This shooter series returns to the second World War with some modern sensibilities.
11/25/2008 11:07 PM | 0 Comments | Page 1 of 3
What's Hot: Isn't just another rote WWII FPS.
What's Not: This has some control issues, and not the ones you're already in thera-Wii for.
When you consider that they all seem to follow a formula -- one modeled aesthetically after "Saving Private Ryan" -- it's not surprising that some people have grown tired of World War II first-person shooters. But
Call of Duty: World at War is not your father's WWII FPS (assuming your father worked on the first three Call of Duty games, most of the Medal Of Honor series and all of the Brothers In Arms games). Rather, because it's modeled more on last year's
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare,
World at War plays more like an action movie than a historical drama. But while this never gets silly or over-the-top like one of Bruce Willis' better action flicks, it has some issues that prevent it from being as exciting as those films as well.
Unlike most WWII FPS games,
World at War has you taking on the Japanese as well as the Germans.
The basic setup, as with all games in this series, is that you play as different soldiers in the second World War: in this case, a Russian fighting the Germans, and an American fighting the Japanese. The latter battles set
World at War apart from other games in this genre, as most World War II first-person shooters have shied away from the Pacific theater. This makes sense, since Japan is now our friend -- provider of great cartoons, sushi and giant monster movies -- while Nazis still rank alongside vampires, zombies and Celine Dion as classic videogame bad guys.
And because you're fighting the Japanese,
World at War has some different settings than the usual bombed-out European cities of most WWII FPS games (though there are some good examples of those, too). You'll visit a number of jungle-filled islands, which not only look different, but also have many great places for your enemies to hide within and sneak attack from (which they do, a lot).
Much of the American/Japanese campaign takes places in the jungle.
The action movie vibe comes with the way some missions go down or are set up cinematically. Of course you're rescued at the last moment; of course things explode when you just look at them funny; and so on.
World at War does also have all the touchstones you'd expect from a regulation WWII FPS, including the usual turret battles, having to fight a tank, and a particular exhilarating good time on an airplane.
What makes it more Segal than Schwarzenegger, though, is the controls. And no, we don't mean the inherently inaccurate controls that plague all shooters on the Nintendo Wii.. After all, if you're reading this review, then it's safe to assume you've played a shooter on the Wii before, maybe even a first-person one, and have become accustomed to the system's sensitivity (or as accustomed as anyone can be).
Among the historically accurate weapons you'll have at your disposal is this flamethrower.
No, the problem is that the other controls don't always work as advertised. Let's take the aim assist, which is supposed to lock onto an enemy when you're facing their general direction and hit the Z button to pull up your iron sights. While this works okay when there's only one enemy in your line of sight, or only enemies in your line of sight, it's not as accurate when one of your buddies is nearby. Very, very early in the game, for example, your pal Pvt. Ryan is jumped by a Japanese soldier, who grabs Ryan's gun. So you naturally try to save your pal. But if you use the aim assist, you might accidentally shoot Ryan instead. Every time (which wouldn't be a problem -- that dick Ryan is always making people save him -- except that "Friendly Fire Will Not Be Tolerated," unlike in the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions, where they kind of look the other way).
