Call of Duty: World at War

"60 million lives were lost as a result of World War II. It was the most destructive and deadly conflict in human history."

- Treyarch

Call of Duty: World at War, also referred to as Call of Duty 5 or simply World at War, and abbreviated as CoD: WaW or WaW, is a first-person shooter game produced by Treyarch, and is the first game in the "Black Ops" timeline. It was released on November 11, 2008 in North America and on November 14, 2008 in Europe. It was announced on December 2, 2007, and on June 6, 2008; the 64th anniversary of D-Day, Treyarch announced it would be named as "World at War" and it would take place in the Pacific theater of war as well as the Eastern Front.

It was released for all seventh-generation consoles as well as home computers. It is the first Treyarch game to be released on the PC and it has a double development cycle of Treyarch's previous game, Call of Duty 3 and was in development from late 2006.

The game's first trailer was released on June 21, 2008, and can be viewed here. The gameplay for Call of Duty: World at War remains the same as Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. See Infinity Ward Game Engine Mechanics for more information. The game was re-released in the Call of Duty: The War Collection as part of a bundle.

Plot
There is one campaign in the game divided into two: the American campaign and the Soviet campaign. The Soviet campaign is returning after having last been present in Call of Duty 2. There is no British campaign in the game, making World at War the only major Call of Duty set in the Second World War not to feature a British Campaign or a British playable character.

Overview
The American campaign is set in the Pacific theater on the islands of Makin, Peleliu, and Okinawa. The Soviet campaign is set in the Eastern Front, mainly in Nazi Germany. In the American campaign, players take the role of Pvt. C. Miller as he fights alongside Sgt. Tom Sullivan, Cpl. Roebuck (later Sergeant), and Pvt. Polonsky. In the Soviet campaign, players take the role of Pvt. Dimitri Petrenko as he fights alongside the merciless Sgt. Viktor Reznov and the merciful Pvt. Chernov. In the American campaign, players, for the first time in a Call of Duty game, fight against the Japanese Imperial Army. Most combat takes place in jungles, where ambushes are likely. Combat also takes place in small mortar pits, ridges, beach heads, Japanese trenches, and small villages. Bunkers are a common sight in the American campaign, usually causing heavy casualties. The player must also fight with a crew of a PBY Catalina Black Cat. In the Soviet Campaign, players fight against the German Wehrmacht during the push towards Berlin. Combat takes place, at first, in the ruins of Stalingrad where the player is mainly a sniper. After that, combat occurs in farmland and forests of the German town of Seelow, including using a T-34 tank to smash through German defenses. Finally, Berlin is assaulted and close quarter fighting becomes a common feature. The last mission of the Soviet campaign sees the Red Army capture the Reichstag and the player planting the Soviet Flag on top of the building.

Missions

 * Semper Fi
 * Little Resistance
 * Hard Landing
 * Vendetta
 * Their Land, Their Blood
 * Burn 'em Out
 * Relentless
 * Blood and Iron
 * Ring of Steel
 * Eviction
 * Black Cats
 * Blowtorch & Corkscrew
 * Breaking Point
 * Heart of the Reich
 * Downfall

Multiplayer


Call of Duty: World at War has the same multiplayer features as Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (i.e. Killstreaks, Ranks, Perks''). However, its ranking system is very different from that of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare''. For prestiging, the player will be rewarded with extra create-a-class slots and gamer pictures (Sgt. Roebuck gamer picture for prestiging for the first time and Sgt. Reznov for the 10th time). There are also co-op challenges that will give the player XP. Like in Call of Duty 4, class customization is unavailable in local offline multiplayer. Instead, players can only choose from ten default classes. Also, players are allowed to brutally Gib enemy soldiers, as in campaign.

Ranks
Throughout the players experience in the multiplayer of Call of Duty: World at War, the player will go through a series of ranks. The ranks up to level 65 are listed on the right of the page. The prestige ranks are located on the left. As the player increase in level, the player unlocks new weapons, additional grenades, and perks. Once level 65 is reached, the player has the option to go into Prestige mode. While this does reset the players rank and all the player's challenge progress, it also works toward unlocking extra class slots for Create-A-Class.

