Developer: Sledgehammer Games
Publisher: Activision
Release Date: November 03, 2017
ESRB: Mature / PEGI 18
MSRP: $59,99
Available Platforms: PS4 [Reviewed], Xbox One, PC
Genre: First-Person Shooter
Tuesday, 6 June 1944 – D-Day – Call of Duty WW2 starts with storming the coast of Normandy, artillery shells exploding all around you and gun emplacements firing at your squad. The sound of explosions and soldiers crying in agony immediately gives the player a taste of war.
The game takes place in the years 1944-1945. After the futuristic COD Infinite Warfare, it felt good to go back in time and have a game rooted in history with realistic weaponry.
The story consists of 11 missions and they are fairly long for a first-person shooter — well over 10 hours total (15 hours on veteran if you go for all collectibles and trophies). I enjoyed the campaign very much, the gameplay is fluid and well-paced, with various weapon types, some driving, flying, artillery, and stealth sections. It doesn’t get boring and each level introduces new forms of gameplay. The strong sound design helps deliver an immersive experience, it sounds like war.
Obviously, Call of Duty is renowned for its Multiplayer. You’ll spend the lion’s share of time with it on the path to platinum. For trophies you must reach player prestige 1 and complete 21 daily challenges (there are 6 of those per day). They added a new mode called “War” which is a copy of Battlefield’s “Rush” game mode. It is an objective-based mode that splits the team in attackers and defenders. As an attacker you must push forward by conquering different points, whereas the defenders must hold you off for a few minutes to win the match. After the first round you will switch sides. I am surprised at how well balanced this mode is. I never felt disadvantaged on either side and won equally often as the attacker or defender. One specialty in War mode: it does not track your kills and deaths, meaning your K/D stays unaffected. It’s great to test new weapons and just play for fun with friends without having to worry about your stats. This also makes it a beginner friendly mode and pushes people to play together as a team rather than worrying about their K/D. A mode like this was long overdue and it’s the best addition to COD in ages.
The other game modes and maps are also pleasantly balanced. All the traditional modes are back: Team Deathmatch, War, Domination, Search and Destroy, Kill Confirmed, Gridiron, Free-For-All, Hardpoint, Capture the Flag, Hardcore Team Deathmatch, Hardcore Search and Destroy, Hardcore Domination, Hardcore Free-for-All.
They also added headquarters in Multiplayer which is a social hub to meet with other players and talk to vendors. The perk system has gotten a change: you now choose a “Division” which has their own leveling system and unlocks new abilities with each level. You may also pick one basic training for a more powerful perk that is available to all Divisions. The general flow of online matches is as Call-of-Duty-like as ever. My online connection was very good, far better than previous COD games. In 20 hours of online play I had only 2 laggy matches total. No other matches had any noticeable lag at all. Some friends of mine reported connection problems with each other but they could always join me without problems (it all depends on your NAT Type).
Oh and they did add Microtransactions to the Multiplayer but those are purely cosmetical and give no gameplay advantage.
Zombie mode makes a return and received long-needed changes. There is now a guided Easter Egg Quest. This is great for beginners and even doable without a guide. There is a harder version of the easter egg with unmarked bonus steps for hardcore players (and there’s also a trophy for that!). From all the COD Easter Eggs this is one of the easiest albeit most time-consuming (with a group that is, solo it’s one of the hardest).
The main zombie map “The Final Reich” has many open areas and escape paths thus it’s easy to train Zombies. There is a second smaller map “Groesten Haus” which is a just one tiny home. Then there’s a special Prologue that’s a variation of Groesten Haus with fewer perks and weapons. You have to survive until wave 20 in the tiny house for one of the trophies. This may take a few tries, you just need to learn how to train the zombies and I appreciate the challenge. I like how they have 2 zombie maps instead of 1 this time.
Depending on personal skill it will take around 10-20 hours to knock out all of the Zombie trophies and do all easter eggs (with a guide). In total the platinum trophy will take at least 50 hours.
| Gameplay *Overall Enjoyment Factor, Fascination with Game World, Level Design, Variety, Playability, User-Friendliness (Ease of Use / Readability / Controls / in-game Tutorials / Menus) |
| 9/10 Guided Easter Egg quest in Zombies is more user-friendly than previous games. |
| Story/Multiplayer *Quality of the Singleplayer Story, Cutscenes and/or Multiplayer Modes (whichever is available). If a game has no Story or no Multiplayer it won’t be rated (thus no negative effect on score). |
| 9/10 Story: 9/10 (long campaign for a shooter) Multiplayer: 9/10 (new war mode is fantastic) |
| Technical Aspects *Graphics, Texture Quality, Character Details, Lighting, Weather Effects, Animations, Loading Times, Number of Loading Screens, does it run smoothly |
| 9/10 Good graphics, life-like facial details in story characters. |
| Value *Amount of Content, Production Quality, Replay Value, is there enough content to justify a purchase |
| 9/10 Good value. Long Story, Multiplayer, 2 Zombie Maps. |
| Trophies/Achievements *Rates how much fun the Platinum / 1000 Gamerscore is to achieve: Are trophies fun to do? Do trophies restrict freedom of gameplay? Missable trophies? Multiple playthroughs required? Luck-based trophies? Pointless farming/grinding? Glitched Trophies? Are stats/trophies tracked correctly? |
| 9/10 Nice mix of everything. A fair and doable challenge. |
| Extraordinary Score Increase or Deduction *Reserved for extraordinarily good or bad features that the other categories don’t cover (such as game-breaking bugs). This score is directly added/subtracted from the final score. |
| Nothing |
VERDICT:
Everything COD WW2 does is a step in the right direction for the series – returning back to its World War roots, the new “War” mode in multiplayer, and guided quests in zombie mode.
FINAL SCORE:
9/10
Reviewed on PS4 Pro. A free review copy was provided by Activision. Finished the Campaign, found all Collectibles, reached level 50 online, did all Zombie Mode Easter Eggs. For more on how reviews are scored, check out the Review Policy.
While you’re here, check out the Call of Duty WW2 Trophy Guide & Roadmap or the Zombies Easter Egg Guide.