Call of Duty: Modern Warfare took
the first-person shooter series to a level it had never been before. The switch
from the traditional World War II scene to the current era of warfare paid off
in a big way for Activision and its developer Infinity Ward. The single-player
mission was excellent and the online play for Modern Warfare still has people
hooked. But Activision made several changes for this version including switching
the developer to its other dev team – Treyarch – and moving the scene back to
World War II for its newest installment in Call of Duty: World at War. And
perhaps the biggest change of all is that a Call of Duty game will be available
for the Wii for the first time.
Since Call of Duty: World at War is
now on the Wii, it has many people wondering how this first-person shooter will
translate to the system. Well the Wii’s version of World at War is aided heavily
by the fact that this is a Call of Duty game, meaning it’s going to be good no
matter what system it’s on. The concept for the single-player campaign is once
again great as it plays off the model Modern Warfare presented in switching back
and forth between storylines.
One story follows the American –
Miller – through his attacks on the Japanese while the other story is about a
Russian named Dimitri who is battling the Germans around Berlin. This version of
Call of Duty is way darker as well since cinematic scenes show prisoners being
burned in the face with cigarettes, soldiers get lit on fire with flamethrowers,
and a whole lot of swearing is thrown into the mix.
The ever popular online play is back
again along with the ranking system which allows people to level up as they
play. It’s as good as ever, but a couple of things have been changed. The
helicopters which players got for killing seven people in a row without dying
have been replaced by killer dogs and these are even harder to avoid than the
choppers. And, unfortunately, the co-op campaign mode isn’t found in the Wii’s
version of World at War.
The graphics in this game are pretty
solid for a Wii game since they’re not as far off the PS3 and Xbox versions as
other titles are; they’re still a step down though. As mentioned before, the
sound will involve a whole lot of cussing in World at War to authenticate this
WW II model. And Activision really pulled out all the stops when they hired
major actors like Kiefer Sutherland (Sgt. Roebuck) and Gary Oldman (Sgt. Reznov)
to do voice acting for the game.
The only thing that the Wii’s Call
of Duty: World at War suffers from is poor gameplay. Players will use the
nunchuk to guide their character’s footsteps and the Wii remote to aim the gun.
In theory, this sounds cool but the process can be painstaking and you may even
get dizzy from trying to aim the gun. Luckily, you can switch the controls to
five different styles and one of them includes the use of the Wii Zapper.
However, none of these five modes, including the Wii Zapper, makes things much
easier on players. This is the only flaw in an otherwise enjoyable game.
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Review Scoring Details for Call of Duty: World at War |
Gameplay: 5.6
The faulty control scheme is the only thing holding the Wii’s Call of Duty:
World at War back from being an excellent game.
Graphics: 8.7
Activision Blizzard has done an admirable job in implementing good graphics
into a Wii game.
Sound: 9.0
Depending on your tastes, the swearing may be for better or for worse. But
one can’t argue with the excellent voice acting which includes the talents of
Kiefer Sutherland and Gary Oldman.
Difficulty: Hard
On the PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360, World at War would only be moderately
difficult. However, the Wii’s control scheme makes things a whole lot tougher.
Multiplayer: 8.5
The multiplayer setup is once again excellent, but the absence of the co-op
campaign mode really hurt the game here.
Concept: 8.9
A great campaign featuring multiple storylines has been rolled out once
again and the multiplayer mode is still top notch.
Overall: 8.1
It would be easy to
let the gameplay stop you from wanting to play Call of Duty: World at War, but
there are just so many other things the game has to offer. If you own a Wii and
are confident in your Wii remote abilities than this is an excellent game to
pickup.
