Call Of Duty: World At War
X360
MA15+
Activision

After Infinity Ward blew our minds last year with the phenomenal 'Call Of Duty 4', development duties on this latest effort were controversially handed over to Treyarch, the team behind the arguably disappointing 'Call Of Duty 3'. The game takes players away from the modern setting that made the fourth game feel so fresh, thrusting them right back into World War II to wage war against Japanese and German forces. Comparisons are inevitable - 'World At War' learnt a lot from the fourth game's critical and financial success, but hasn't picked up many new tricks along the way.

The single player campaign sees you thrust into the alternating boots of an American and a Russian soldier in the final stages of the war. Obviously, it's not a glamorous journey to reach the conclusion. 'World At War' is a step-up from your usual World War II game's plot, although by this point the conflict feels very well-catalogued, and the characters aren't as well formed as they could have been. However, the game cleverly realises that the battles that can be won easily are generally the most disturbing, allowing for some great moments that ponder upon what war does to a man. In terms of gameplay, it treads familiar ground of cover-based gunplay, offering up scenarios that allow for plenty of gameplay variation and exciting moments. Issues that have affected the series remain untouched however, especially the game's reliance on you moving forward to progress the level, endlessly spawning enemies until you take it upon yourself to gain ground. The scenarios faced here just aren't as satisfying or epic as they were in the last game, and the set pieces certainly can't compare. The AI has also taken a huge hit, with both enemies and allies occasionally clearly having no idea what they're meant to be doing. And don't get me started on the inappropriate cock-rock music.

Multiplayer has barely changed, but remains awesome. Map design is excellent, allowing for a fine mix of close quarter and long-range skirmishes, although the initial weapon set disappoints. The dog attacks you can unleash after a seven-kill streak seem cool at first, but their devastating effectiveness perhaps rewards skilled players too much. The addition of tanks to a few maps doesn't really work well either, effectively slowing battles to a grind as usually one team will simply hide from the other team occupying the tanks. The co-op is probably the best new addition to the package, although it doesn't feel at home here as it does in a number of other recent 360 releases, and since it's been designed as a competitive mode there's no sense of progression to it.

Although not nearly as good as 'Call Of Duty 4' was, 'World At War' is still an excellent rendition of the world's most reproduced conflict and well worth a purchase.

James O'Connor