I’ve been reviewing Call of Duty games for as long as they’ve been making them – that’s 10/29/2003 for those of you who are too young to remember or too battle-weary to look it up. That’s 14 years of CoD and it seems as if just as many games in that time. The franchise has taken us all over the globe across multiple eras of history and even presented a futuristic look at space warfare, but thanks to the incessant clamoring of loyal fans (and a super-successful competitor franchise) Call of Duty returns to its roots in Call of Duty: WWII.
Arguably, some of the best Call of Duty games were during the first half of its existence, with amazing titles like the three primary games, World at War, and even some fantastic spin-off titles like Finest Hour and Big Red One. In 2007 Call of Duty started to dabble in “modern warfare” and it was pretty much downhill from there; at least if you are a boots-on-the-ground video game soldier. Call of Duty: WWII tries to blend the old with the new, delivering us an authentic WWII cinematic experience ripped right from the pages of Saving Private Ryan, while surgically removing any hint of futurist battle suits, jetpacks, or crazy online gameplay gimmicks. But never fear…Zombies are back and this time they are Nazis and scary as hell thanks to the influence of veteran developers from the original Dead Space team.
There were no surprises when playing WWII which was both comforting and disappointing. With the franchise coming around full-circle in tonal themes and period piece battles – some of which have already been done multiple times – now, more than ever, it is easy to see that Call of Duty has fallen into a parody of itself. During the 8-10 hours it took to finish the campaign (on Hardened) it was painfully obvious to see Sledgehammer checking off all the checkboxes on the Call of Duty design doc, which must now be carved in stone and placed on an altar within the halls of Activision. Operation Overlord at Normandy Beach…check. Drive a tank…check. Fly a plane…check. Crazy jeep chasing a train sequence…check. Hey…didn’t they just do that in the last Uncharted game? Never mind…check.
Sledgehammer desperately wants you to care for your comrades, but you really don’t despite their damnedest attempts to deliver cutscene upon cutscene, loads of frat house banter, and even a few scripted moments where you save or get saved by your squad. Sadly, it was hard for me to even care about the particular battles they chose to include in the game. Nearly all of them have been done before in either game or movie form, and with so much material to be mined from WWII history it’s a shame we get the same stuff over and over again.
One thing that Call of Duty: WWII nails is the gameplay, returning to its old-school roots of med kits and reasonable limitations on weapons and ammo. No longer are you Rambo strutting into battle with a dozen guns and the magical ability to heal while hiding behind a rock. Now you are bound to reality; or at least video game reality, where you might need to rely on your squad to replenish your ammo, grenades, and med kits, or use them to call out enemy locations or call in an air strike. These squad assist interactions are a cool addition, yet flawed in their execution, as you have to be unreasonably close and facing your squad mate to invoke their ability. And all abilities have cool down timers lest you think you can hang out with Zussman and spam med kits all day long. Med kits put their own spin on gameplay since it takes at least two to fully fill your health bar and you can only carry four. Additionally, there is a built-in delay on using a health pack, so you need to be in relative safety before using.
Being part of a squad or even a larger fighting force should be an advantage, both in firepower and your ability to blend in, but sadly every enemy in the game seems determined to come after you and you alone, and only on the rarest of occasions (often scripted) will your Allied AI ever actually kill an enemy soldier. The missions are designed as these linear kill boxes where enemies will either appear or retreat when you cross some arbitrary invisible line. There was one scene where I was sniping soldiers in a farmer’s field and the enemies just kept coming and coming. I took a few steps forward and all of the sudden they all started to retreat and my men, who were all behind me shooting (but not hitting anything) all decided to rush into the field. While I don’t recommend sprinting through the entire game, just know that there are trigger points to jumpstart the game if you feel you are stuck.
I did appreciate the slower pace of the game brought on by a more realistic approach to weapons, ammo, and healing. The only thing remotely “gamey” about the fighting was the one ability your scout had to make the enemies glow, which often proved invaluable in picking them out of the insanely detailed environments or even distinguishing them from your own men as once again…Friendly Fire Will Not Be Tolerated…even when some tool walks in front of you or rushes toward your recently thrown grenade.
Collectors might enjoy trying to find the 33 Mementos scattered about the game. I certainly didn’t go out of my way to find them, and when I did, they were kind of uninteresting items like a watch; nothing like the previous games where you collected intel items that might be useful to the war. The story and pacing were all over the place. I enjoyed some parts more than others like the flashback of a family hunting trip that went bad that directly impacted my current situation, or the letter from my gal back home who was pregnant – I was certain I was going to die after this reveal for some cheesy dramatic moment at the end – kudos to the writers for not doing this.
Given the length and scope of the campaign I can give Call of Duty: WWII a cautious recommendation for those interested in the campaign alone. I was miffed that my favorite parts of the game – driving a tank and flying a plane – were restricted to single short events only. Just about the time I figured out how to fly that plane the mission was over and you never do it again. I did enjoy the major historical battles and I was majorly impressed with the mid-game stealth mission where you play a French female spy breaking into a Nazi HQ. The game has its moments; sometimes too big like a certain train wreck that just wouldn’t end. Seriously…it was 2-3 times longer than the one in the movie, Super 8.
