxis controller cause your gonna be blown away.
Happy Hunting and as you play, remember those who have embraced the slumber that they will never be awakened from... who sacrificed their life so you could have the freedom to play a game like World at War.
Never Forgotten! Always Remembered!
Edit:
It is December 22nd and I am reviewing what I previously wrote and I must say that I am even more impressed with COD5 than I originally was. I went back and played COD4 the other day and I was dissapointed at the lack of colors and suspense and at how 'sandbox' the levels are. I have fun with COD4 but to be honest there is just something about COD5 that hooks me.
I must admit that I am fairly new to the COD franchise. I recall playing COD3 I believe or possibly COD Big Red One. But I was not impressed. It was fun. But no high replay value. The WWII stuff was cool but not so much. The game was cheesy and hard and I was not impressed with the COD franchise at the time. When I played COD4 I was really impressed. When I played COD5 I was hooked and I am now a believer in the COD franchise.
I do not want to spoil too much for anyone but here are some small tips. Go online and try the Co-op campaing modes with your buddies. Or rather go head to head with them in a coop competition to see who gains the most points at the end of the session. COD5 is brilliant and I do not regret a day gone by for having bought it. While you are playing look around the maps, use teamwork that you will need to achieve victory against your opponent. I have to admit that I truly enjoy all of the maps. Each map has the perfect place for every kind of player and ever kind of player class. The only problem is others know those perfect spots too but occasionally you find your sweet spot.
So. Once again. Happy hunting and I will look forward to seeing you on the battle field.
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This game is ruining my marriage and my internet connection!
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| Review Date: March 6, 2009 |
| Reviewer: H. Sapiens, Sacramento, CA United States |
| This game is apparently highly addictive (to my husband). However, there are a couple of caveats on the Wii version - 1) control seems a bit awkward, 2) the dogs are obnoxious, 3) it is sometimes hard to hear orders, and 4) 2 player mode (the second player can only "help" and has no free motion ability). This actually works b/c I am not going to devote hours like (ahem) certain people playing this game. Another plus is that the 2nd player can come and go at will without affecting the main player, which I guess allows us some contact. Online play seems to be the way to go and provides a richer experience, however it is a drain causing connectivity issues for other users (e.g. me, innocently watching apple tv). If you have a newer D-Link router, there is a patch available for this game that helps slightly. We get about 2.8 Mbps upstream and 500 Kbps downstream - there is no lag with accessing networked drives but streaming video from the computer while playing this game is a no-go. I'm trying to keep my sense of humor. |
World at War Collectors Edition: The Truth!
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| Review Date: November 12, 2008 |
| Reviewer: Joseph A. Lewis, |
My wife bought this for me as an early christmas present. I wholly enjoyed the previous CoD games, and was really looking forward to this one.
Unfortunately, the CE version is completely NOT worth your money.
Let's list the bonuses, and the problems with each:
The Canteen: This is, in fact, NOT a canteen. It's more like a flask. Oh... and it's welded shut. A hastily applied sticker over the packaging on the back tells us that it is "For display only, not for drinking"
Ok, that's not a huge issue, I mean, it's just a gimmick, right? The other bonuses are pretty good still!
The "Day 1 edge": First off, let me say that most of this will be second-hand information, because MY REDEMPTION CODE WAS BLANK.
From what I understand, there are a lot of people having issues with codes not working, codes not received, etc. In addition, the high-level gun is only available if you play the class it's for. It's NOT fully available... you cannot use it to create your own class.
For all of the problems people are having with their collector's editions, there have been little to no response from the makers. Their support forum has over 100 pages of posts from people having problems, and there is not a single post from an admin or developer, answering them.
If you want to buy the collector's edition, just keep in mind that you very well may not get your money's worth. BUYER BEWARE! |
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