Call of Duty: World at War

[djbhammer]

Well, the first pieces of information are coming out regarding the next Call Of Duty game. I was very disappointed with Treyarch's Call of Duty 3 so lets hope they make a drastic improvement with their next version. Latest details are:

It is being developed by Treyarch.

It will be set in World War II - Following Call of Duty 4, the series will be returning to World War II and in particular, the battle of the Pacific between America and Japan. European assaults will also feature, such as the Russians advancing on Berlin.

It will be called Call of Duty: World at War - Note that it will NOT be known as Call of Duty 5, as the series is now doing away with numbers, a la Tony Hawk.

It will be on a two-year cycle - This means Treyarch has had more time to develop Call of Duty: World at War. This was a problem that blighted Call of Duty 3, which was completed in 11 months while the team was also trying to create a separate Call of Duty game for last-gen consoles.

Multiplayer is left intact - Treyarch will be adding to Call of Duty 4's popular multiplayer rather than taking away, with the main addition being new vehicles. Perks will still be there along with a new 'leader' system, that gives you extra perks when sticking close to the team's leader.

It will use the Call of Duty 4 engine - Good news for those who loved Call of Duty 4's fluid shooting action is that by using the same engine, this should feel largely the same. The biggest difference between the two are the environments are now more destructible.

Japanese tactics! - The main new gameplay advance for the series is the unusually aggressive tactics of the Japanese as they set ambushes, hide in trees, flank fearlessly, hide in the ground... creative director Rich Farrelly says World at War has more in common with survival horror than war movies.

Four player co-op - Call of Duty: World at War will have split screen for two players, online co-op for four players!

New weapons - The main new addition being the flamethrower, allowing you to set fire to grass and trees, flushing out Japanese soldiers waiting to ambush you.

[slimbot]

Will it have large maps supporting 64 players on-foot including vehicles such as planes, tanks, jeeps, ships, AA guns and mounted machine guns? If so I'll be there.

[Kinketsu]

I'm cautious about Treyarch after the shite that was Call of Duty 3 but I'm excited about fighting the Japanese in the Pacific. I don't know if it could be done right, but it would be a nice change and surely it must be better than MOH:Rising Sun. I read on Kotaku that this game starts with you being tortured in a Japanese POW camp! I didn't know it was also going to take part in other theatres. I'd like to see a bit of a North African campaign again, like in COD2. Just no more Normandy please.

[deerokus]

Not sure about adding vehicles top CoD4's multiplayer being a good idea.

Teryarch seem to love them. CoD3 had fun MP - not as good as 4 - but the vehicles were stupid.

Hope it isn't pish but popular enough to decimate CoD4's player base.

[Meers]

Latest details are:

It is being developed by Treyarch.

Even with 2 years of development time I'm not optimistic, seeing their recent track record.

But here's hoping. The concept sounds good and let's hope they include Southpaw settings for the hardcore among us.

[Padaxes]

If it's using the COD4 engine there is hope! Maybe it will be more like a mod for COD4, surely even they cant screw that up ?

[Cyhwuhx]

.::: Based on 3 I'm going to desperately evade this one. Returning to WWII is also a major turn-off. And to be honest, another set-piece FPS will be need to be VERY special to capture the imagination.

[Jamie John]

America vs. Japan sounds overdone and a bit boring already, playing as the Russian 'steamroller' and advancing on Berlin though would be pretty interesting, especially if we get some snowy environments.

The problem with vehicles is that the game maps will have to become a lot bigger and wider to incorporate the tanks, both losing the tightness and claustraphobia that 4's multiplayer thrives on, as well as giving lots of open, long-range avenues for those fuck-wit snipers among us. Hmm.

And where the hell are the tommies? I'm long overdue and outrageous moustache fix.

[The-G]

I'm sure gamesTM said it will only be some maps that will have vehicles. They also said that the MP maps had been designed in such a way that it would only take 5 seconds to run from one bit of cover to the next so I imagine the maps still being quite small.

[Dave White]

I much prefer modern weapons and settings tbh. Have a feeling this may be a step backwards, will reserve judgement until I see it playing

[SM47]

I'd love to see some sort of 'Sandbox Stalingrad'. A massive city with multiple battles going on, with you as some sort of sick Vasily Zaitsev-esque sniper interfering at key points to turn battles in the Russians' favour. Probably never happen though, but a 'dynamic war' system would be excellent.

[Cyhwuhx]

I'd love to see some sort of 'Sandbox Stalingrad'. A massive city with multiple battles going on, with you as some sort of sick Vasily Zaitsev-esque sniper interfering at key points to turn battles in the Russians' favour. Probably never happen though, but a 'dynamic war' system would be excellent.

.::: I thought that was the promise Halo made for the future.

Then CoD became popular.

[Uzi]

I'd love to see some sort of 'Sandbox Stalingrad'. A massive city with multiple battles going on, with you as some sort of sick Vasily Zaitsev-esque sniper interfering at key points to turn battles in the Russians' favour. Probably never happen though, but a 'dynamic war' system would be excellent.

MGS4 is a bit like that at times but on a much smaller scale.

[Robo_1]

I much prefer modern weapons and settings tbh. Have a feeling this may be a step backwards, will reserve judgement until I see it playing

That's my feeling too. I enjoy using the modern equipment and weapons in CoD4, and the whole WW2 thing has been done to death. Despite its excellent heritage, I'm completely apathetic to this one.

[citation deducer]

I'd love to see some sort of 'Sandbox Stalingrad'. A massive city with multiple battles going on, with you as some sort of sick Vasily Zaitsev-esque sniper interfering at key points to turn battles in the Russians' favour. Probably never happen though, but a 'dynamic war' system would be excellent.

