By the mid 00’s World War II shooters were becoming tiresome. Almost every significant battle had been covered multiple times by every franchise going, and there’s only so many ways you can re-frame the story of the allied forces pushing back against the German empire in Europe to take victory. Different franchises had different solutions to this, and some just failed to adapt, but Call of Duty was the first to ditch World War II and replace it with a modern military setting in 2007’s Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, a game that would revolutionise the gaming industry and give way to the rise of the modern shooter. The franchise even moved on from contemporary settings to explore the far future in more recent entries, but following the massive success of EA’s Battlefield 1 in 2016, there came a demand to see historical shooters make a comeback. Thankfully, Sledgehammer Games had been working on just that for their second Call of Duty title. Their first game, Advanced Warfare, tried a lot of new things for the franchise with generally positive results, so could they recreate that same success by turning back the clocks almost a century? It would appear yes, because Call of Duty: WWII is one of the best entries in the franchise so far.
The first infantry division arrives in Normandy to begin the push back against the Nazi’s and take back Europe. Private ‘Red’ Daniel’s has travelled a long way from his farm homestead in Texas, and dreams about the day he can return home to his wife, his unborn child, and his big brother.
With his squad mates Private Zussman, Sergeant Pierson, and Lieutenant Turner, Red travels across Europe assisting the British army and the French resistance. But as the end of the war draws near and casualties mount, secrets arise and rifts begin to form in the first infantry which could cost the allies the war.
The first infantry division arrives in Normandy to begin the push back against the Nazi’s and take back Europe. Private ‘Red’ Daniel’s has travelled a long way from his farm homestead in Texas, and dreams about the day he can return home to his wife, his unborn child, and his big brother.
With his squad mates Private Zussman, Sergeant Pierson, and Lieutenant Turner, Red travels across Europe assisting the British army and the French resistance. But as the end of the war draws near and casualties mount, secrets arise and rifts begin to form in the first infantry which could cost the allies the war.
Taking more than just a few cues from HBO’s acclaimed Band of Brothers series, CoD: WWII is a far more personal tale of war in the European frontlines than has ever been told before by the franchise. The core squad of characters are the primary focus for the story, not recreating iconic battles (tough they’re not too shabby either), and it’s a refreshing take to see Call of Duty invest in its characters so much for the story. The first infantry feel like actual people, not military bravado spewing mannequins. They’re scared, they’re flawed, and they have compassion for human life. Something that extends beyond the story and into the gameplay.
That being said, I did find that there were some puzzling character choices made in the final few hours for the sake of drama, and maybe I’m wrong but it felt like one character in particular became a totally different person for the last act of the game just because the script called for him to be, it didn’t feel natural was all.
WWII strips Call of Duty’s gameplay right back, almost to the bare essentials. The most obvious change comes in the form of the return of the health bar, not seen since the original game. The health bar requires you to be more aware of your physical condition on a moment-to-moment basis, as well as necessitates the management of health packs. I was playing on Hardened difficulty, and I can’t say there was ever really a time I was running low on health packs, but I was also being reasonably stingy with them and only using them when I absolutely had to.
Weapons are also devoid of almost all attachments and customisations, you might be given the odd silencer here and there for when the mission requires stealth, but you won’t get any fancy ironsight replacements, underbarrel grenade launchers, or extended magazines. It’s just you, your gun, and your steely nerves.
The only assistance you have is that of your squad mates, each of which have a unique skill that can help you on the battlefield. Zussman for example can periodically toss you medkits, and Turner keeps your ammo topped up. But each solider that crosses paths with you can help you in unique ways such as being able to call in mortar strikes, highlighting enemies on the battlefield, or tossing you grenades when you’re low. Each of these abilities has a cooldown timer so you can’t overuse them, but it’s handy to know that you’ve got support when you need it, and that plays into the original concept of Call of Duty far better than the original games ever did.
The goal from Infinity Ward with the first two games was to create a sensation of being part of a squad, a machine in the army of war, not a solo hero in a blockbuster movie. I feel it’s something the games never managed to capture until now, because in WWII you do properly value your squad mates and often can’t complete objectives without their assistance.
