Treyarch are often shunned when it comes to the call of duty series as fans have come to realise that they are not as good as the series other makers: Infinity Ward. This was further emphasised when they took the series back into World War 2, which was seen as a step back for the series, and many fans chose to stick to Call of Duty 4. Luckily Call of Duty World At War is one of the best Call of Duty games to date. And should be picked up by anyone whose a fan of the series.

Call of Duty is split into two campaigns: The American point of view in Japan and the Russian point of view in Russia and Germany. Interestingly the two sides play totally different with the Americans going through what feels like a much more modern war with more exhilarating weapons and a whole new perspective on the war taking it into Japan where jungle fights and ambushes are common. Whilst the Russians take a more traditional Call of Duty route with tank battles, city fights etc. This split game type makes for a great campaign that rivals even Call of Duty 4, however nothing matches the drama of the Nuke in the previous title. Scattered throughout the game are Death Cards, which unlock the ability, alter the game. These include the ability to turn them into Zombies who only die by headshots but a direct headshot causes them to explode by mixing 3 cards together. This is a similar system to Halo 3’s Skulls. To further expand the campaign there are 4 difficulty levels ranging from ‘Play it self’ recruit to ‘Do the grenade dance’ Veteran.

World at War. Making good use of the wiimote controller.

The normal difficulty is the most fun to play as you don’t have to worry to much about dying but the enemy provide a sufficient challenge whilst in Veteran there are so many grenades that you are more than likely going to have to have some serious patience if you want to finish it.

On top of this you also have the fantastic 4-player co-op, which is a first for the series where you and at least one friend do the whole campaign earning points as you go along in a competitive or cooperative fashion. This is also where you can use the aforementioned Death Cards making it a much more fun. And finally when you complete the game on any difficulty you unlock Nazi Zombies. A spectacularly difficult mode where zombies strand you and 4 friends in a house that’s being attacked FOREVER that gradually gets harder. You gain points for kills and you use these points to buy weapons, unlock more areas of the house and more. This is a great way to end the game and adds some much needed comedy to the serious tone given by the campaign.

Graphically Call of Duty is stunning. It uses an improved version of engine that powered Call of Duty 4 meaning that in terms of looks, call of duty is one of the best looking games to grace the console and PC market for quite sometime. This is show almost straight away at the beginning of the game where you have proper full motion shadows, reflections, atmospheric lighting effects and gore with your team mate getting his throat slit by a machete. Speaking of gore, the game doesn’t hold back and holds stretches the boundaries of the 15+ license having limbs flying everywhere, chests being split open and arterial blood sprays everywhere. Considering the blood tends to stay on the battlefield, it adds much to the atmosphere that a World War game should have. Water effects have also seen much improvement and when you are set off to invade Japan in a small landing craft you see just how amazing the game looks. Top this with a superb sound design with spectacular gunshots, explosions, voice acting and music containing slow, tense music and music that gets your heart racing in the heat of a 10 minute gun fight and you have a winner.

Quite engaging, the multiplayer is.

The AI in Call of Duty, as always, is abysmal. Your teammates rarely get the kills, are usually ignored by the enemy and never advance unless you, the lowly private, run head first into the fray. Fans will be instantly familiar with the ally AI and wont be bothered however newcomers may find this style rather jarring and be put off by it. These feelings will be forgotten however once you have been lead down the narrow path the game offers and you step into one of the epic set pieces.

As always these moments are thrilling, action packed and relentlessly difficult. Unfortunately the enemies have had a pocket upgrade since the last game and carry infinite grenades which means if they are not shooting a sandbag they are throwing a grenade from 500 yards away up a impossibly steep hill and landing at your feet. If that is not crazy enough you can have about 8 of these landing at you, around you or literally exploding on contact making the game a lot harder than you might at first suspect. To further add to the frustration the enemies as always have pinpoint accuracy and will never miss if even a pixel is showing making you constant cannon fodder on harder difficulties.

Despite the AI, the story is nicely backed up by a large array of weapons ranging from sub machine guns, machine guns, snipers, rifles and shotguns, grenades, rockets and mines. All the weapons pack a serious punch and tear through the enemy in seconds given the chance. Sub machine guns are medium range guns that shoot with surprising accuracy, rifles ar