Maps
World at War had 14 multiplayer maps when it came out, and three maps packs each containing three new multiplayer maps and a free zombie map resulting in a total of 23 maps.

Weapons
World at War has a total of 30 weapons, with 22 primaries and 8 secondaries.

Killstreaks
Call of Duty: World at War has three killstreaks just as Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare did, but the 5 and 7 killstreaks are different:
 * Recon Plane (3 kills): This functions the same as Radar from Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, showing enemies as red dots on the player's mini-map.
 * Artillery (5 kills): Called in via radio, this is used to target an area of the map to be bombarded by artillery shells. It is similar to the Mortar Team in Call of Duty: Black Ops
 * Dogs (7 kills): When called in, multiple dogs will enter the map for 60 seconds and attack enemy players.

Vehicles
A major difference between the multiplayer in World at War and the multiplayer in the Modern Warfare games is the ability to drive a tank in some maps. Therefore, Vehicle Perks are included in-game. Tanks can be used for both Tank-based combat as well as killing infantry. However, areas tanks can access on maps are limited, allowing infantry to escape when an enemy tank is nearby. Another feature of the tank is the ability to switch position on the tank from either the main turret or a machine gun mounted on the top (this is not possible if another player is in the other gun of the Tank). While using the top machine gun, it is possible to crouch for added protection.

Tanks are relatively hard to take out. While most of time this may occur in tank-based combat (though tanks have enough armor that a driver can easily get out and get away before his tank blows up). The M9A1 Bazooka and the Sticky Grenades can be used to take out tanks from a more medium to long range approach, but this requires at least two players working together to take it out. Another option is using satchel charges to destroy the tank. This, however, either forces the player to get close to the tank (which is generally a bad idea as either the tank will see the player or might even run over them) or placing satchel charges, moving to another location where they can watch the charges, and then blowing them up when the tank rolls over them (this, however, requires good analyzing of where the tank more than likely is going to go). The difference between using Satchel charges and using bazookas and/or grenades is that a single player can take down a tank using satchel charges, but it is a little more difficult to get set up to even have the possibility of taking down the tank.

Character Skins
When using a certain class of weapon in Multiplayer, an appropriate skin is used to match the class of weapon. Each class and faction has a different skin. For example, when using a bolt action rifle, such as the Kar98k, Mosin-Nagant, Springfield, Ariskia, or the PTRS-41, a ghillie suit is equipped. Every country (USA, Russia, Germany, Japan) has its own unique ghillie suit.

Nazi Zombies
Call of Duty: World at War also features a new game mode, Nazi Zombies. After having completed the campaign and watched the credits (now skipable thanks to a patch) players automatically start a game of Nazi Zombies in the map Nacht der Untoten. The player must defend against waves of Nazi zombies by buying new weapons, unlocking new areas, and boarding up windows. Boarding up windows or damaging zombies gives points, which can be used to unlock access to new areas and buy weapons. Sometimes, zombies drop power-ups such as Nuke (atomic bomb), Max Ammo, Double Points, and Insta-Kill. The 3 map packs have brought new content such as the Pack-A-Punch Machine that upgrades certain weapons, Perk-a-Cola machines that give perks to players for a certain amount of points, and a new enemy, the Hellhound. A new Nazi Zombies map comes with every multiplayer map pack. Nacht der Untoten came with the game, Verrückt was in Map Pack 1, Shi no Numa in Map Pack 2 and Der Riese in Map Pack 3. The World at War maps were ported over in the Hardened and Prestige versions of Call of Duty: Black Ops, and feature Black Ops cold war weapons as well as some of the original World at War weapons (e.g. Kar98k, Thompson, FG42, etc.). The Rezurrection DLC made the World at War maps available for purchase.

