Call of Duty: WWII Xbox One Review

After multiple releases set in the future Sledgehammer Games have taken the Call of Duty franchise back to World War 2. Call of Duty: WWII attempts to recapture the roots of the franchise by delivering a core military FPS adventure full of dramatic moments and emotional triumphs. Once done you can enter the multiplayer arena for more Call of Duty action and Nazi Zombies to kill hordes of the undead. Call of Duty: WWII does certainly create a myriad of nostalgic moments for veteran fans of the franchise and have some excellent action set pieces it doesn't stand out as one of the best games in the franchise.

The campaign takes place through various significant battles during World War 2 and has you in of control different characters throughout. For most of the campaign, you'll take control of Private Ronald "Red" Daniels during his military campaign as part of the 1st Infantry Division. Other playable characters include a Tank Commander and a French Resistance Fighter that help give the player multiple perspectives.

Most of the missions have you running and shooting through waves of Nazis in attempt to gain ground. While other World War 2 Call of Duty games gave players a detailed explanation of exactly what was going on in the war here the focus is put on the characters and their personal journeys. Whether it's Daniel attempting to get home to his girlfriend or his commanding officer trying to do the right thing. 

You won't just go on a killing spree with your allies on foot with a gun in hand. Specific missions will have you controlling tanks and piloting an airplane, which are severable ways to break up the action, and sneaking. Stealth is the weakest part of the campaign since enemies have varying distances of which they can see you but fortunately, your mission will not fail if you break cover. 

The supporting cast is well-crafted thanks to exceptional writing, outstanding animation, and excellent performances. The story has the right amount of emotion, with moments such as of starving soldiers trying to stay warm to a fractured group attempting to find solace in the horrors of war painting a descriptive image of those who served. Sledgehammers humanize everyone, including the Germans, with heartfelt gravitas by providing noteworthy dialogue and scenarios. 

Gone is regenerative health, instead, you must manually heal yourself using med packs. This means you cannot rush forward, even on easier difficulties, without dying quickly. Instead, taking your time to remove hostiles and ensure the area is clear is essential. Pepper between the action is quick time events that could've been easily omitted. 

Your squad also plays a much more active role in combat, other than as cannon fodder for enemy forces. Each member of your team has a meter that fills as you kill Nazis, once full you can call on them to provide ammo, med packs, reveal enemy positions, or call-in a mortar strike. During the harder difficulties, these attributes become paramount to success.

Enemies act with basic self-preservation tactics with heroic actions added to the mix. These situations are voluntary and require you to save your fellow soldiers from life-and-death circumstances such as being attacked by an enemy fighter and pulled into cover while down. Since each mission has a specific amount, similar to collectibles, they quickly lose their shock value and just become another achievement to unlock. While some soldiers do serve a greater role, such as providing necessary explosives, them dying doesn't dramatically shift the story.

Multiplayer has 9 maps to choose from, 3 War Missions, and 9 modes. Returning are Team Deathmatch, Domination, Free-for-all, Kill Confirmed, Search and Destroy, Hardpoint, and Capture the Flag. 2 new modes have been added called Gridiron and War. Gridiron is a variation of Domination where players carry a ball from a neutral location into enemy territory. Hardcore variations eliminate the HUD and reduce health for Team Deathmatch, Search and Destroy, Domination, and Free-for-All, for those looking for the most intense multiplayer experience.

War is Call of Duty: WWII's version of Battlefield's Rush mode. Here 2 teams, one attacker, and the other defenders fight one another for conquest in a multi-phase map. Instead of making the map based on tickets it's timed based, this gives the attacking team a lot more reason to be aggressive and the defenders reason to guard important points instead of rushing ahead. It's definitely an exhilarating addition to the Call of Duty franchise but compared to Battlefield's large-scale fights it falls short.  

Instead of customizing your class can players select between 5 divisions; infantry, airborne, armored, mountain, and expeditionary, Each one has its own specialized talents and weapons with unique progression trees. For example, the Expeditionary Force can use incendiary shotgun rounds but lacks ranged weapons. Even without double-jumping, wall-running, or any of the other human augmentations from modern and futuristic Call of Duty games WW2 remains just as strategic. Players who understand the map and play cooperatively can easily overwhelm novices.

If you wish to make your warrior look different cosmetic items are available through supply crates. These are rewarded regularly as you play and are unlocked through the game's in-game social space called Headquarters. Here players can socialize, face one another in 1v1 matches, and open up supply drops. Several NPCs provide weekly challenges called Contacts that can yield more experience. Like in other Call of Duty games once you reach the level cap you can prestige, sacrificing all your advancements, for new cosmetic items and grinding up the ranks again.

Nazi Zombies has been altered to feel more like a survival-horror adventure than a simple horde mode. Called The Final Reich this survival-mode is set in a Bavarian Village littered with switches and dark secrets surrounding supernatural magic. While the mode still plays as traditional Nazi Zombies, with players taking on increasingly stronger waves of Undead Nazis, the atmosphere has changed.

In recent installments the mode would have a more comedic look and feel to the gameplay, here it's the opposite. Everything is gritty and dark, and much more serious tone to the gameplay. Speaking of gameplay the hitboxes for zombies have been improved to make headshots much easier and impactful.

Like the competitive multiplayer players choose 1 of 4 roles; offense, control, support, and medic. Each one has a unique ability such as being ignored by zombies, become zombie bait, knocking back zombies, and having access to infinite ammo. In addition, player's can equip consumables and different weapons at the start of matches, even customize purchasable purchases beforehand. After so many versions of Nazi Zombies featuring comedic gimmicks having a dark setting such this was much more entertaining. 

There was a significant issue with connectivity at launch. It was nearly impossible to get into a match with error codes popping up frequently. It took nearly 45 minutes to just log into a match for both competitive and Nazi Zombies, for a long-time franchise and one of the largest multiplayer franchises in gaming this is simply unacceptable.

Call of Duty: WWII is a refreshing experience from the modern and futuristic settings of recently past Call of Duty games. It tells a more personal tale of how soldiers during World War 2 attempting to come to grips with the horrors they endured and found the fortitude to walk each step. However, by the end, none of the characters truly stood out as memorable and were easily forgettable. Multiplayer has been refined to a more simplified version of Call of Duty that resembles World at War's multiplayer but Nazi Zombies definitely remains one of the highlights with its new survival-horror take. Call of Duty: WWII capitalizes on the series strengths but doesn't attempt to go beyond what other World War 2 Call of Duty games have already done.

Adam Siddiqui, NoobFeed
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