This stripped back approach does give the game a slight element of been there, done that energy though. I mean this is just another WWII shooter after all. However, Sledgehammer has done a fair amount of help stave off that sense of deja-vu. The biggest example that comes to mind is the mission ‘Liberation’, where you go undercover as a Nazi officer and must learn a cover story which you’re frequently quizzed about by officers and members of the Gestapo. You can’t engage in combat, and you have an open-ended level design where you must search for a person of interest, and then carry out the instructions they give you. It’s new territory for Call of Duty, and whilst they certainly aren’t the first to try their hands at such a mission, I think WWII pulls it off quite well. There’s also a dogfight you get to take part in and whilst I never fully grasped the controls it’s nice to see an element of Infinite Warfare’s gunship battles bleeding into another Call of Duty game.
That being said, I did find that there were some puzzling character choices made in the final few hours for the sake of drama, and maybe I’m wrong but it felt like one character in particular became a totally different person for the last act of the game just because the script called for him to be, it didn’t feel natural was all.
WWII strips Call of Duty’s gameplay right back, almost to the bare essentials. The most obvious change comes in the form of the return of the health bar, not seen since the original game. The health bar requires you to be more aware of your physical condition on a moment-to-moment basis, as well as necessitates the management of health packs. I was playing on Hardened difficulty, and I can’t say there was ever really a time I was running low on health packs, but I was also being reasonably stingy with them and only using them when I absolutely had to.
Weapons are also devoid of almost all attachments and customisations, you might be given the odd silencer here and there for when the mission requires stealth, but you won’t get any fancy ironsight replacements, underbarrel grenade launchers, or extended magazines. It’s just you, your gun, and your steely nerves.
The only assistance you have is that of your squad mates, each of which have a unique skill that can help you on the battlefield. Zussman for example can periodically toss you medkits, and Turner keeps your ammo topped up. But each solider that crosses paths with you can help you in unique ways such as being able to call in mortar strikes, highlighting enemies on the battlefield, or tossing you grenades when you’re low. Each of these abilities has a cooldown timer so you can’t overuse them, but it’s handy to know that you’ve got support when you need it, and that plays into the original concept of Call of Duty far better than the original games ever did.
The goal from Infinity Ward with the first two games was to create a sensation of being part of a squad, a machine in the army of war, not a solo hero in a blockbuster movie. I feel it’s something the games never managed to capture until now, because in WWII you do properly value your squad mates and often can’t complete objectives without their assistance.
This stripped back approach does give the game a slight element of been there, done that energy though. I mean this is just another WWII shooter after all. However, Sledgehammer has done a fair amount of help stave off that sense of deja-vu. The biggest example that comes to mind is the mission ‘Liberation’, where you go undercover as a Nazi officer and must learn a cover story which you’re frequently quizzed about by officers and members of the Gestapo. You can’t engage in combat, and you have an open-ended level design where you must search for a person of interest, and then carry out the instructions they give you. It’s new territory for Call of Duty, and whilst they certainly aren’t the first to try their hands at such a mission, I think WWII pulls it off quite well. There’s also a dogfight you get to take part in and whilst I never fully grasped the controls it’s nice to see an element of Infinite Warfare’s gunship battles bleeding into another Call of Duty game.
Campaign isn’t the only thing that’s stripped back as multiplayer too feels like a return to classic Call of Duty. Class creation is limited in comparison to the extensive systems used in Black Ops III, but WWII does retain the specialist’s system introduced in Black Ops III just in a slightly different capacity. You choose a squadron such as infantry, airbourne, or armoured (as well as a few others), and these will give you access to particular specialisms for that class. Airbourne for example, which is what I gravitated to, was able to run faster and further, and was best used with light weaponry like SMG’s and pistols. It allowed me to keep zipping around the map popping people off. Whereas someone playing armoured would be better suited to heavier weapons and would be slightly more cumbersome to handle. I have to say WWII’s multiplayer was perhaps the most enjoyable I have found a Call of Duty multiplayer since Modern Warfare 2, and it’s likely because of this simplicity. There were only so many combinations I could choose from, and this limited pool of tools to use allowed me to really specialise in one particular playstyle, as well as levelled out the playing field a lot more.