BF2 almost nailed that. But yeah, it would be amaze. Isn't Huxley (if it still exists) trying to do something like this ?

[Kinketsu]

I'd love to see some sort of 'Sandbox Stalingrad'. A massive city with multiple battles going on, with you as some sort of sick Vasily Zaitsev-esque sniper interfering at key points to turn battles in the Russians' favour. Probably never happen though, but a 'dynamic war' system would be excellent.

Count me in as another who would love to see SM47's idea. A few games have pretended to do that, most recently I remember MOH Airbourne making these kinds of claims, but on a big real new gen scale this would be amazing.

[Jamie John]

Joystiq talking about the XBM article:

According to the article, Treyarch aims to "explore the darkest corners of WWII," giving the military shooter more of a survival horror flavor by "tackling darker themes" and pitting players against a "new, seemingly alien fighting force."

It's just one person's interpretation of another persons interpretation, but "Survival horror" flavour? I'm all up for the new ("alien") fighting force in the Japanese, kamikaze tactics and the like, but since its induction the series has always been about immersing the player in the franticness of combat, guns blazing, hundreds of things occuring at once. "Survival horror", coupled with the opening level seeing you escape a POW camp equates to tense, slow progression down corridors to me, maybe even the dreaded stealth...

[djbhammer]

A few more features of the game which I have come across:

During online play, the party leader will be able to issue orders to the rest of the team, indicating on their hud exactly where they want them. Also possible for the leader to give each squad member a title which will determine their role during the game.

Ropes have been added, which can be used for many things, most notably to hang POWs from trees!

The ability to swim underwater will be introduced. This plays on the element of suprise used by the Imperial Japanese. Bodies and objects also appear and float in the water, thanks to the game's expanded physics engine.

Listening during multiplayer games has an added feature - real-time occlusion. Sounds coming from behind a wall or building will sound muffled in comparison to a noise in your direct line of vision. This will give further clues as to where your enemies are located.

[Cyhwuhx]

A few more features of the game which I have come across:

During online play, the party leader will be able to issue orders to the rest of the team, indicating on their hud exactly where they want them. Also possible for the leader to give each squad member a title which will determine their role during the game.

Ropes have been added, which can be used for many things, most notably to hang POWs from trees!

The ability to swim underwater will be introduced. This plays on the element of suprise used by the Imperial Japanese. Bodies and objects also appear and float in the water, thanks to the game's expanded physics engine.

Listening during multiplayer games has an added feature - real-time occlusion. Sounds coming from behind a wall or building will sound muffled in comparison to a noise in your direct line of vision. This will give further clues as to where your enemies are located.

.::: That sounds like scraping the barrel a bit too much...

[DirkCrisis]

Personally, I quite liked the story mode on COD3, but like many others I'm a bit sick of the whole WW2 thing and much prefer modern weapons. Use of the COD4 engine has slightly piqued my interest though.

[Kinketsu]

Personally, I quite liked the story mode on COD3, but like many others I'm a bit sick of the whole WW2 thing and much prefer modern weapons. Use of the COD4 engine has slightly piqued my interest though.

I liked being able to play as the Canadians, but the gameplay and level design I felt was so run of the mill, compared even to COD2.

[henofdoom]

I avoided the third game and i'll avoid this one, because Treyarch blow. And I bet Infinity Ward love them for eroding away at their series. Did they make that deal with Activision where only they can develop future games? Here's hoping.

[dizogg]

I avoided the third game and i'll avoid this one, because Treyarch blow. And I bet Infinity Ward love them for eroding away at their series. Did they make that deal with Activision where only they can develop future games? Here's hoping.

Why would Infinity Ward care? They're hardly gonna be out of a job if Call of Duty is run into the ground as they have a good reputation now. And it's not as if they invented the series either is it!

[Phelan]

Why would you string up a POW instead of shooting them?

Plus aren't you supposed to capture POWs and lock them up rather than killing them? Geneva convention and all that.

[LittleJoe]

Making missions/maps against the Japanese is usually just an excuse for poor AI.

"Oh no! They weren't just running at you! They were Banzai charging! "

[Kinketsu]

And it's not as if they invented the series either is it!

Uh beard? Yeah they did.

Why would you string up a POW instead of shooting them?

Plus aren't you supposed to capture POWs and lock them up rather than killing them? Geneva convention and all that.

I wondered about that too, maybe you play as the Japanese at one point? Or it's from online or something? Bit worrying.

[Guest muller7uk]

That's my feeling too. I enjoy using the modern equipment and weapons in CoD4, and the whole WW2 thing has been done to death. Despite its excellent heritage, I'm completely apathetic to this one.

Yeah I think that going back to WW2 setting might bore me a bit. Saying that, I'm quite bored of the "we-cant-call-it-Iraq-so-we-will-pretend-its-somewhere-else-or-not-name-it-at-all--- istan" setting too.

[Dynamo Nath]

Making missions/maps against the Japanese is usually just an excuse for poor AI.

"Oh no! They weren't just running at you! They were Banzai charging! "

I'd like to see a different setting too, and a pacific setting could work; having to take one island at a time. Really not sure they'll get the hanging POWs past the censors though.

I'd like to see something totally different, perhaps CoD: Waterloo.

[RubberJohnny]

This won't be as good as CoD4, I think the only the even-numbered installments by Infinity Ward will be worth playing, it's like Splinter Cell, where only the odd numbered ones are good, since they're worked on by different dev teams so it can be an annual franchise.

[Nate Dogg III]

Yeah, not really sure about this; I think the modern setting is key to COD4's appeal and while a different spin on WWII is enough of a departure I'm sure going to miss my red dot sight.