After spending a few years/titles within the future of warfare, Activision & Sledgehammer Games bring the Call Of Duty series back to a time period that many have been clamoring for: World War II. The last time we were at the place was COD 3 back in 2006 for all platforms except the PC. This is reminiscent of the launch of the Xbox 360 w/ COD2 as this in time for the Xbox One X.
Many of you grew tired of the futuristic combat and wished the creators brought it back to the basics. And this year, they did just that. So back to World War II w/ the new processing & graphics from the power of 2017 consoles. We've been playing it off & on for over a week and we're ready to talk about it.
The new game follows you as Private Ronald Daniels and your ragtag group of the 1st Infantry Division. Consisting of Private Robert Zussman played by actor Jonathan Tucker, Private Drew Stiles, technician Frank Aiello, your Lead Sergent being played by Josh Duhamel & Lieutenant played Jeffrey Pierce.
They skip over some of the real aspects of the war but is visually stunning regardless.
Like the older COD games taking place during WWII, the game's campaign 1st mission is D-Day attempting to storm the beaches in Normandy. Then continue to move throughout the Nazi-occupied sections of Europe in a variety of missions that include stealth, infiltrate as a spy, operating a tank, flying a plane, and more than your average shoot your way through a campaign. All over the course of 11 missions throughout the war.
You can get ammo, grenade for air strikes, & health packs from members of your squad along w/ picking them up in random places on each stage. Injured comrades can now be dragged away to safety. Don't expect the double-jump & wall-running abilities here obviously but you slide and dive to cover. You have the option to allow enemies to surrender or the take no prisoners route.
Also, so if you plan on buying this when you upgrade to the 4K console, you don't have to. You still enjoy the great graphics & gameplay now and when you upgrade, the game is already 4K-ready for the One X.
Multiplayer
Now to the part everyone is concerned about: the multiplayer side of things of Call Of Duty. It's a great experience to the point that many would expect for COD Multiplayer. You have the usual suspects of Search & Destroy, Team Deathmatch, Domination, Hardpoint, and War (which recreates parts of the WW2 w/ 2 teams of 6 as the Allies or Axis). There's a new class system called Divisions which their own skills like Infantry, Airborne, Armored, Mountain, & Expeditionary. There's the new Headquarters feature which is a social space that acts as their take on the Tower of the Destiny series. You get to enjoy the weapons & locations that are more in-depth than navigating them on the campaign side.
Nazi Zombies
And lastly, everyone's new favorite: Zombies or in this case, Nazi Zombies. This is a game mode that includes a co-op option to take on Nazi zombies from the Third Reich. Like the previous versions, it is a wave-based game where you see how far you can survive. This time around, they added a new class system broken down into Offense, Control, Medic, & Support w/ their own different specialties. I usually don't really care for the Zombies portion of the game as I normally just stick to the campaign & multiplayer but it is fun.
Call Of Duty's revisit to WW2 is a good trip but not a great one.
TG 2 Cents
The Call Of Duty franchise is in a difficult place. I enjoyed the game but many of my friends (who still play) have dropped out for the same reason many have stopped playing. The COD series is a bit formulaic and now more of the same. As most of the latest & greatest features go to Multiplayer & other modes outside of the campaign.
Even though I had fun playing it over the course of 7 days & a weekend, this might be a mixed bag for COD enthusiasts. The game overall is visually stunning - all across the board. The story is a bit predictable as you've seen this already. It does sort of fast-forward to select parts of the war while glossing over the horrors a bit.
