Hands-On with Call of Duty: World at War

Most first-person shooter fans have had their fill of World War II-based games by now, which is probably one of the main reasons why the present-day Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was so well received last year. When it was announced that Activision’s acclaimed series would be once again returning to its World War II roots with Call of Duty: World at War, many gamers were less-than-enthusiastic. Fans were even more disheartened when they learned that Treyarch—the studio responsible for the middling Call of Duty 3—would be developing this latest installment. Apprehensive fans were likely relieved when World at War hit shelves in November, as the game retains the cinematic flair of the fourth installment, transferring its solid overall gameplay mechanics and breathtaking visuals to a World War II setting.

The game also features battlefields previously unexplored in the series, putting players in the boots of a U.S. Marine fighting against the Japanese Army in the Pacific and a soldier in the Soviet Red Army fighting the Nazis in Berlin. The campaign lasts only a few hours, but top-notch production values—including celebrity voice acting from Kiefer Sutherland and Gary Oldman—keep the experience immersive from start to finish.

World at War does, however, have some troubling combat issues that keep it from being as solid as its predecessor. At even the normal difficulty level, you’ll end up dying not because of genuinely challenging battles but because the game throws a seemingly-endless barrage of unavoidable grenades your way as often as possible. There is an on-screen indicator that warns you when a grenade is nearby—which also gives you the option of tossing it right back at the enemy—but even if you run to a seemingly safe distance from the blast, a grenade is cheap, frustrating, instant death nearly every time. The more it happens, the more it seems like a design flaw.

In addition, World at War's AI is oddly unbalanced. At times, enemies will intelligently take cover and fire at you at opportune moments, but often they will stand right out in the open just waiting to be picked off. Friendly AI doesn’t fare much better, offering little-to-no help during the game’s more intense firefights. While it wouldn’t be satisfying for computer-controlled allies to do all of the work for me, a war game shouldn’t make me feel like I’m fighting alone.

But the strength in a Call of Duty title lies primarily in its multiplayer which, I can safely say, is just as good in World at War as it was in Modern Warfare. You’ll be using World War II-era equipment, weapons and vehicles, but the matchmaking, upgrades, rankings, perks and wide variety of game modes make World at War a satisfying multiplayer experience that should win over fans of its predecessor.

A great extra in World at War, unlocked once you complete the single-player campaign, is Nazi Zombies mode, which pits you against, you guessed it, Nazi zombies. Kudos to Treyarch for including such an off-kilter game mode in an otherwise serious World War II shooter. For a superior zombie experience I recommend Left 4 Dead, but this mode is a lot of fun. Playing it alone or cooperatively, Nazi Zombies should remind most shooter fans of the phenomenal Horde mode in Gears of War 2. Fight of waves of zombies, earn points, repeat.

It’s not a revolutionary game, and in many respects this is Modern Warfare recast in a less-than-modern setting, but is that really such a bad thing? Even if they've grown tired of World War II video games, first-person shooter aficionados owe it to themselves to check this game out.

Publisher: Activision
Developer: Treyarch
Platform: Xbox 360 (reviewed), Playstation 2, Playstation 3, Nintendo DS, Wii, Microsoft Windows
Rating: M
Release Date: November 11, 2008 (North America)

Left 4 Dead: A Wort Report Review

Who would have thought that surviving a zombie apocalypse could be such a great form of stress relief? With multiplayer first-person zombie shooter Left 4 Dead, Valve Corporation (Half-Life, Portal, Team Fortress) encourages gamers to live out their undead-fighting fantasies in what may be the best zombie action game ever made.

If you’re looking for a storyline or character motivation, you certainly won’t find much of either in Left 4 Dead. The game boils down to playing the role of one of four human characters who must fight through hordes of ravenous zombies to make their way from safe house to safe house. There are four scenarios—each framed as a horror movie—taking players through a hospital, a farmhouse, a rural town and an airport. Gameplay-wise, all of the scenarios are basically the same, pitting the survivors against hundreds of undead flesh-eaters. The zombies here bear more resemblance to the fast-moving variety featured in Zack Snyder’s Dawn of the Dead remake than to the lurching, moaning corpses in George A. Romero’s original. Their speed gives Left 4 Dead an element of twitchy panic that keeps gameplay both frantic and fun.

In addition to the overwhelming numbers of "Common Infected" in each of the game’s scenarios, players will also be confronted by mutated "Special Infected," which have their own unique abilities and attacks. Hunters, for example, will pin players to the ground and viciously maul them until one of the other survivors saves them while Smokers lash out at the humans with a whip-like tongue. As one can probably guess by their name, Tanks are hulking beasts that use their immense size and strength to pummel the survivors, requiring players to gang up on them with their most powerful weapons to take them down quickly before they cause too much damage. The Witch, a dangerous female zombie, can take players out with a single swipe of her claws if she is startled. My personal favorite special zombie in Left 4 Dead is easily the Boomer, a fat, bulbous infected that vomits green bile on the survivor characters, the smell of which alerts other zombies to the humans’ location. Dangerous and revolting. What a combination.

It’s possible to play Left 4 Dead solo with three computer-controlled allies, but the real fun of this game is playing online with friends or complete strangers. Few games inspire the level of teamwork necessary to make it through Left 4 Dead’s scenarios alive as a group. Try to abandon your comrades and you’ll probably wind up with more than a few bite marks on your arms and torso. Oh, and you’ll probably be dead. There’s also a Versus mode, which allows players to control special infected against the humans to see how the other half lives.

With only three modes of play (Campaign, Versus and Single Player), one wonders how Left 4 Dead stays interesting, but thanks to the game’s “AI Director,” scenarios are different each time you play them. It’s nearly impossible to predict when a Hunter is going to leap out of nowhere and pin you to the ground, or when a Boomer is going to sneak up on you and lose his lunch right in your face. As if eviscerating zombies could ever possibly get boring, Left 4 Dead is never the same game twice.

Thanks to Dead Rising and the Resident Evil series, there has been no shortage of zombie-blasting goodness in video games for quite some time. However, Left 4 Dead recreates the feeling of being in a zombie film better than just about any game ever released. It’s not deep by any means, but it’s incredible fun and a must-play for fans of cooperative online gaming.

Publisher: Electronic Arts/Valve Corporation
Developer: Valve Corporation/Certain Affinity (Xbox 360 version)
Platform: Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows
Rating: M
Release Date: November 18, 2008

Watchmen Movie Faces Legal Trouble

A Los Angeles judge ruled on December 24 that 20th Century Fox owns the distribution rights to Warner Bros.' adaptation of acclaimed graphic novel Watchmen, which could put the film’s March 6, 2009 release date in jeopardy, Variety reports.

“Fox owns a copyright interest consisting of, at the very least, the right to distribute the Watchmen motion picture,” the ruling said.

According to the article, Fox filed a suit against Warner Bros. in February claiming that they retain the rights to distribute the film under a 1994 turnaround agreement, having originally acquired the rights to Watchmen in the late 1980s. Warner Bros., however, has denied claims that Fox has any remaining stake in the film.

Judge Gary Allen Feess said he would elaborate on this ruling in the near future, and has set a January 20 trial date for Fox’s suit.

I’m no legal expert, but this all seems to indicate that the Watchmen film—directed by Zack Snyder—may run into some major problems leading up to its release. In a worst-case scenario, the film could be shelved until the suit reaches some sort of resolution. From what we’ve seen so far, Snyder looks to have done justice to Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ masterpiece, which was long thought to be unfilmable due to its epic scope and bleak, deconstructionist themes. It would be a shame if Watchmen's arduous journey to the silver screen is halted by legal complications this close to its release date.