Joystiq impressions -- Call of Duty: World at War

By now, you already know that Call of Duty is indeed coming back, though not in the Modern Warfare variety you've come to know and love. You know, that edition which sold over ten million copies and was developed by another studio. No, Activision has handed the reins back to Treyarch to create Call of Duty: World at War, which returns the franchise to the WWII genre, albeit in a new theater: The Pacific. Find everything we know about Call of Duty 5, err, Call of Duty: World at War, after the break.
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We'll get the big news out of the way first: CoD:WaW is only being developed for "next-generation" console systems and the PC. Treyarch said it was slowing down the development of the game, and since it was on a tight schedule, the older systems got jettisoned. The game will be out on the Wii ("next generation" flamewar: engage), and according to Treyarch studio head, Mark Lamia, it will "not be a different game on the Wii."

Sadly, this does mean no Call of Duty: World At War on the PlayStation 2. Treyarch felt like it was being held back by an attempt to shoehorn a modern game into an older generation system, so the platform was abandoned altogether. With the massive PS2 install base that's out there, this seems like quite a gamble, and we can't imagine too many PS2ers being thrilled about the decision, especially if that means they have to plunk down a load of cash on a new system.

Also in the big news department: The game is using the CoD4 engine. Literally every person from Treyarch who talked about the game made a point of mentioning how great the CoD4 engine was to work with, how it let them jump right into the development, and yadda yadda yadda. We're not complaining since yes, we loved it too. They've added some physics elements to it, and a lot of flame-based weapons as well, which we'll discuss more in just a bit. We were shown an early build, which we hope eventually manages to overcome a current case of "teh jaggies."

What was noticeable right away, especially in multiplayer, was how much the gameplay mirrors CoD4. You can unlock perks, call in air support, recon planes, etc. Treyarch has focused on adding some destructible environments too -- the first level we were shown has you escaping from a Japanese POW camp, which then gets blown up and set on fire, complete with plenty of soldiers set ablaze and running around. Using this destructability, you can create exits in buildings. One on-screen soldier got trapped in a burning, wooden building, but he was able to shoot through one of the walls and hop out safely.

Treyarch also showed us, in extensive detail, some of the rope physics that have been created for this game. Apparently, Japanese soldiers would lash themselves high in palm trees and wait for troops to approach underneath before unloading on them. If you take out some of these tree-bound soldiers, they endure a brief drop and a short stop, getting caught up in their own ropes and dangling from their precious trees. We were also shown dead soldiers hung up as warnings, log traps (woo, it's Return of the Jedi!) and signs suspended from trees. Naturally, you can shoot the ropes to disarm traps and inconvenience soldiers lying in wait.

There was a considerable amount of time spent showing off the game's love of fire, fire, fire. Beavis definitely would have loved this game. You can now carry flamethrowers in the game and we have to say, they're pretty impressive. You can use them to set entire fields and structures ablaze, with fire behaving realistically and changing direction according to the wind. The developers haven't yet decided if you'll be able to pick up ammo for these guns, or if you'll simply discard them when your tank is empty, but they are extremely high-powered weapons at close ranges. You can also toss Molotov cocktails for some fire-based fun, and look forward to eventually seeing full-on flame tanks rolling through the levels

Treyarch's military adviser, Hank Keirsey, has worked on the Call of Duty series since the first game, and he stressed that the story of the United States fighting in the Pacific is largely an "untold story." He spun a few war stories about the U.S. facing insurmountable odds against Japanese soldiers who fought by the Bushido Code, "death before dishonor." As a result, U.S. victories tended to be lopsided, since almost every single Japanese soldier would fight to the death, even when faced with certain defeat.

As a result, Treyarch had to design a "seemingly alien fighting force" for the U.S. to fight, which had some people erroneously thinking that the U.S. would literally fight aliens (from space!) in CoD5. This is definitely not happening, which would have indicated a major case of shark jumping. No, they meant a new foe in a new environment. The Pacific setting also allows you to swim in the water, even getting shot at while you're submerged, with bubbling bullet trails zipping past you. Although we weren't shown any, we were told that there would be bunker and tunnel systems in the game as part of being historically accurate.

Interestingly, Mission Briefings are being dropped altogether, with the story advanced with some cutscenes that look like a mash-up of old-school newsreels and over-the-top graphic treatments that shows like Futureweapons have. Sort of a News-O-Graph-A-Charticle that tells you what's going on in the war effort and around the world. It was actually pretty sweet looking, and definitely would have made a lot of people pay more attention in school.

The game will also feature co-op campaign gameplay, playable in split-screen with a friend, or with up to four players online. There are vehicle-specific multiplayer maps, as well as a new "spawn influencer system" which will spawn you out of danger and near your friends on the map. If you're the squad leader, you can also set down waypoints on the map as rally points, which everyone else can see. There will be regular online multiplayer as well, allowing you to deathmatch to your heart's content while waving a flamethrower around.

Overall, it's hard to say right now where this game will end up. It's very interesting (and heartening) that the CoD4 engine is being used, but we're also still stinging from the experience that was CoD3. Purists will appreciate the return to WWII, and welcome an entirely new theater and foe (you can also play as the Russians later in the game), but we think it'll just make us ache for Modern Warfare 2 that much more. We'll spend some more time with this at E3, so stay tuned for more info.