Call of Duty: World at War (Nintendo DS) - Review by Andrew

Introduction

The DS isn't really designed to do 3D as some of the first generation offerings prove. The problem is that both the DS and the Call of Duty franchise have been incredibly successful and after last year's Call of Duty 4 (also developed by n Space) it was clear that there was a place for well-designed FPS' on the system. The fourth outing, also known as Modern Warfare, also won just about every industry and gamer award available, meaning that the franchise has got some time to go yet. Developers n Space have been very impressive with their DS output, but have they learned from their past errors with this latest offering?

Gameplay

World at War lets you play through a considerable chunk of the second world war conflict in the Pacific, Europe and even Russia. It takes you through jungles, snow covered wastelands and leafy villages. What makes the game so engaging though is the constant juggling of game styles so while this is essentially a FPS there's a lot more to war than simply shooting the enemy. One of the most exciting things is when you have to take control of the 'big guns' both at sea and in the air as shooting down enemy planes on the attack gets the adrenalin seriously pumping around your body, especially when the planes happen to be Japanese Kamikaze heading for your warships. Another highlight is when you control tanks and not only fire the main weapon but also a machine gun both backwards and forwards at the same time as avoiding the odd RPG heading your way. You have to bomb enemy targets, only to be shot down and also parachute into enemy territory. There are various mini-games included where you may have to diffuse mines (by pulling out the pins and cutting wires) or even administer first aid to your fellow soldiers although it's amazing just what a few bandages could do back then. The story itself is very engaging and playing as American, British and Russian troops you'll be thrown into a huge variety of realistic scenarios that generally demand as much thought as marksmanship.

Even once you complete the single player mode there's much more to enjoy with World at War and extras, such as the Challenge Mode where you must completes tasks like

killing 15 in three minutes (with 5 of them by grenade), just make things more interesting. There's also the Quickplay, which allows you to play any of the previously visited Missions in handy bite sized chunks. You'll find that you missed a lot of collectables during your travels though the various campaigns and there are even awards available for tasks like shooting down a specific number of planes or destroying targets from your bomber. There's even a Multiplayer and on-line play, which was sadly missing from last years outing. Unfortunately while the Multiplayer aspect is just as good as ever, the on-line element could do with a little more work and while it's better than nothing it's be nice to see more than 4 players battling it out at any one time. However the rankings system is impressive and eventually you'll be able to see just how well you and the rest of the world are doing at mowing down the enemy.

Controls

Your d-pad controls movement whilst the shoulder buttons are for firing but what were you expecting from a DS based FPS?

Graphics

The developers have done an admirable job of realizing an immersive 3D world although some of the character models are a little too blocky. On the other hand they are well-animated and other visual aspects such as destructible environments as well as the overall attention to detail will make you forget about that. It's just a shame there's the occasional slow-down when a little too much is going on.

Sound

The audio elements here are outstanding and not only do you get a wonderfully immersive and atmospheric orchestral score playing throughout the game but there's also some very good voice over work to. Bringing all this together is a collection of varied and realistic sound effects to place you right in the middle of the action.

Dual screen

While the touch screen is, once again, used to control your gun's aim and your direction, the developers have added many more touch screen elements this time around. The most intuitive of these is the Morse code section that has you tapping out a variety of messages to HQ. You'll also have to administer First Aid to wounded soldiers and even diffuse bombs and mines, with the latter being particularly difficult. Unusually rather than slowing the FPS action down this all actually gives the whole thing a deeper level of realism and adds to your sense of urgency while increasing your heartrate.

Final comments

Given just how good the last Call of Duty outing was on the DS, it was difficult to see where n-Space could take the franchise next but the various improvements here more than warrant the asking price. The single player mission is long and varied, there's an enjoyable on-line mode and the extra missions and challenges mean that you'll keep playing for some time. The only real downsides are the less than perfect character models and the occasional slow down in the framerate but there's no denying that this is a well crafted piece of software and proof once and for all that the DS is more than capable of handling this kind of ambitious genre.

Pro: Look and Sounds Great, Loads of Missions and Extras.
Con: Nothing Too Major Really
Final score: 8.5

Share on Twitter or Facebook

Comments