Call of Duty: Earth at War is a lot like its predecessor, Telephone call of Duty 4: Mod Warfare. In most respects, this is a good thing. The guns are tightly tuned, the tone is gritty and mature, and the action is exciting and fast-paced. It boasts the same addictive multiplayer organization as Modern Warfare, and even expands the multiplayer possibilities by allowing four players to play through the campaign cooperatively. Similar every game in the serial earlier Modern Warfare, this Call of Duty takes place during Globe War Ii. World at War does an admirable job of spicing things upwardly, but between the well-worn source material and déjà vu game mechanics, there is a pervasive familiarity to the game. Still, though World at War lacks the freshness that made Modern Warfare such a hit, it still provides a hearty, filling meal--ane that shooter fans are sure to savor.

The action is as explosive as ever.
The activity is as explosive as ever.

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At present Playing: Telephone call of Duty: Earth at War Video Review

The about salient deviation betwixt World at War and Modern Warfare is the WWII setting. In the campaign, you dissever fourth dimension between two soldiers in 2 offensive theaters: the Russian push out of their homeland and into the center of Federal republic of germany, and the American struggle to wrest Pacific islands from the Japanese. Though y'all'll alternate between them every few levels, the campaign feels like one solid progression, thanks to the skilful pacing.

Each soldier'southward journey begins at a low point. Weaponless and surrounded by the enemy, you lot get a taste of the despair many soldiers are never rescued from. Though the emotional tone somewhen rises toward triumph, you never quite forget the fate you most met. The first few levels are a hard scrabble every bit you and your fellow soldiers try to gain a foothold for your country, while after levels are suffused with a sense of hard-won momentum as you fight bigger battles and button closer to your enemies' capitals. Throughout each level you are accompanied by a superior officer who sets the emotional tone through well-acted dialogue. The vengeful, spitfire Russian pumps up your adrenaline to intoxicating levels, while the grim, determined American provides a sobering influence. This grim sobriety is farther enforced by the bodily WWII videos, photos, and statistics presented in stylish interchapter cutscenes. The message is, past nature, a conflicted one: Though you may feel like an action hero, you are actually participating in the most horrid of human endeavors. How you ultimately feel about this message will depend on your personal disposition, simply suffice to say that the elevated emotional timbre makes for an exciting entrada.

Too heady? Bayonets and flamethrowers, the 2 standout new weapons in World at War. You wield both in the American campaign, using them to enthusiastically dispatch enemies in trenches and fend off the ambitious banzai raiders. These raiders snipe from the treetops, or popular out of holes and charge you with merciless conclusion; this assailment makes the American campaign feel uniquely tense. The Russian campaign is slightly more predictable, but it remains vigorous throughout and ends in a spectacularly satisfying manner. Explosions and gunfire will crusade enemies to lose limbs and copious amounts of blood, making World at War a sight more violent than Modern Warfare. Still, in between the burning, stabbing, and gibbing, there is a lot of crouching behind cover and picking off enemies with your trusty rifle. This kind of action, and most of the other weapons, will feel familiar to anyone who has played a Globe War 2 shooter before. It'south a well-tuned and exciting familiarity, but it doesn't make any notable leaps.

Globe at War does make a spring for the Phone call of Duty series by offering 2-actor split up-screen and four-player online cooperative campaign play. Information technology's the same entrada as the single-player feel, though the number of enemies increases for every actor that joins you. You tin turn competitive scoring on and see who tin earn the most points by killing enemies or reviving teammates, and this adds a fleck of fun to the campaign and lightens to mood (information technology'southward hard to feel grim when in that location are point values popping up all the fourth dimension). At that place are likewise special items called death cards in each level, and collecting these will allow you to enable a crook for cooperative play (for instance, enemies die by headshots only or headshots cause enemies to explode). These add a fiddling more spice to the pot, just the only tangible incentives are challenges. Completing these tasks (such as kill 100 enemies with pistols or take first xx times in competitive co-op) volition earn you experience points that go toward your multiplayer rank (co-op is not similarly ranked). Cooperative play is fun in its own right, but linking it to the addictive multiplayer ranking system makes it relevant in a whole different manner.

Multiplayer battles are as fast and deadly as ever.
Multiplayer battles are as fast and deadly equally ever.

In case you missed it last year, the multiplayer system introduced in Phone call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is fantastic, and Globe at War has updated information technology to fit its WWII setting. The hook is experience points, which you gain by winning matches or completing one of the aforementioned challenges. Every bit you earn these points, you'll rank up and earn admission to new weapons, new accessories (like sights and suppressors), and new perks. Perks are special abilities that grant you lot a wide variety of bonuses, but you can merely cull iv (one of which is vehicle-specific). This introduces an engaging element of customization: Will you choose to toughen up past increasing your health and bullet damage, or will y'all go the stealth road and increase your sprint speed while becoming invisible to enemy recon planes? Perks are well balanced, and you have multiple salve slots, which enable yous to easily switch between your various pretweaked loadouts. This allows you to take total advantage of this deep, engaging organisation that is just equally neat this year as it was final year, admitting slightly less novel.

There are, of course, new maps, and the bonuses you earn for kill streaks have been updated (notably, the assail helicopter you earned after vii kills in Modern Warfare is at present a pack of nasty assail dogs). At that place are also a few maps that support tanks, powerful additions that mix things upward without existence as well dominant. Near of the modes remain the same, though some have received slight tweaks and Capture the Flag has returned later on a hiatus from Modernistic Warfare. The well-nigh striking new mode is actually a cooperative game called Nazi Zombies, playable when you beat the entrada (or play with someone who has). This absurd game puts upward to four players in a business firm that is being assaulted by the undead. Killing the fiends and repairing the barricades earns yous points that you then spend to furnish ammunition, buy new guns, and unlock new areas of the house. Each subsequent wave brings tougher, faster, more numerous enemies, and the game inevitably ends in grisly death. Though the random weapon box, contrasted power-ups, and skills of your teammates add together some variation, each play-through is similar to the last. Still, information technology makes for some intense, frantic fun and provides a welcome, if slightly bizarre, modify of pace.

By staying largely true to the formula that fabricated Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and then successful, Telephone call of Duty: Globe at War has ensured a proven level of technical quality, particularly in the multiplayer loonshit. On the other manus, one of Modern Warfare's strengths was its fresh arroyo, and by embracing a familiar setting and familiar mechanics, World at State of war achieves greatness but falls short of excellence. This is only a bad matter if you are expecting this game to top its benchmark predecessor. If, however, yous are hoping for an exciting campaign, fun cooperative play, and engaging multiplayer action, then you'll find a lot to exist happy about in World at State of war.