By now, you should know that Treyarch returned to a WorldWar II theme for the latest installment of the hit first-person shooter series Callof Duty – and a fan of the era or not, you should be impressed with this title.  Focusing largely on the war in the Pacific,the developers have roared back the PC platform with a vengeance, withoutsacrificing game play – instead improving it with well thought out and groundbreaking enhancements.

Based on the framework used to power Call of Duty 4, thedevelopers at Treyarch have reworked the game engine in its core principals, aswell as adding some impressive modules not seen in the last (CoD 4)release.  I will try and explain each ofthese in more detail to follow, but a brief breakdown of the modified/new gameengine elements would be: accurate core scaling, increased capacity of thephysics engine, water processing engine, dynamic lighting, fire processingengine, an improved artificial intelligence handling module and a turbocharged5.1 audio engine.

Mark Lamia,Treyarch Studio Head, explained that moving the focus of the theater of warfrom the European Front to the Pacific Front presented unique hurdles for theprogrammers in order to accurately portray the story that they wanted totell.  The way that the war was waged onthe European Front was in essence balanced, in that the Axis and Allies forcesbasically fought the same way; battles were planned assaults and both armiesutilized similar tactics and weaponry. On the Pacific Front however, the Allied forces faced an enemy that wasat the time unfamiliar to them.  Thesoldiers of the Japanese Army not only fought differently from a tacticalstandpoint (utilizing stealth rather than brute force) but also thoughtdifferently (Bushido code – ‘loyalty and honor until death’).  The artificial intelligence received anoverhaul and both the environments and weaponry had to be redesigned in orderto immerse the gamer in the battles of a World at War.

Given the constant proximity to water for a majority of theconflicts in the Pacific, Treyarch implemented a water physics engine, whichprovides a beautifully realistic looking and reacting addition to thegame.  For the first time in the Call ofDuty series, the player can swim, and without detracting from game play.  Though you can be shot at under water – withequally impressive bullet tracing and effects underwater (akin to the beachlanding underwater effects seen in Saving Private Ryan), your view of lifeoutside of the aquatics is blurred (because of the water) and you cannot shootyour weapon underwater.

Much of the lush environment is destructible, and camouflageand cover can be destroyed as the battle wages, creating an evolving battlefield.  We witnessed an example of a player beingtrapped in a hut, with suppressing fire preventing escape, and using the LMG tobreak away the structure on the side away from the enemy the player was able tonot only escape being trapped by the enemy – but circle around and flank themas they were watching an empty building. Crafty players can hide in the dense foliage and take apart the opposingteam from a well camouflaged position – unless the cover that they are hidingin burns away from self propagating fire.

Speaking of fire, the weapons arsenal has been augmented inthis installment of the series with a flamethrower and Molotov cocktails – tosay the least.  The enemies screamedhauntingly as their flesh was burned off and they were cooked alive.  Interestingly, a flaming enemy would igniteflammable grass, and that grass fire would continue to burn a path ofdestruction - in turn igniting other grass, trees, crates, or other flammables.  The smoke from the fires also acts as ascreen for advancing troops.  Did Imention the flamethrower?

The reworked AI is smarter, and reacts to changes to theenvironment or battle situations in a realistic manner.  Included in the ‘thought process’ of the newAI are the ability to decide the best path to obtain an objective, looking forand using cover or camouflage, recognizing and reacting to disappearing coveror camouflage, playing dead, and weapon recognition.  Even members of a banzai charge think twiceabout continuing when they face the destruction of a flamethrower.

Another great addition to Call of Duty: World at War is thereintroduction of vehicles in both the single-player campaigns and themultiplayer setting.  With heavy armorplayable in multiplayer, it could be conceivable that the game type BaseAssault may in some capacity make a return. As well, multiplayer will have challenges in a similar fashion as Callof Duty 4: Modern Warfare – allowing the player to level up and unlock weapons,perks and classes, as well as create personalized classes with customizedweapons. 

Co-op is another awesome game mode being re-introduced toFPS gamers with this title.  You andthree squad-mates will be able to play missions similar to the single playercampaign, along the way completing multiplayer type challenges and allowingupgrades and customization of your class and arsenal.  The squad leader can issue commands tosquad-mates and direct the battle, as well as participate actively in it.  Issued commands or objectives will show onteam-mates HUD, allowing for coordinated attacks or defenses.

The audio in the Call of Duty series has always been renownas one of the best in the industry, and World at War is going to propagate thisbelief – and pardon the pun, but it will accomplish this ‘soundly’.  Two major noticeable improvements in thesound in World at War are the removal of background audio tracks and theimplementation of true 5.1 audio.  Lamirexplained that “if you heard a sniper shot originate from behind you and to theright it would mean two things: number one – you weren’t the target and numbertwo – you know which direction to head in to [club the sniper like a baby seal]if they haven’t moved.”  The background (ambient)tracks have also been removed, giving a true immersion in the environment, andreplaced with 96 channels of true audio. Audio is culled realistically and in real time, so if the player hears abattle in the distance – then there really is a battle in the distance.

All in all, I think that Treyarch are about to show theworld exactly what a first person shooter is meant to be, and in doing so setthe bar for future titles for all publishers.

I would like to express thanks on behalf both Modsonline and myself to Activision, Treyarch and Josh Olin (Treyarch Community Manager) for this opportunity.