As far as technical proficiency, WWII is impressive putting a high-tech look on low-tech warfare. We reviewed the game on both PC and PS4 Pro and I’m as shocked as anyone when I have to admit that the PS4 Pro may be the system of choice for this release if for no other reason than its implementation of HDR. Both the PC and PS4 ran at 60fps – I’m not sure if the PS4 was dynamically changing resolution or quality to maintain that framerate, but if it was I couldn’t tell. The PC version, when unlocked, could hit FPS in the 200’s at 1080p on my GTX 1080ti but dropped to 47-55 at full 4K in several action-heavy parts. Tweaking a few settings from Ultra down to High filled in the missing frames, or you can lock the v-sync and let the game handle the settings.
The multi-channel audio is most impressive, surrounding you in the horrors of war while maintaining appropriate emotional investment with an epic score and perfectly mixed dialogue, so you never miss a word, but I still turned on subtitles just to know who was talking and to hear/read distant casual dialogue from the enemies. I won’t get into the whole keyboard and mouse vs controller battle, but the game played perfectly on the PS4 with a DualShock just as well as it did on the PC with an Xbox 360 controller. And for those looking for extreme precision; especially in their multiplayer, fire up your best mechanical keyboard and laser mouse for best results.
Speaking of multiplayer, it’s time for our veteran military specialist, Mitch Cullen, to chime in with his thoughts on a week spent online with WWII.
I had all but given up on Call of Duty Multiplayer when they first introduced all that jetpack wall-running BS a few installments ago. Even the zombie stuff, which has always been a guilty pleasure, seemed to be flying off the rails, so I am happy to say that WWII does restore a bit of legitimacy back into the franchise simply by bringing things back to their roots.
The biggest new idea, and certainly one with the most promise, is the new Headquarters, which, even after nearly two weeks since launch is still kind of a mess, but if/when it starts working it should be amazing and provide a great social aspect to what used to be mere menus and setup screens in past games. For those who’ve played Destiny, just think of HQ as the tower, a sprawling social lobby where you can walk around and interact with various vendors, practice at a gun range, engage in 1v1 battles, and even sort through your loot boxes that drop in with uncanny precision.
But behind the new and fancy front door is a polished and refined Call of Duty experience that I can not only play but highly recommend. With a more realistic approach to mobility and historically accurate weapons, the entire game is now a much thoughtful, slower, and sometimes tactical affair if you choose to play it that way, and unlike the past few games, doesn’t punish you if you are determined to play tactically. Yes, there are still the kids out there running and jumping and spamming grenades, but they are the ones that will be punished by this new take on multiplayer.
All your favorite modes are back like Team Deathmatch, Domination, etc. but once you experience the new mode, War, you might not play anything else. War is an objective based game set in maps that are much larger than the traditional modes. The beauty of this mode is that it makes the game a much more rewarding experience for players of all skill levels while catering to personal playstyle preferences. I enjoy providing a sniper overwatch for the rest of my team, and while that might brand you a “camper” in TDM, it’s actually a useful role in War.
As always, Call of Duty comes loaded with all sorts of perks and weapon attachments and you have the full ability to customize all this along with killstreaks, etc. It’s all the same style content we’ve come to expect from the franchise, but it’s a bit more grounded in reality this time and presented in a much more organized fashion by being categorized into military divisions – something I can relate to and respect.
We can’t finish up without talking about Zombies. How this became a thing is beyond me, but I actually do enjoy cutting down the undead from time to time and when your zombies are part of the Nazi regime it’s even more satisfying. While the core of the game remains the same – kill zombies to earn credits to unlock doors and buy bigger guns to kill more zombies to keep going until you die – this endurance mode definitely got some improvements and a tonal shift to a seriously dark and horrific place. The zombies themselves are incredibly detailed and totally disgusting with rotting flesh falling off bones and all sorts of deformities. For those who always got lost or never knew what to do in past zombie games; now there is an objective indicator to keep you on track, and they also added ultimate abilities; these super attacks that are great for getting you out of a tight situation, especially if you can coordinate their use with your teammates. In the eight years of Call of Duty zombie games, this is the most fun I’ve had since the Alcatraz game.
Whether you are playing with close friends or strangers, online or couch co-op, there is plenty of Call of Duty multiplayer action already available and more on the way. It’s a great way to extend your time with the game beyond the core story, which I would like to comment on, only if to say that I thought it was expertly crafted and presented, and even though it was totally derivative of existing entertainment sources, it often did a better job of presenting the horrors of war during that era. The one scene of the artillery blowing up trees sending shards of wood into soldiers was a spot-on reality check. — Mongoose out.
And there you have it. Another year, another Call of Duty, and another Call of Duty review. I’m guessing this reboot back to WWII will bring back some of the fans who stopped playing when everything got all modern, and for those looking for a quality WWII experience with action, suspense, and challenging gameplay, you won’t be sorry. The story will keep you busy for a day or so, and the multiplayer will keep you coming back until next November when we do it all again. See you then.
