Call of Duty 5 - World at War Review

With CoD4 being one of the most impressive and ground breaking releases in terms of photo realistic graphics, game play to die for and a storyline that was so involving it made you want run down to your local recruitment office and sign up! Cod5 had a very tough act to follow, but surely with a team that could put out a title like Cod4 they shouldn't have a problem right?
As soon as I heard they were returning the WWII and the Pacific Theater era I cried a little inside as these scenarios has been covered by more than enough titles, game developers out there; 'The world has moved on, can't you?' Still I was definitely going to get this game no matter what due to Cod4 being so good, I think many people felt this way, and I also think Activision used this fact to their advantage.
So the game...sticking with the same graphics engine as Cod4 (sorry I'll try to stop mentioning it as this isn't a comparison), the visuals are stunning and jungle landscapes really make the game a dream to look at. One of the best things about this engine is just how well it runs on lower end systems. To test this I played it on an AMDx2 4600 at 2.8GHz, 2 gig's of ddr2 ram and a 7800GTX extreme with resolution at 1280x1024 and was getting an average of 50fps with settings on high.
Now this isn't very impressive compared to what can be achieved with newer hardware, however 50fps will give you great game play and considering you can build a system as specified above for ~£150 (excluding monitor and peripherals etc) you can see just how well they have done with this engine.
The campaign is split into two sections, you swap between playing as Private Miller of the U.S. Marine Corps fighting the Japanese Army in the Pacific, and Private Dimitri Petrenko of the Red Army advancing on Berlin. (have I seen this format somewhere before?).
As expected the playability of the game is outstanding, the combat really gets your heart pounding and the games AI really adds a sense of realism that I find lacking in a lot of FPS games. Your buddies will help you out but the pace of each battle really depends on how aggressive you're feeling. This makes for a game that is different each time you play through it as the scenario reacts to your game play style.
The multiplayer is the same format as CoD4 (damn!) giving each player a ranking so you have targets to achieve and the fast paced action will keep you online for days.
And to be honest that's all I have to say about this release because if you've played CoD4 (and who hasn't) you've seen it all before really. Don't get me wrong it is a GREAT game, I enjoyed playing it thoroughly and would recommend it to all as it would turn any WoW addict into an FPS fan. However I still feel a bit let down. It seems as if Activision have made a breakthrough with CoD4, then rather than pushing the boundary further and keeping the gaming community on the edge of their seats, they themselves have sat back and played it safe to get the benjamins rolling in.
They have built a sense trust with their name as one would expect nothing but the best from them now, I pray that they will not abuse this trust that we as consumers have put in them. I hope they will use the profit from this release to good use and get back on the edge of their seats, as we all know what they are capable of when they put their mind to it. It's time to make another giant leap for mankind guys!
Alessandro PataThe Review Teamhttp://www.trtreviews.com
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