Call of Duty: World at War Limited Collector's Edition
The Call of Duty: World at War Limited Collector's Edition is a package containing Call of Duty: World at War, a canteen, which has its lid stuck on as the inside is lead, a metal tin in which to store all Call of Duty games, a week of double XP, a golden clan tag to promote the player's VIP status, and a code for unlocking the FG42 early. When the code is redeemed, the first heavy gunner slot for Create-A-Class will have an FG42. If the customer pre-ordered the game at Gamestop then the M1A1 Carbine will be put in the first slot of the rifleman class. As far as the advantages go for having bought it, the high-end weaponry gives one an in-game boost. In fact, the FG-42 is unlocked well into multiplayer, and the M1A1 Carbine is the last unlocked weapon.

Call of Duty: World at War: Final Fronts
Call of Duty: World at War: Final Fronts was a version of this game that was made for the PlayStation 2. It is similar but has toned-down graphics. It includes two American campaigns and a British campaign, while removing the Soviet campaign. The original version of this game lacks an extra American campaign and a British campaign, although it includes a Soviet Campaign. Final Fronts also does not feature Nazi Zombies.

Call of Duty: World at War (Nintendo DS)
A version of Call of Duty: World at War was made for the Nintendo DS. It includes the Pacific campaign, the Soviet campaign, and a British campaign. The American campaign tells the story of Rook, a new member of the USMC, as he participates in the effort to defeat Japanese forces and take over Shuri Castle, the British campaign features Dawkins of the SAS, as he assists in pushing German forces back towards Berlin, and the Soviet campaign allows the player to take control of Dimarkurato, a private of the Red Army, as he participates in the Battle of Seelow Heights and assault the Reichstag.

Differences from previous Call of Duty games

 * Compared to past Call of Duty games, Call of Duty: World at War is much more serious: there is minimal humor in the game, and the atmosphere is very dark with themes of hatred and vengeance. Even the menu music, also used in Vendetta, is quite unsettling. This is highlighted particularly from the words spoken by the singing woman in the menu theme at the beginning of 'Vendetta', which translate from German as 'Brave soldier, Brave soldier, die with me, die with me, die with me'. On the other hand, Call of Duty: World at War has some very fictional/comical elements, such as the latter two maps of Zombies, Shi No Numa and Der Riese, which is absent from the Wii version, but the color palette consists of mostly colors in a dark tone like in the regular game.
 * Call of Duty: World at War is the goriest Call of Duty game to date. It is possible to mutilate and rip apart enemy soldiers, by blowing off enemies' heads, arms and legs. Ripping open the torso and seeing the ribs, and similar areas of the body is also possible with high-power weapons like the MG42, Type 99, FG42 and PTRS-41 . Also, blood splatter is more realistic, and it is common to see the enemy in large pools of blood splattered everywhere. Much of this gore is not present in the Wii version due to graphical limitations. Blood is still present, however, and meat chunks appear when a soldier is shot in the head.
 * Profanity is much more frequent in Call of Duty: World at War, though not as frequent as in Black Ops and Black Ops II. Words like "fuck," "shit," "bitch," and "bastard" are all much more common in the American campaign. Even in the Soviet campaign, the soldiers often use profane terms in their own language, like "yebar" (ебарь, "fucker"), "svoloch" (сволочь, "bastard"), "мudak" (Мудак, "asshole"), and "chyort" (чёрт, "damn"). When playing with the Marine Raiders in multiplayer, if the player or his team wins, he may hear "Outstanding Marines! Out-fucking standing! We kicked ass!" When profanity is off, swear words are not omitted; however, the sentences are changed to not include swearing. For example, Sullivan says "Tojo's at home in this shit" When censoring is on, he says "Tojo's at home in this muck." However, at the beginning of Little Resistance, when Sullivan normally says the "plan's gone to shit," the latter two words are simply omitted, although the words are still mouthed.
 * This is one of the few console Call of Duty games to not feature any quotes about war when the player dies in campaign mode.
 * This game does not feature a training level, unlike many other Call of Duty games.
 * Call of Duty: World at War marks the first use of bayonets and M2 Flamethrowers.
 * This is the first Call of Duty game to feature the Imperial Japanese Army and to be placed largely in the Pacific Theater.
 * Call of Duty: World at War is the first main series game with no British campaign, but it sees the return of a Soviet campaign, which last appeared in Call of Duty 2.
 * Call of Duty: World at War is also the first Call of Duty game to feature cooperative gameplay.
 * Comparing the campaign and the multiplayer, most weapons in the campaign have a relatively longer reload than their multiplayer versions. Some exceptions include the M1897 Trench Gun and the Kar98k.
 * This is the first game in the series to feature U.S. Marines in World War II.
 * This is the first World War II game to be rated M by the ESRB in the Call of Duty series.
 * This is the first and only game in the Call of Duty series to be a Games for Windows title.

