14 DAY TRIAL // The Call of Duty franchise is one of the most popular series of shooters out there, largely because it introduced a wide range of features in a time where games were becoming less original. The series gained a massive boost in popularity with the launch of the fourth title, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, which was the first game that took the action out of the old World War II setting and placed it in contemporary times.
This very successful title made the publisher of the game, Activision, take the rights to the CoD IP (Intellectual Property) from the original developers of the game, Infinity Ward, and task the Treyarch studio to develop another CoD game, in parallel with the original creators of the series.
The decision to place the game in the saturated WWII setting made fans really angry, since they considered that Activision just wanted to make a bit more profit out of their favorite franchise. But the efforts the Treyarch team made during the development of this game, and the open beta stages it has offered to fans showed them that the game would be different from other WWII shooters, and that it would offer a great experience.
We have already posted our impressions of the open multiplayer stage of the game, which offered some very intense action. And now, with the title already launched, we will post our first hour with this very interesting shooter.
15:00 The game starts up and you immediately get the vintage feel from the opening cinematics.
15:10 After a few quick tweaks with the settings, the full World War II experience is starting to be portrayed. The opening movie details the story of this conflict and sets up the first mission of the game. You are a prisoner of war on the Makin Atol and you must watch how your comrades are tortured and killed.
15:20 Another battalion of US Marines sets you free and now you must help them eliminate all of the Japanese forces on this island. The game is pretty hectic now, as everyone is fighting everyone and all the characters look essentially the same.
15:30 The Japanese are quite good at ambushes and will hide in the grass or behind trees to get the jump on you and your forces. After some very chaotic firefights you set up the bomb on a Japanese ammunition room and you flee on boats. Quite an intense first mission, but it shouldn't be a problem for any experienced CoD player.
15:40 Fast forward a few years, and Pvt. Miller (that's your character) and his battalion are tasked with invading another island that is under Japanese control. The landing on the island is difficult due to the heavy entrenchments of the rival army, but you have an ace up your sleeve, an air strike that can easily destroy any machine gun encampment.
15:50 The Japanese soldiers are quite fanatical and do "Banzai charges," meaning they come at you with full force in order to impale you with their bayonets. After a few more air strikes you are now tasked with flanking a Japanese army headquarters deep inside the jungle.
16:00 After going through the underground tunnels and eventually surfacing behind the enemy troops you easily subdue them and keep pushing inside the island.
All in all, some very intense but chaotic action, which is sure to keep CoD fans happy. It may not be Modern Warfare, but CoD: World at War offers quite an interesting experience that will entertain any shooter fan.