Zombies also makes its return in WWII, even bringing back the Nazi Zombies moniker used in World at War. The zombies mode offers up much of the same as you would expect. Because of the weapons available it feels a lot more similar to the original Nazi Zombies in World at War, but it does include a whole host the additional features introduced since Black Ops. The most notable addition this time around though is the class system, where similar to multiplayer you choose a character with particular specialisations which can help make or break your chances of survival. But, as always, the mode just doesn’t really click with me, but I think this more stripped back approach was one I enjoyed more than the likes of the overly complicated eccentricities of Black Ops III and Infinite Warfare.
Zombies also makes its return in WWII, even bringing back the Nazi Zombies moniker used in World at War. The zombies mode offers up much of the same as you would expect. Because of the weapons available it feels a lot more similar to the original Nazi Zombies in World at War, but it does include a whole host the additional features introduced since Black Ops. The most notable addition this time around though is the class system, where similar to multiplayer you choose a character with particular specialisations which can help make or break your chances of survival. But, as always, the mode just doesn’t really click with me, but I think this more stripped back approach was one I enjoyed more than the likes of the overly complicated eccentricities of Black Ops III and Infinite Warfare.
The game looks and sounds amazing too. Advanced Warfare used a new game engine to deliver the high-quality visuals and complex character animations that outperformed both Black Ops III and Infinite Warfare, but WWII upgrades this engine somewhat to provide even more detail. Something I noticed was character’s faces in-game were of a comparable quality to that of the cutscenes, which I found very impressive. As well as this the way light reacts to different surfaces was far more realistic than what had been achieved before. It’s not a massive leap from what Advanced Warfare achieved, but it did enough to be the best-looking CoD game when it released. This strong presentation extends to the audio too where guns sound more realistic than before, and particularly the noises that bullets make when they hit targets sound meaty, giving you a real sense of connection between yourself and the Nazi you just shot.
I did notice a couple of technical hiccups though, primarily when transitioning from cutscenes to gameplay there was a little bit of slowdown. It wasn’t enough to affect gameplay, and once you’d been playing for a few seconds it fixed itself, but that initial few seconds of gameplay were definitely a little choppy.
I feel like Sledgehammer Games have really knocked it out of the park with WWII. It strips out all the useless nonsense that has cluttered so many recent Call of Duty games in favour of an experience more in line with the original three games. But it does retain a lot of the newer mechanics that have been genuinely great such as the specialists in multiplayer. It culminates into what has quickly become one of my favourite Call of Duty games. Rarely do I return to the multiplayer suites after more than a few hours playtime in them, but I can absolutely see myself returning to WWII again and again, and I’ll even likely replay the campaign because I enjoyed the story and characters so much. It felt like a breath of fresh air, which is odd considering it’s just returning to the franchise’s roots. WWII is one of the best military shooters on offer for the eighth generation of consoles, and it absolutely shouldn’t be missed.
I did notice a couple of technical hiccups though, primarily when transitioning from cutscenes to gameplay there was a little bit of slowdown. It wasn’t enough to affect gameplay, and once you’d been playing for a few seconds it fixed itself, but that initial few seconds of gameplay were definitely a little choppy.
I feel like Sledgehammer Games have really knocked it out of the park with WWII. It strips out all the useless nonsense that has cluttered so many recent Call of Duty games in favour of an experience more in line with the original three games. But it does retain a lot of the newer mechanics that have been genuinely great such as the specialists in multiplayer. It culminates into what has quickly become one of my favourite Call of Duty games. Rarely do I return to the multiplayer suites after more than a few hours playtime in them, but I can absolutely see myself returning to WWII again and again, and I’ll even likely replay the campaign because I enjoyed the story and characters so much. It felt like a breath of fresh air, which is odd considering it’s just returning to the franchise’s roots. WWII is one of the best military shooters on offer for the eighth generation of consoles, and it absolutely shouldn’t be missed.