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Nintendo media summit - Call of Duty: World at War - impressions

by rawmeatcowboy
06 October 2008
GN 1.0 / 2.0

On the media summit show floor, Call of Duty: World at War was positioned right next to The Conduit. That’s a tough break for the guys at Activision. In my opinion, there’s no way the graphics in Call of Duty: World at War can hold a candle to The Conduit. Good thing I’m not a graphics whore! I gave the game a fair shake, just as I did every other title. It seems that the Wii version of World at War may actually be getting a good amount of attention from its dev team.

As I said, Call of Duty: World at War doesn’t have the same level of graphical fidelity in The Conduit, but it still looks pretty good. You can see the enhancements that the Call of Duty 4 engine allows on the Wii. The title definitely looked a step above most third party Wii titles, which is not to see. It was also running at a good clip, unless you decided to use your flamethrower on everything in sight. If you did that and tried to move on at the same time, the game would slow to a chug. That’s okay though…you aren’t supposed to walk through fire anyway!

Gameplay seemed like any other Call of Duty title to me. Running and gunning isn’t really the best way to handle things. You have to find a nice place to bunker down for a bit, and pick off some enemies before you make your way across the playing field. There’s definitely a lot of action going on, with gunfire flying overhead, and enemies sneaking up to bash you in the face. The game is intense, and will provide you with a ton of gunplay to deal with. As I said, this is just like any other entry in the series…and it’s a franchise I am growing tired of.

Controls seemed pretty good. I had no trouble picking things up and getting used to them on their default setting. No word on how many control schemes will be available, or what type of customization there will be, but I am sure you’ll be able to make whatever is included work.

I also got to check out the co-op mode. This is just a second player cursor on-screen. Basically, it’s like you’re playing a first person shooter, and your partner is playing an on-rails shooter. You’ll also have to make sure you help your partner grab weapons to use. When you walk over a dropped gun/ammo pack, the screen gives an option for both player. You have to use communication to figure out who needs what. You don’t want your partner left with no ammo during the middle of an intense fight.

Overall, World at War is looking solid, if not a little predictable. We didn’t get to check out any multiplayer features, so no word on how well that will turn out. If you’re looking for a standard FPS with a bit of motion controlled fun, you could do a lot worse than World at War.