Review for Call of Duty: World War II. Game for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the video game was released on 03/11/2017
The Call of Duty series has always had its ups and downs, but recently, even according to the statements of the most loyal players, the game was heading towards a point of no return, which could have spelled the undoing of the series. This is perhaps the reason that pushed Sledgehammer Games to step back with Call of Duty: World War II, bringing players down to earth again (literally), thus eliminating Jetpack and purple skins, in the hope of reviving the historical component that most of all has fascinated veterans of the series.
World War II
To the delight of all the fans, finally the setting of the annual Call of Duty returns to talk about war, the real war that our ancestors fought, and which allows us to savor that style of play, simple and intuitive that has been missing in Activision's shooter for years.
The Call of Duty: World War II campaign is in our opinion one of the most interesting aspects of the production, thanks to a painstaking attention to detail, which makes us retrace the events that took place during the bloody Second World War. We will take on the role of soldier Daniels, who together with his fellow soldiers will have to face the ruthless Nazis, starting from the famous landing in Normandy, and then moving on to the liberation of Paris and all that follows. The attention shown in the historical setting seemed very interesting to us, in fact everything is explained with extreme care, even if the general plot in some situations suffers from an excessive banality and fails to fully amaze the player.
Unlike in past years, in this new chapter there are innovations that radically modify some aspects of the gameplay, such as the automatic health regeneration that is not present in this chapter and can only be regenerated by medical kits. Another novelty is the skills of our comrades, which will be able to provide us with medical kits, ammunition, enemy positions and signaling smoke bombs, which will recharge with time and with the kills we will do during our battles.
The stealth approach of some missions is also interesting, which allows us to avoid fights that are sometimes impossible to deal with due to the absence of medical kits or ammunition. In Call of Duty: World War II you will also have the option of use means of transport (when necessary in the missions) and tanks that will make you experience unique emotions, thanks also to one exceptional direction that makes every fight very cinematic and rewarding. The campaign lasts from 7 to 9 hours and will still guarantee you an average level of challenge, but with an AI that is not convincing, in fact you will often be able to deceive it without too many problems.
The historical multiplayer
After years of Jetpack, futuristic weapons and purple helmets, Call of Duty finally returns to its origins, offering a practically perfect multiplayer on the gameplay front. The initial impact we had during the Gamescom test was certainly positive, but the doubts related to multiplayer were there, and fortunately they were disproved with the final release of the game.
When the multiplayer mode starts, we are immediately catapulted into the famous Headquarters, a social area that can accommodate up to 48 players, where we will have the opportunity to train with the series of killings, with the aim at the shooting range, or thanks to the various NPCs present, we will be able to acquire contracts and challenges, control the prestige of our weapons and many other things, which together contribute to create a lobby useful and relaxing at the same time. The lobby can also be used while we await match making, so as to make those seconds useful to find the match that suits our characteristics.
The modalities remain the same, except for the war mode, also present in the private beta, which seemed very interesting to us and perhaps represents the real strong point of the online sector of this new Call of Duty. In War mode, the axis and the allies face each other alternating in attack and defense, just like in many other multiplayer games (Overwatch). There will be objectives for the attackers to complete - for example the construction of the bridge - and as they are completed the tank will be able to continue on its path until it reaches the ammunition stocks and anti-aircraft defenses.
Weapon feedback, rate of fire, and hitboxes during online matches have a different feel than in the campaign and guarantee greater fluidity and frenzy during the various online matches. Thanks to the introduction of divisions, we will also have to carefully choose our style of play based on our preferences and based on the map where we will fight, changing division from time to time so as to be able to stand up to the opponents. Every time we fight online, as per tradition, we will receive experience points that will make us level up and also give us crates of supplies which can be opened directly at the headquarters, which will contain mainly cosmetic items. Activision will subsequently introduce the possibility of purchase these boxes also through micro transactions, and therefore with real money.
Nazi zombies everywhere!
A mode that many Call of Duty players love is definitely Zombie, which over the years has involved many players in the various chapters of the series. This year we have one modality in some ways modified and improved, which still guarantees a frenetic gameplay and games that will keep us up all night given the duration of an average run.
The mode Nazi Zombies as novelty it mainly brings the impossibility of barricading windows and doors, thus making the arrival of the zombies much faster, which in turn makes the gameplay more frenetic, forcing the team to carry out the various steps of the story in the shortest possible time. Small clues have also been introduced, which will guide you in carrying out the various operations, without simplifying your work too much but giving you only approximate tips. The cast and the cinematic realization of this mode help to improve what is the horror atmosphere, which as often happens seems to represent a game completely detached from the campaign and multiplayer.
The prologue of Nazi Zombies begins by showing us the characters intent on discussing some important matters, when suddenly they are attacked by a huge monster that catapults them into a horror movie setting from which they will have to try to escape, opening doors, activating generators and altars, all while hordes of more or less resistant zombies will try to kill them. As we progress between the various waves we will have to carry out specific tasks, which will allow us to continue in the enterprise, thanks to which we will also be able obtain assemblable weapons such as the "Tesla" which immobilizes enemies and allows us to kill them faster than normal.
The trading currency available this year is called a "shock", can be obtained by killing zombies and is essential to open doors, buy weapons, upgrades and armor that will help you in your fight for survival. By playing the Zombie games, you will also get experience points that as usual will be useful to allow you to progress with the level of your character, so as to obtain improvements for weapons or supply crates that you can open to obtain more or less rare items.
Few graphical improvements
Call of Duty: World War II from the graphical point of view improves, but does not change what we have seen in the past years, in fact the game engine remains the same. However, Sledgehammer Games did an exceptional job from the point of view of the animations and the general rendering of the environments, in fact, looking at the game in a non-critical way you can see a fairly accurate graphics, but approaching the various textures you notice the limits of the graphics engine that begins to feel the weight of the years.
On PlayStation 4 Pro the graphic rendering is good thanks to the dynamic 4K that manages to manage all game situations well, adjusting the resolution as needed, while maintaining a frame rate of 60 fps. Speaking of resolution, the vertical axis is fixed at 2160p, while the horizontal axis swings from a minimum of 960p and a maximum of 2640p. Native 4K is achieved through a technique similar to the checkerboard rendering.
As for the general optimization of the game, we can be quite satisfied, if not for some frame drop that occurs during the campaign during the passages from game engine to cut scenes, or in slight dips during the most critical situations, which are much more noticeable on the standard Playstation 4 configuration with dips sometimes reaching 50 fps.
Sledgehammer Games has listened to the players and thanks to the various feedbacks has managed to package a product that lives up to expectations, which, however, does not fully satisfy from a graphic point of view, even if the improvements compared to the past are quite evident. Each mode seemed valid to us, with a special mention for the campaign, well thought out and with an exceptional direction. Multiplayer returns to being what we all know, frenetic as usual and with maps and modes that will entertain you for many hours, not to mention the prestigious ones, which will be able to keep the most veteran and lover players of the Call of online sector glued. Duty: World War II. Also interesting are the novelties of the zombie mode, which has been playing a lot for years now and which improves and becomes even more enjoyable for newbies.
► Call of Duty: World War II is a Shooter type game developed by Sledgehammer and published by Activision for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the video game was released on 03/11/2017
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