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Call of Duty: World At War-Wii review
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Wii owners who need a hardcore game for the holidays will have a quick and easy search. Compared to the PS3 and 360, there aren't a lot of titles of the triple-A variety on the Wii. But the ones will come close to being a stellar game can keep you surprisingly busy for months. 'Call of Duty: World at War' is definitely one of those games.
Powered of the Call of Duty 4 engine, World at War takes player back to World War II in Japan and Eastern Europe. It brings some improved controls and gives players some of the most intense war action that seems like were leftovers from three WWII movies. That's not to say it doesn't have impressive scenes, great graphics and intense campaign battles, especially a level that has you controlling a tank to take out a German stronghold for Russian forces.
With over 15 missions, nothing's ever dull but sometimes you kind of hope for a level where anything is different than 'kill 40 enemies' before you advance to the checkpoint. And it seems that last three missions of the game are just verging on overkill and the difficulty just seems to spike towards the end. and the added 'Squadmate' mode is feature very similar to 'Super Mario Galaxy''s Co-Star mode, so its best to have an experienced player on hand for the tougher difficulty.
The graphics aren't for HD whores, but they're very solid and not too-hyper detailed. They're great for the Wii (im not comparing it to the other consoles).
The controls seem much better than 'Medal of Honor Heroes 2' as aiming, shooting, and ducking seems correctly mapped to the right buttons. Throwing grenades would seem easy just by pressing the + button, but trying to turn the remote counterclockwise fully is just clumsy and frustrating when combined with trying to pressing the + button. This is a case where motion control should've been used, especially when it comes to throwing back grenades.
As far the voice acting goes, it's pretty solid stuff with Kiefer Sutherland and Gary Oldman but when they're routinely barking orders and telling players what to do, it gives credence to whole movie-like action as opposed to being a war game where you have to think about each move and every soldier on the field runs the risk of dying. But there are some truly unsettling moments in the game, esepcially during the Russian campaign missions.
While the campaign does a solid job, it's multiplayer that's a huge draw-it's online. Best of all, it brings the leveling up system from COD4, which allows more weapons and perks to players who continually play awesome online. Best of all, you don't have to rely on friend codes to join a match (but if you want a private room, friend code strikes again!). And there some modes that were left out on online as the Wii version only gets deathmatchs and team deathmatches. But when the reward for playing online leads to better weapons, it's a worthy cut to keep a game running this smooth.
In fact, one of my biggest qualms about the game is if this is running of the COD4 engine, then why not give Wii owners COD4? While it may seem scaled down for the Wii, this isn't a shoehorned port but why go back to WWII when COD4's setting was much need change of pace for the FPS genre.
Overall, 'World at War' gives Wii players a solid campaign and great online multiplayer. Instantly, one of the better games for the Wii this year.
Grade: B+
The Good: Intense campaign, online multiplayer The Bad: Repetitive objectives, minor control issues, a lot of modes stripped out No more: Shooters in WWII. Please!
Publisher: Activision Developer: Treyarch System: Wii (also on 360/PS3/PC) Available: Now
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