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Call of Duty: World at War eviscerates!

• By George Jones
• August 29, 2008 11:17 AM PST
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Leipzig Games Convention: Activision demonstrates online multiplayer and more in an international preview of Call of Duty: World at War.

The talents behind the surprise hit of 2007, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, are returning to their roots.

LEIPZIG, GERMANY: For Call of Duty: World at War, Activision went to its go-to war guy, Hank Keirsey. Keirsey is Activision's military advisor, and he travels around the country interviewing war veterans at Veteran Affairs hospitals and homes. His stories from the World War II campaign against the Japanese Imperial Army in the Pacific illustrate the rather gruesome and horrific nature of that theater of the war - not to mention the setting of World at War. Here are some of the stories he shared with GamePro:

Tree snipers: Japanese tree snipers would sit in trees for days waiting for the perfect opportunity to snipe a lone soldier. When they would get a clean shot, they would shoot to wound, not to kill in order to draw a medic. They would then kill the medic in order to inflict a longer-term damage on U.S. forces.

The Banzai Run: Battalions of soldiers would often encounter a single Japanese soldier who would make what is known as a suicide banzai run and suddenly sprint towards the group with a grenade in hand in order to inflict a great deal of damage upon the group.

Spider Holes: The Japanese Imperial Army dug devious "spider holes" that allowed soldiers to crawl under and behind U.S. soldiers and surprise them from the rear.

Booby trapping the dead: Quite frequently, Enemy forces would attach booby traps to dead soldiers or crashed planes and vehicles in order to kill U.S. soldiers who would investigate or attempt to collect dog tags.

If you thought Modern Warfare was a cinematic jewel, wait until you play this game.

The point here - and it's one that is clearly evinced in the early version of Call of Duty: World at War that we saw at the German Game convention - is that the war in the Pacific theater was a fairly creepy and horrifically surreal experience. It's one that veterans who served in the region have never forgotten, even though history has deemed it less relevant and somehow less heroic than the war in Europe.

It's highly likely that Call of Duty: World at War will do a whole lot to change this perspective. The game is visceral and at times shockingly intense. Based on the short thirty-minute demonstration that we saw, it is clear that this Call of Duty will amplify the intensity that we all loved in last year's runaway hit Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.

Here's what we saw and duly noted:

-The flame thrower is absolutely, positively vicious. With this game, the Call of Duty 4 graphics engine receives an upgrade to the modeling of particle effects and the flamethrower demonstrates this enhancement in a striking manner. During several sequences of the demo, we saw this weapon in action. It doesn't just set people on fire, it sets trees, grass, and even buildings ablaze. It's the ultimate anti-personnel weapon - perfect for clearing foxholes, AA nests, and pillboxes. Molotov cocktails are also available, but we didn't see them in action.

Flame throwers have always been a hit or miss in shooters. Not here, as you can plainly see.

-Co-operative play works great. We saw two-player online co-operative play in action and it works exactly as we imagined. Activision promises that we'll be able to play 4-player online co-op on the PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii. You can also play two-player split-screen co-op as well. We were interested to learn that online co-operative play generates experience points that can be used for Create-A-Soldier perks in the competitive online multiplayer modes - experience is persistent across all online modes. Oh, one other interesting thing about cooperative play is the "last stand" mode. When you're close to dying, the game triggers this mode, which buys you some extra time while your partner comes over to save you. This mode comes at a cost however - you lose XP when you are in last stand.

-Kiefer Sutherland and Gary Oldman? In the demo we saw - a mission set on the island of Peleliu, Kiefer Sutherland's distinct voice narrated the mission. Gary Oldman is also in the game as a character narrator.

-Increased Intensity. Authenticity and intensity are hallmarks of the Call of Duty series. Both attributes were on full display in the crazed and manic mission we saw. The level started with the squad investigating a downed fighter jet and triggering a massive booby trap and ambush. After a frantic scramble through enemy territory, the mission ended with a berserker-style attack on a series of anti-aircraft gun emplacements. The room literally shook with the sound effects and the small international crowd of writers came away stunned.

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