World at War still holds up incredibly well - Review

Posted 7th January 2024

I was watching a new World War 2 documentary on Netflix called "World War II: From the Frontlines" (really good by the way, can not recommend enough) and really made me want to play Call of Duty: World at War again. From what I remember playing it on the old PS3 it was definitely one of the best Call of Duty's that not many games that followed in the series could top. I played a lot of multiplayer with friends, Zombies game mode on Der Riese and playing through the campaign from start to finish over and over. I was SUPER pissed when my friend dragged me into a hacked multiplayer lobby unknowingly that set me to the max level without unlocking anything. I was forever left to roll the MP40 without any attachments or steady aim... absolute bullshit, thanks Hannah. At least Modern Warfare 2 was almost set to release, about to be the best Call of Duty multiplayer for the rest of time. The campaign on World at War could even be played co-op, one of only two games that supported it for some reason - the other being Black Ops 3. I remember my brother and I getting stuck on "Heart of the Reich" on veteran difficulty FOR AGES on split-screen.

Anyway, 15 years later I boot up World at War again, this time on PC, and start a new veteran difficulty campaign run. Holy FOV, I can't see a thing. Straight into the settings I go. Whelp, there is no FOV setting, I guess that didn't exist much back in that day. Not a great start to my trip down memory lane. Veteran difficulty did not give me a chance to ease back into this classic... I died pretty much instantly after Roebuck freed me from my binds as I was getting used to the controls. Listening to the sound of the M1 Garand firing and reloading was pure nostalgia. The rest of the game started to come back to me, remembering every piece of dialogue from memory saying it in sync with each character as we're pushing our way through Makin Atoll.

The mission I was most looking forward to was the sniper mission with Reznov, "Vendetta". It's a more stealth-focused mission, sneaking around the streets of a German-occupied Stalingrad. It was just as good as I remember. There were collateral sniper shots up for grabs, a sniper 1v1 , flamethrower tank explosions, and an assassination on a German General. It was super satisfying offering sniper cover fire for my comrades as they started to reclaim their Motherland, clicking heads from the rooftops.

A fountain in the city of Stalingrad. There are a few dead Russian soldiers laying on the ground and a German solider walking across checking for any survivors.

Sergeant Reznov is on the opposite side of a doorframe to the player. He is saying "I will draw his fire. Keep your eyes open for the flash", in reference to the enemy sniper.

On the other hand, a mission I was dreading was "Blood and Iron", the tank mission. That mission on veteran difficulty used to take me hours to do it felt like. You'd get shot by tanks and panzerschrecks that you couldn't even see. I died a few times this time round but managed to figure out how to destroy the tanks without taking too much damage. Somehow I never realised that the tank actually regens health like you do normally. So I slowly rolled across no-man's land in my tank blasting towers and bunkers, and taking out every tank that dared to stand in my way.

The player is controlling a Russian tank, in the third person. They are moving down a dirt track behind another tank. There is a lot of smoke and two Russian planes flying overhead.

Things start to get crazy towards the end of the game, specifically "Heart of the Reich". The streets leading towards the Reichstag are littered with German soldiers. So many grenades start to be thrown at you on this level that you're constantly running and diving from one piece of cover to the next, trying not to take any bullet fire in between. The Commissar is standing on a tank as he orders every Russian soldier to attack. Getting up those final stairs into the Reichstag is just pure grenade spam, there are so many German soldiers throwing grenades at you. They keep coming at you faster than you can throw them back. At one point I had four grenades sitting on me so I just went afk and accepted my fate. Around 20 deaths later, we do a final push up the doors. Private Chernov leads the way with the Soviet flag, before he gets fatally burnt by a flamethrower. Reznov takes his diary, of which he recorded his journey throughout the war, and we push into the building.

A Commissar for the Russian army is standing on a tank, over the player and Russian soldiers. He is saying "Take the left flank and eradicate whatever scum remains in defense of each building."

The player is aiming their MP40 sub-machine gun at German soldiers on the steps leading up to the Reichstag. On the right side there is a dead German soldier face down. On the left side there are a couple of more dead German soldiers and another that has just been shot in the chest and his holding his hand on the wound.

Finally getting inside the Reichstag during the last level, "Downfall", there's another sniping opportunity. YAY! Soldiers with flamethrowers ripe for the popping, blowing up any soldiers in the vicinity just never gets old. At the very end of the level, there's the dramatic scene where you're carrying the Soviet flag and you get shot. Reznov jumps down out of nowhere and just butchers him with his big-ass knife. So cool. You slowly crawl over and plant the flag, securing victory over Nazi Germany.

This game felt shorter than I remember. Maybe that was because I was playing on a controller, or maybe it was because I was just much older. These days, of course, I'm a legendary gamer so that makes sense.