Metascore

Generally favorable reviews - based on 84 Critics What's this?

User Score

Mixed or average reviews- based on 409 Ratings

  • Summary: Utilizing the Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare engine, Call of Duty: World at War throws out the rulebook of war to transform WWII combat through a new enemy, new tactics and an uncensored experience of the climatic battles that gripped a generation. As U.S. Marines and Russian soldiers, players employ new features like cooperative gameplay, and weapons such as the flamethrower in the most chaotic and cinematically intense experience to date. Call of Duty: World at War introduces co-operative play, bringing fresh meaning to the "No One Fights Alone" mantra with up to four-players online for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC, or two-player local split-screen on consoles. Nintendo Wii will also support a unique co-op mode for two players. For the first time ever players can experience harrowing single-player missions together for greater camaraderie and tactical execution. The co-op campaign allows players to rank up and unlock perks in competitive multiplayer by completing challenges and earning experience points, adding continuous re-playability and team-based gameplay. Whether playing competitively or cooperatively – if players are online with Call of Duty: World at War – they always gain experience points. Based on a player’s experience rank and rank of the player's friends, Call of Duty: World at War scales dynamically to provide a deeper level of challenge. [Activision] Expand
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 76 out of 84
  2. Negative: 0 out of 84
  1. 100
    Its fairly brief but dramatic and adrenaline-fuelled campaign has been greatly enhanced by the excellent co-op mode and XP incentives, while its multiplayer is every bit as good as CoD 4, making this arguably the definitive Call of Duty experience thus far.
  2. Call of Duty: World at War is clearly one of the top games of this year, and a must have for any action gamer.
  3. While not on par with Infinity Ward’s Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, World at War is better than Treyarch’s last entry, Call of Duty 3.
  4. World at War is for the most part a competently made and solid game.

See all 84 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 64 out of 107
  2. Negative: 24 out of 107
  1. 10
    By far my favorite Call of Duty game. The maps are wonderfully set up, the variety of weapons is great and kill streaks are set at great increments. MW2 and BO get me extremely aggravated due to camping and not having near as good of maps. The story isn't anything fantastic, but no one gets these for the story. I get the new Call of Duty every year and World at War is the only one I end up keeping and going back to time and time again. Expand
  2. Call of Duty World at War is probably my favorite in the Call of Duty series (tied with Call of Duty 2) as I prefer the WW2 setting to the other settings the games have taken place in, World at War features a decent campaign which will last about 4-6 hours, but the real meat of the game comes from it's multiplayer which can give a lot of fun and replay value, It has some balancing issues and some of the maps are too big leading to times when you can't find enemies but overall these issues are not as bad of issues as some of the more recent Call of Duty games have had, I'm not sure if people still play World at War online anymore but if they do then I consider this one of the better Call of Duty games, more recent games have lost there appeal due to the annual releases in my opinion, But this was one of the last call of duty games I played and it's a good game, with solid single player campaign, fun multiplayer and the awesome co-op zombies survival mode, Whether you play alone or with a group of friends, this game can give you hours and hours of fun. Expand
  3. fun, better zomibes than black ops but in 2011(not sure when you will be reading this) the hackers got a hold of it and 4/12 people are invinible, but the zombies is really great Expand
  4. ErikE.
    4
    If Call of Duty 2 and 4 didn't exist (and I suppose Infinity Ward at all), this would be considered an okay game. What makes it bad is that despite having double the time to develop it (compared to COD3), Treyarch still can't add anything really exciting to the genre. The single additon of some usable vehicles (tanks) in the level callled Round House is probably the most interesting addition. This is accompanied by the ability to specify a vehicle perk. The maps Makin, War Castle and Round House are nowhere near as good as COD4 maps. Although Round House is the best of the bunch. Makin is an awful nighttime map that is essentially flat and small. War Castle is just too small and awkward without too much replay variety. The weapons sounds are muffled and unsatisfying. Shooting a BAR (Browning Automatic Rifle) should feel powerful but it sounds like a pea shooter. The bullets don't seem to do much damage so you still run through clip after clip on even the machine guns. EA just doesn't get it. This is an Infinity Ward creation and no other developers can do it justice. I am definitely glad I'm only beta testing the multiplayer and didn't pay $60 for this. Wait for Call of Duty 6 (the REAL Call of Duty 5, most likely to be developed by Infinity Ward). Collapse

See all 107 User Reviews