Call of Duty: World at War is a straightforward military first-person shooter with authentic weaponry like the Thompson Sub Machine Gun or the Arisaka Rifle Type 99 and relatively linear but heavily scripted levels that put the player right in the middle of the action with several NPC-controlled teammates always on his side to aid him and add atmosphere. These missions’ objectives range from clearing houses of the enemy to laying bombs or defending a position. Instead of needing medipacks or similar items to heal himself, the player only needs to get out of the line of fire for a few seconds to regenerate to total health. This time, the co-op campaign for up to four people is new, allowing everyone to play through the whole single-player campaign with buddies.
The first campaign began on August 17, 1942, on the Makin-Atoll in the Asian-Pacific region, where Pvt. Miller sits in a hut and witnesses the Japanese soldiers’ terrible slaughter of his squadmates. As one soldier approaches and prepares to deliver the final blow, an American bayonet emerges from his stomach. Now the tables have been turned, and in the subsequent operations, Pvt. Miller, under the direction of Sgt. Roebuck quells his need for vengeance by assisting American forces in recreations of actual missions such as “Operation Watchtower.”
The second campaign places the player in the shoes of Pvt. Petrenko began in Stalingrad on September 17, 1942. Lying in a pool of blood, watching as the Germans shoot one last bullet into his dying friends, the private survives and, with the assistance of Sgt. Reznov continues his trip across the shattered city to the main goal: the assassination of General Heinrich Amsel.
The game also has a multiplayer mode comparable to Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, with the play types Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, and Search & Destroy, in which one team must plant a bomb at one of two targets while the other defends both. The rating system also reappears. For each kill or completed mission, the player receives experience points and levels up, allowing them to unlock more weaponry, attachments, or skills that increase accuracy and other benefits. In addition to the five pre-defined classes (Rifleman, Light Gunner, Heavy Gunner, Close Assault, and Sniper), they can be used to build up to five new courses.
