14 DAY TRIAL // Treyarch has a bad reputation. And some of it might be deserved, because Big Red One was not worthy of being a Call of Duty game. But as it is developing the next game in the franchise, there might be a chance that the fifth title in the series will redeem them in the eyes of gamers.
We have already told you that the game would begin in the Pacific theater and that the developers are aiming for a darker, more mature take on the whole World War II shooter genre. They even went so far as to use the "survival horror" genre as a possible inspiration for their game. But we have not told you about the flamethrowers.
War in the Pacific was a messy affair for the infantry man. Tanks were useless so small islands chocked up by jungles and air power and naval gunfire could only do so much to soften up the Japanese defenders. So the infantry had to go into battle knowing the fact that a tree is almost always home to the sniper, that a tree patch can hide an ambush force and that the enemy might suddenly pop up behind you from a network of tunnels. The rational response to such threats was to use the flamethrower on a massive scale as a weapon against both the enemy and the environment.
The developers are creating what they call the most realistic simulation of such a weapon seen in games and those who have seen the game in action say they're right. Couple the jungle fires we are about to see with four player co-op gameplay, with experience from co-op also usable in multiplayer, and you might just get a winning combination.
Treyarch is also hinting at the fact that the second portion of the game will feature a Russian conscript as Berlin is under assault in May 1945 so we might be getting an interlocked story just as in Call of Duty 4.
These are just three reasons supporting the idea that Treyarch might make a good game. Look out for more as the release date nears.