It feels like an eternity since Activision delivered a solid, boots-on-the-ground Call of Duty game, with the last few years plagued by the drastically different but ultimately uninspired futuristic warfare that divided the community. With Call of Duty: WWII, Activision and developer Sledgehammer Games, who were responsible for the leap into the future for the series with Advanced Warfare, aimed to take the series back to its world war roots and relive the glory days of the original Call of Duty trilogy. The results are mostly superb; Call of Duty: WWII is a fantastic, welcomed return to form for the franchise with a few notable problems that really hold it back from achieving true greatness.

Call of Duty: WWII features one of the most emotional, entertaining single-player campaigns the series has seen in a long while. The story follows a team of soldiers struggling to make it through the horrendous historical war as they power through some of the most vital turn of events in World War 2. Like its cinematic counterpart, Saving Private Ryan (which I’m sure the comparisons will be made), the game begins on the Beaches of Normandy in France. This was a terrific introduction to the game as it not only brought back memories of the original Call of Duty games, but also showcased the chaotic and quite tragic turning point in the war that eventually lead to the collapse of the Nazi regime. This particular opening sequence was nail-biting, fast-paced, and very frenetic, throwing players into the heat of the intense, riveting battle while simultaneously teaching them the ropes.



From here on out, the campaign follows the teams journey as they attempt to make it out alive while desperately trying to maintain a calm and collected composure as they witness the horrific events unfolding around them. Like any Call of Duty game, the massive action set pieces make a return, but they never feel like they’re taking things too far (Remember those space missions in Ghosts? Yikes). Instead, they fit well into the World War 2 setting and are spectacular visual treats for the eyes. However, this also lead to one of the most prominent problems with the action. While it is enjoyable to play through, the action lacks a clear direction which comes at a cost to the pacing. One minute, you might be enjoying a heart-to-heart conversation with a comrade, and the next, you’re thrown head-first into a series of giant action sequences that don’t have any natural flow to them. It’s almost as if the developers were scared that players might lose interest in the campaign if something big wasn’t going on every few minutes.

The campaign does manage to throw in a few unexpected surprises along the way, such as the inclusion of lengthy stealth missions and one especially awesome aerial dogfight. The stealth segments are well designed and provide much needed breathing space in between the massive action sequences. One mission in particular has you infiltrating a Nazi party, disguised as a travel accountant as you plant a bomb in the building. For some reason, this reminded me of a weird combination of Hitman and Dishonored, but it worked in the context of the game. The aerial dogfight is another standout mission that left a wide smile on my face. While the tank missions suffered due to clunky controls, the plane controls are vastly improved from the previous games. This is only made more awesome when the camera enters a cinematic angle after targeting and chasing down enemy planes, feeling like you’re participating in a high-octane aerial action scene straight out of a movie like Dunkirk.



The saving grace of the campaign is thankfully in its characters. Call of Duty: WWII introduces a fantastic team of soldiers, each with their own quirks and backstories. Not all of them are as fleshed out as a few key members but we do make a good emotional connection with them to care enough. Players take the role of Daniels, a soldier with a tragic past that acts as the backbone for his motivations. This establishes a great connection to the player as we understand his clear-cut goals, driving him to the end so that we can have that satisfying conclusion. Hollywood star Josh Duhamel does a fantastic job as Pierson, the team lieutenant, and forms a deep bond with every one of his soldiers, which makes each inevitable loss all the more powerful. The standout character here is undoubtedly Zussman, the team medic. Jonathan Tucker delivers a tremendous motion-capture performance with his own heart-wrenching backstory. His character arc is certainly the most developed as he becomes an important character in the story nearing its conclusion. This leads to an ending that surprisingly almost moved me to tears in ways I did not expect from a Call of Duty game. The last few missions of the game are phenomenal, but the road leading there is a bit unevenly balanced.

Sledgehammer adds a few small but great changes to the gameplay. Regenerating health has been replaced with an actual health bar, which gives the game a good sense of urgency. Instead of ducking behind cover for a few seconds until your health recharged, players would now have to search the environments for health packs. I found myself playing far more strategically knowing that I was now limited on health, and used my health packs sparingly if it meant making it through a particularly tough section. Luckily, on the lower difficulties, health packs can be found in abundance so you’re never short on them at any given time. On the higher difficulties, the experience is an entirely different beast. Enemies take more hits to kill while your health bar depletes fairly quickly when hit, as well as the fact that health packs and ammunition become increasingly sparse. Yet, I do recommend playing on a higher difficulty setting as the reward for making it through missions with as few resources as possible is very satisfying.

