Xbox 360 - Call of Duty: World at War (Treyarch)

[Rob]

The Call of Duty series is one plagued by familiarity and unevenness. Anyone who has played the disappointing "Big Red One" or "Call of Duty Three" knows what I mean. CoD 2 was a blast. I enjoyed the story but the multiplayer was functionally broken at launch leading me to a great deal of disdain for the title and eventually (although I hear that after a few months they patched some of the major problems) I traded it in. They switched things up with CoD 4: Modern Warfare and once again the series was a lot of fun. They received high marks for the leveling up, perks and Prestige system but I was not crazy about going into a fight with a standard M-16 against guys 30 levels above me who had laser sights and grenade launchers. I wasn't crazy about the idea of starting all over once I had gotten the best of everything just for a little badge next to my name either. Eventually this game got the trade in too; and so will CoD: World at War. This game takes almost everything that was good about Modern Warfare and brings it to World War Two. The Perks, the Prestige it's all there. The multiplayer is excellently tuned and the games come smooth, fast and furious. The maps are mostly well designed and there are tons of game types. The campaign was fun at times and frustrating at others. There is a nice survival bonus game called "Zombie Nazis" when you finish the campaign. All in all, it's a fun game, solidly implemented and worth the price.