Activision and Sledgehammer Games will release Call of Duty: WWII on November 3rd.
Call of Duty: WWII takes players through Europe in history's most monumental war showcasing the unbreakable bonds among men trying to preserve their freedom from a world on the edge of oppressive rule. The game's intense and realistic combat gives gamers an experience that honors that of World War II as they make their way through the Campaign, Multiplayer, and Nazi Zombies.
The game's campaign is around 10-15 hours and has to be one of the most difficult campaigns yet. Your character's vulnerability is more evident than ever since you aren't a super solider this time around. The game focuses on firearms appropriate for the time period and movement doesn't get more advanced than crawling, running and vaulting over cover.
Call of Duty: WWII is made up of intense cinematic moments against the backdrop of World War II with a list of eccentric characters across Europe. Gamers will meet members of the US 1st Infantry Division like Ronald "Red" Daniels while joining allied forces from the U.K. and French Resistance. The game offers an immersive experience across the beaches of Normandy, the liberation of Paris and into the pits of Germany. Players get to experience iconic experiences like the D-Day invasion and Battle of the Bulge with fantastic visuals and mood setting sounds that truly engross the user into the game's experience.
Gamers play as Red, a 19-year-old from Texas, who has no combat experience or special skills. Red is just a young American trapped in unfamiliar settings who wants to defend his country. Red is in way over his head as his squad makes his way through collapsed buildings and destroyed landscapes. The gameplay is more intense, gritty and real this time around which makes it scarier than ever. One of the biggest differences in single player campaign this time around is the inability to regenerate your health. Instead you depend on your teammates to patch you up to feel up your HP bar, which means having to balance your team's invulnerability with the overall tone of the game. It was a smart move by developers but some players may find that the game is much harder because of it.
Call of Duty: WWII has managed to create a realistic experience of what World War II was like with its intricate animations and storyline. Players are able to have an authentic experience as they sneak past enemy lines, pose as enemy soldiers, all the while driving tanks and planes. The campaign tries to immerse you into the game's interactive environments with its well-written storyline that turns everyday people into heroes.
The multiplayer segment in Call of Duty: WWII places gamers smack in the middle of history's largest conflict with the ability to develop their careers using Divisions. Players can compete against in each other in War Mode alongside their Headquarters, a new social space to interact with other players.
Divisions are a reimagining of the series create-a-class system allowing players to find their perfect playstyle among the five divisions: Airborne, Mountain, Infantry, Armored, and Expeditionary. Depending on how you like to play, you can head out to battle with undetectable silenced SMGs (Airborne), incendiary rounds and shotguns (Expeditionary), or even explosives and LMG power (Armored).
Call of Duty: WWII has revitalized its multiplayer portion with War Mode since it plays like the earlier campaigns in Call of Duty 1 & 2 with the richer experiences of multiplayer gameplay. The modes and maps seem larger than ever with Call of Duty: WWII with many fan favorites making a return. Use scorestreaks like the Glide Bomb, Mortar Strike, Artillery Barrage, Carpet Bombing, and more while making your way across maps like the Ardennes Forest, Operation Breakout and Pointe Du Hoc.
However, my favorite part of Call of Duty: WWII was Nazi Zombies. Zombies mode is better than ever this time around and actually made me jump out of my seat. Gamers head out on a dark adventure through Mittleburg, Germany where they find a snowy and mysterious village. Your characters must recover stolen artifacts but find the village holds an unimaginable yet monstrous power. You are part of a team of international art experts called MFAA who try to survive the horrors ahead while recovering the art stolen by the Axis powers.
The characters available in Nazi Zombies are the strong and educated Jefferson Potts, the savvy art historian and weapon expert Olivia Durant, former thief Drostan Hynd, and the brilliant engineer and tactician Marie Fischer. The characters all have different abilities and skills that come in handy during the countless waves of Nazi Zombies. For the first time ever in the series, I actually felt that the game's Zombie Mode was actually very scary in its environments, soundtrack and gameplay. Finally, Zombies done right!
In the end, Call of Duty: WWII has managed to perfectly capture the horrifying elements of World War II with its gripping and intense gameplay. Call of Duty: WWII captures the brutality of war and the bonds of men with an authentic and unforgettable experience for the new generation. Call of Duty: WWII featured intricate visuals and ambient sounds that really help set the mood for the game's campaign, multiplayer and zombies. To learn more, visit the official Call of Duty: WWII website.
Call of Duty: WWII is rated M for Mature for Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language. (Content suitable for people ages 17 and older.) by the ESRB, and is available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC.
Reviewed for PS4