Your teammates are all assigned specific roles in the squad too. Zussman, as mentioned earlier, is the team medic and occasionally tosses you health packs when you need them. Other teammates also provide you with ammo, air strikes, and scouting abilities that highlights enemies. These are immensely useful as they come in handy more often than you think, but also gives you a reason to care about your team on a whole different level.



Despite these neat little changes, as a whole, the game still feels and plays like a traditional Call of Duty experience. Throughout both the campaign and multiplayer, you’ll still be doing plenty of ducking and diving, taking advantage of the best possible vantage points to get the upper hand on the enemy. The gameplay and framerate is overall quite smooth, with only the odd graphical hiccup such as floating bodies and stuttering animations.

The multiplayer is standard fare for a Call of Duty game too. Unfortunately not much has changed from the beta other than a wider variety of maps, weapons and loadouts, but it’s still a decent amount of fun to play and remains as competitive as ever with higher levels. The boots-on-the-ground formula feels right at home for the series, removing the annoying high-tech gadgets and futuristic, overpowered weapons that gave players huge advantages in matches. This time, it’s far more balanced, mostly putting players on the same playing field where skill and precision is everything. Certain weapons still do feel slightly impractical, though. Rifles and shotguns almost always ensure precise one-shot kills in close-knit corridors while semi-automatic weapons have heavier recoil that takes some getting used to, but all these grievances can be improved by unlocking new gear and extensions, which brings me to Headquarters.

Headquarters is the social hub area of the game, set in a camp on the beaches of Normandy. Here, players are free to walk around, accept new online objectives for matches, and meet other players, all the while honing their skills at a shooting range or simply admiring the scenery. It is (or should I say, was) a great idea in theory, but server issues plagued most of my time trying to explore this zone. Either I was kicked out or arrived in the area to find it completely deserted. Sledgehammer did provide an update on the HQ stating that it will only be part of the solo experience from now on, and the only way to interact with others is to invite friends manually, which is a shame considering this had a lot of potential for a great dynamic social area much in the vein of Destiny. I haven’t spent much time in HQ, and don’t feel the need to if the problems persist. I even shied away from “objectives” that required me to view others opening loot boxes (for some reason), which was a bit fishy to begin with. Otherwise, I encountered only a few instances of server issues, but on the whole, it was mostly smooth enough to get a good feel of the online multiplayer.



Finally, there’s the return of zombies in the wave-based side-game, The Final Reich. Much like previous zombie modes, players will have to survive wave after wave of Nazi zombies, each becoming more relentless than the last. It provided a good few hours of gameplay with friends, but main issue became apparent way too soon. The size of the map is pretty big, leaving wide open spaces for hordes of zombies to catch you off guard. This also lead to many of my teammates getting separated and lost from the group, and we found ourselves backtracking to regroup more than once. If you can look past this flaw and get accustomed to the layout of the environment, you’ll find yourself enjoying the majority of it.

Graphically, Call of Duty: WWII is the best-looking game in the series to date. It does lack the polish of EA DICE’s Battlefield 1 visually, but it boldly stands out from the rest of the COD series as the most refined and detailed as far as world-building, character models, and design principal goes. The particle effects are dazzling as you scurry down a trench and see mounds of dirt and wood chips explode around you. Forest areas are dense and vivid, with sunlight flickering through trees and bouncing off objects to create a great sense of depth and scope to the environments. It’s not a technical juggernaut, but you can definitely see the amount of care and attention Sledgehammer Games put into making it as authentic as possible. The sound design is one of the best compliments I could give the beta, and it remains so in the final game. The various sounds of gunfire, bullets hitting concrete, and explosions and screams in the distance adds so much to the already immersive World War 2 setting. The best way to experience this is to wear headphones and just get absorbed.

Call of Duty: WWII is a superb return to form for the series, and the best addition to the line-up of Call of Duty games since World At War. While it does struggle to find its feet again after almost a decade of absence from the traditional World War 2 formula, it manages to mostly deliver an action-packed, high-octane thrill ride that still holds its roots firm in the ground. If this is the start of something new for the franchise, then WWII provides a good springboard to build more ideas on. If you can look past the problems that hinder the game in certain aspects, such as the jarring pacing of the campaign and poorly implemented social hub area, then you’ll feel right at home with this small, but significant, step in the right direction.