Call of Duty: World at War (DS)

This shooter shows why FPSes don't work with a touch-screen.
11/25/2008 11:10 PM | 0 Comments | Page 1 of 3

A few weeks ago, I concluded my review of Quantum of Solace on the DS by saying that maybe it should've been a first-person shooter like the other versions. But after playing the DS version of Call of Duty: World at War -- which is a first-person shooter -- I realize that no, no it shouldn't have been. At least, not like this.

COD: WAW is one of the single most frustrating experiences I've had playing a game this year -- and last year, and the year before that. Why anyone thought this version was a good idea is beyond me, but I'd like to shake their hand for being so inept and ask them how they enjoyed their stint in the Bush administration.

The source of all the frustration is the controls. Using a combination of the directional pad and the stylus (or the buttons and the stylus, if you're a leftie), you use the former to move forward and back, strafe left or right, and, if you tap up or down twice, run or crouch. To shoot, you hit the L or R button. The direction you move, and thus shoot, is then handled by the stylus.

But while this sounds like it might work in theory, in practice it just doesn't. Trying to bear down on an enemy in the heat of a firefight is even more difficult here than it is on the notoriously inaccurate Nintendo Wii. It also makes it difficult to retreat when you're injured -- which you will be, a lot. In trying to back up when I was being riddled full of bullets, I often found myself going into the crouching position, which helped slightly but wasn't at all what I wanted to do, and it still resulted in my being buried in an unmarked grave in some foreign land.

It doesn't make things any better that, while you aim by moving the stylus on the lower screen, you actually play on the upper one. It's a disconnect that never goes away, even after you've gotten as much of a hand on the controls as anyone can get. (I must admit, though: If you both aimed and played on the lower screen, I'd probably be bitching about how your stylus hand often blocks part of the screen, making you vulnerable to attacks from that side.)

Also, using the L or R buttons to shoot becomes cramp-inducing after only a few minutes, though this could just be the whining of someone who doesn't consider the DS his platform of choice; veteran DS fans might not have this problem.