Call of Duty: World at War

Voices of: Gary Oldman, Kiefer Sutherland, Chris Fries, Aaron Stanford,
Developer: Treyarch
Rating: M
Genre: First-person shooter
System: Wii
2008

Times Completed:
Tim: 1

Summary: U.S. Marine Private Miller fights in World War II to end the regimes of nefarious nations.

Review:
Tim: Call of Duty: World at War is the fifth game in the franchise, but my first experience with it. I really enjoyed the game- I quickly became immersed into conflicts in the European and Pacific theaters. The story and characters pulled me in. It was great fun working through the various campaigns in this first-person shooter game.

This franchise has certainly made its name in realistic first-person combat. That is the case here, in a surprisingly violent (at times) video game. Playing war games is always an experience- to some extent, you (hopefully) learn some history about the conflict you're playing in. It also reminds you of the human element- you can see casualty lists and sometimes forget those are individuals, fighting and dying for their cause. This game puts you right in the middle of the action and it's absolutely intense and occasionally riveting. I played the game on the Wii, so the visuals were obviously not as refined as on some other consoles, but it didn't bother me while playing. I had a blast fighting through the different missions here.

The game itself mostly works well. I enjoyed using the wiimote and the nunchuck- it gave you the impression you were holding a weapon while still being different enough to remind me I was just playing a video game. The missions were exciting and varied enough that I never really got bored. The music was impressive, the voice acting excellent, the sound effects realistic. For the time in which the game was released, I had nothing but positives about the look and feel of the game. For the voice actors, I loved that Gary Oldman and Kiefer Sutherland stepped into roles. I'm not sure I recognized them at the time, but I do remember the voices often being compelling in this game. I like when actors branch out into video games.

This is still the only Call of Duty game I've played. I had a lot of fun playing it, though, and this is a reminder that I might want to revisit this franchise at some point. I know there's a ton of first-person shooters, but given the military angle, this franchise is just about the gold standard. I was a big fan of this game as I played through it.



Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: N/A



If You Enjoyed This Game, We Recommend: Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII, Medal of Honor: Rising Sun