Games

Call of Duty: World at War

Publisher: Activision

Platform: Reviewed on 360, also available on PS3, PS2 Wii, PC, DS

Price: From 24.99

Certificate: 15

Don the uniform one more time

One year on from the highly acclaimed shooter 'Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare' its sequel 'World at War' hits the shelves.

But with the title having been developed by Treyarch, who brought us the terribly flawed 'Call of Duty 3', can this offering even begin to rival last year's release?

In honesty the answer is no. 'Modern Warfare' was an epic journey into the next generation of shooting games. It broke ground at every turning, and was the first game in the franchise to reach the 360 and PS3 in its own right.

But that does not make 'World at War' a bad game. Building on the firm foundations of its predecessor this title returns to the somewhat over explored era of World War 2 but it does it with some true style and finesse.

The graphics are beautifully realised on the screen by the 'World at War' engine. The scenery looks close to amazing at times, even on a cheap screen and the characters are rendered with real detail and passion. The shadows stand out as especially good and the level design only enhances these effects and more.

Audibly the sound is close to spot on too. The musical score is tastefully appropriate, war time sound effects are immersive and the guns sound accurate, which is usual in gaming.

Listen out for the Browning automatic rifle and MP44 especially, as they could easily mistaken for the real things making their shots especially satisfying.

And while the game's attempts at interactive cut scenes are occasionally lazy and two dimensional, and the single player campaign is incredibly short (clocking in at roughly 6 hours) the game does not suffer too badly.

What does hurt 'World at War' is the occasional impassable doorway or other similar oversight in design, especially on the console versions and its lack of originality in general.

While several features of the game, such as the hugely satisfying flame thrower that truly feels as if it is unleashing waves of flaming liquid petrol over foes do make moments special, both the time period and the gameplay have been seen before.

Some locations, such as the Red Square in Stalingrad are even becoming stale, as they seem to appear in every World War 2 video game.

And the loading sequences that detail the brutality of war through real world news footage and graphical representation could potentially be seen as distasteful - especially in times like these where games must be especially aware of their social repercussions.

Regardless such criticisms can only be made at 'World at War' because it had the potential to offer so much. And when all is taken into account the game does not fail when it comes to living up to this. It just does not exceed.

Reasonably historically accurate, this game is full of flavour and on occasion it can even be educational. Every moment is action packed and the player can never let his guard down as what seems like a real war unfolds all around.

The feel does make this game ever so slightly better suited to a PC as opposed to on a console but on any format it is an essential buy.

Just please, don't let anyone convince you that this is the game of the year. When it comes to first person shooters that honour undoubtedly goes to 'Far Cry 2'.