Call of Duty 5: World At War Review

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was one of the best games of last year, which is no mean feat when you consider that Bioshock and Halo 3 were released in the same year. CoD4 combined already intuitive combat with excellent level design, outstanding multiplayer and a modern setting in order to transform the Call of Duty series forever and what's more; it almost worked.

Sadly with the release of Call of Duty 5 the series makes a laborious march home to the war torn European landscape which is the second world war. Despite the fact that the game deals with parts of the war never before seen in a Call of Duty game (the conflict with the Japanese and the final Russian assault on Berlin) it's hard to ignore the apparent fact that the series has regressed. Gone is the mildly intriguing plot which held the last game together. Gone are the modern weapons and equipment. In with old and out with the new seems to be the strategy here and it shows.

Other than the games complete and utter lack of an intriguing storyline (everyone knows how WW2 ended), or compelling narrative (the plot now being told through overly dramatic cut scenes rather than players experiencing events themselves), the campaign seems to have kept most of what made CoD 4 great. The levels are still excellently designed with very few dull moments, guns are still satisfying and the games is still intuitive.

Multiplayer is where the game really manages to show itself off. The system from CoD 4 seems to have been taken and edited slightly to fit the old setting and everything works as it should. There are still very few games that can stand up to the Call of Duty series in terms of mulitplayer.

So, is CoD 5 better than it's predecessor? No. Not by a long shot. CoD 5 is a meagre offering in comparison. Whilst still an excellent shooter which any self-respecting PS3, or Xbox 360 owner should own (there are no self-respecting Wii owners, just for reference), the return to WW2 is a massive step back and whilst this might not affect the game's technological or gameplay qualities, it still seems to infest the game with an ill-omen of boredom.

7/10