So I have completed World at War, and despite its rather short length, it was a memorable one. A short, sharp shock to the system and a game that will overload your senses and at the climax of many levels, will make you feel drained. Its a truly intense shooter that never gives you time to relax, and in the rare moments of calm, you will constantly be on edge as to where the enemy will emerge from next. Treyarch have managed to get the combination of action and suspense absolutely spot on; it simply doesn't let up. From the first moment you get your hands on a rifle as Private Miller in the Pacific campaign, to the heart pounding assault on the Reichstag as Private Petrenko, you are plunged into a world where life is cheap and the game play reflects this. There is no room for John Rambo here, running into the open with guns blazing is a sure fire way of contracting a massive dose of lead poisoning; firefights are often drawn out, bloody affairs where patience is rewarded as you drive the enemy back, each square inch of land taken towards your objectives feels like a victory, its a war of attrition, of patience and of seizing the initiative to push the enemy back.
 
Thankfully, the levels are varied enough to keep you wanting to push on, and similar to Call of Duty 3, two levels are devoted to taking you off your boots and into a Russian T34 tank and a US sea plane over the Pacific. These levels work well in giving you a break as it were from the ground pounding of the Miller/Petrenko campaign but this doesn't mean they are less thrilling, quite the opposite, they provide the same exciting action but in a radically different aspect. I'm glad to see the tank levels a bit more realistic than Call of Duty: The Big Red One where I had serious issues with M5 Stuart tanks wiping out hordes of Panzer IV's but thats just the pedantic historian in me.
 
So, the technical side – the game looks good. I will grant that the NPC's are not as well rendered as those found in Call of Duty 4, but this is a minor thing. The rendering of the levels is spectacular though, truly excellent and no more evident than in the Assault on Berlin level with some jaw dropping details. Weapons again are accurately portrayed, each with distinctive sounds and attributes and the speech is again excellent (watch out for some use of industrial language on the Marine levels mind) which brings me to the soundtrack. Before its release, I had been informed that some levels background music would be guitar driven industrial music and as a dyed in the wool metal head, I found this exciting but strangely incongruous given the World War Two setting. Well its in there and, strangely, it works; pounding down a ruined Berlin strasse with the bullets flying over you to the pounding beats of an industrial tune is powerful and visceral, a strange combination that works for reasons hard to explain.
 
But alas, not everything is perfect; throughout the game I found a few niggles. The major one is that often while hunkered down behind a log, boxes or barrels, a comrade will take cover next to you which often squeezes you out of the way and directly into the enemies fire. I also experienced slight clipping during levels as well as finding myself jammed rigid against walls and other pieces of terrain/scenery leaving me at the mercy of the enemies bayonets.........ouch. I would also add that the grenade indicator, the small icon that appears when you are seconds away from being blown to pieces and spread over a wide area, could have been larger and a bit more helpful; there was times when I was clear enough yet still found myself picking shrapnel out of my behind. But these are just minor annoyances in what is undoubtedly a very good game.
 
Sure, after Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Treyarch could have stayed in the modern age but took the decision to pay another visit to the Second World War and it has paid off with another thrilling installment in the Call of Duty series. Yes, its short in comparison to other first person shooters, but here its not time spent in the game, its the emotional attachment to it, you will feel drained, unsettled, exhausted upon its completion and I took a lot more from the game than merely the duration of the game play.
 
I have yet to start the hugely popular multiplayer, but as a regular player on the Call of Duty 4 online game, I shall be writing a multiplayer review as soon as I am able.
Until then, stand down soldier.