Call of Duty: World At War
Activision
Xbox 360
Call of Duty has had the dominant market share of the popular Dubya-Dubya-Two sector for years.
I don't really recall the original but COD 2 and COD 3 were technically superb examples of the genre.
Then came the big shock.
Like a band that has been singing guitar ballads for 20 years only to put out an experimental synth-pop album, the series lurched an indeterminate number of years into the future.
When I heard Call of Duty 4, soon to be titled Modern Warfare, was abandoning its safe and secure WW2 setting, I was very worried.
Many were.
But the developers soon eased all fears with the game acclaimed by most as the best of 2007.
Modern Warfare was strikingly good, the sort of game that makes you forget what sort of game you're playing, or almost that you're playing a game at all.
I've never played such an enjoyable first-person shooter, nor one that feels so intense but sort of sweet at the same time. If that makes any sense.
Anyway, rather than explore the idea of modern warfare any further, the men behind Call of Duty decided to go back to unexplored territories within WW2.
World At War - no COD 5 anywhere in the title - takes place in Russian and Pacific settings in the early-1940s.
An interesting point about the game is that it has not been put together by regular developer Infinity Ward.
This one's in the hands of Treyarch, which previously worked on the Call of Duty 2: Big Red One spin-off of the series and also put out COD 3.
There might be new nerds at the helm, but the signatures of the Call of Duty franchise are all in place.
The buttons are typically straightforward, the camera work feels natural, the environments are authentic and the range of weapons (welcome to the flamethrower for the first time) is appropriate.
Gameplay involves part stealth, part path-finding, and part gung-ho charging the enemy.
I'm loving the Pacific front and the lush settings, which are quite unlike the usual mud-and-guts of the western front.
You wouldn't expect such a prominent series to simply recycle elements of its earlier games, and there are some new things to look out for.
Fans of multiplayer shooters will delight in the three modes of co-operative play, while there are now "death cards" to collect for unlocking perks in co-operative mode.
Look out also for the imaginatively titled Nazi Zombie mode. I'll let you discover that one for yourself.
COD: World At War is a nice addition to a well-played series.
Some will express regret that it's reverted to a WW2 setting but will be placated by the thought that COD: Modern Warfare 2 is in development and should be out later this year.