Trivia

 * Originally, the game was going to be titled Call of Duty V (Call of Duty 5).
 * Call of Duty: World at War was first released on the Commonwealth Remembrance Day. It is unknown if this is just coincidence or if it was intentional.
 * In split-screen, there is a glitch where all players can't use equipment (Satchel Charge, Bazooka, etc.) Their Secondary is also changed to Colt M1911 (with the exception of the FG-42/M1A1 Carbine combo).
 * In the background of the cover art is an American soldier having his throat slit by a Japanese soldier wearing camouflage, using a katana.
 * If the player shoots off an enemy's head they will still scream, even though they lack a head.
 * Sometimes, if the player gets wet, small drops of water will be shown on the screen, as if the player was wearing glasses.
 * The playable characters (except Locke) can be seen with cuts and scratches on their hands.
 * Any time the player takes too long to move, kill, or destroy an objective, grenades will be thrown at them constantly.
 * Not only does this game show the brutality of the Axis Powers (ex. Japanese torture and the massacre at Red Square) but it also shows the merciless nature of the Red Army, as the player commonly sees them execute unarmed enemy soldiers, even if they are surrendering.
 * This game seems to have undergone a huge overhaul before it was released, because the presence of a sticky grenade and deleted British weapons such as Sten, Bren and Lee-Enfield possibly indicates that a British campaign was to be present. The Mod Tools also feature code for three missions at Rhineland and three missions in Holland.
 * In the South Park episode "The Ungroundable", the young students in computer class are playing Call of Duty: World at War multiplayer on the map, Castle.
 * The PPS-43 was apparently intended to be featured in this game. Oddly, it was dropped in the next-gen versions of the game.
 * If the player quits and restarts a level right at the beginning (before the first objective is given), it is possible to get a major AI glitch where allies do not shoot at enemies and enemies can be seen looking at the player without shooting (which will continue indefinitely if the player refuses to kill the enemy). If the player does this with "Blowtorch and Corkscrew", it will continue to Shuri Castle where at times the infinite respawn system will continue far beyond the player activating the "trip wire" to turn it off and will consequently be overwhelmed by enemies that should not even be there.
 * At first, Call of Duty: World at War was banned in Japan for strong, gory violence and cruelty against Japanese soldiers, but the ban was later lifted.
 * Many of the names of the Marines in the game come from the game developers (which the player can see at the end credits).
 * As seen in localization strings, there was Weapon Camouflage in game. The types were Reich, Siberian, Royal, Yankee, Rising Sun, Golden and Prestige, but they were cut.
 * The weapons visible on the box art all have slings, despite the lack of slings in the actual game.
 * The American Marine in the middle of the cover is seen holding an earlier version of the Thompson (the M1928A1) however this isn't usable in the game.
 * In any campaign level if the player kills an enemy and crawl inside of them it is possible to see their jaws and eyes. This is because this is the only part of the enemy's face that is animated.
 * Unlike other Call of Duty installments where the player can go third person in the multiplayer mode only through Console Commands, the player can go third person in the campaign as well.
 * Using Console Commands, the player can use the laser emitters used in the Modern Warfare series, obvious leftovers from the re-use of the Call of Duty 4 engine.
 * On a technical level, add times for empty reloads were introduced in World at War, making it harder to reload-cancel some weapons and circumvent longer reload times.
 * Dynamically, the echoes produced by the weapons largely depend on the distance traveled by the bullets and they also change in different environments.