I spent some time playing the single player campaign of Call of Duty: WWII this weekend and I gotta say, it’s good to see the franchise return to its roots.
Following the journey of a 1st Division platoon, you play most of the game as private Ronald Daniels, a country boy who desperately yearns for his sergeant’s approval. This focus on a smaller group of soldiers allows the game to tell a compelling story of camaraderie and friendship as opposed to the macro approach of previous COD games.
The gameplay feels as fast-paced as you’d expect from the series, often pitting you against waves of enemy soldiers. Members of your squad will be crucial to progression throughout missions – for example, one will hand out health packs, another will give you ammo, and your sergeant can highlight enemy positions for you.
You can request their help by pressing a button, but only when you’re in range, constantly forcing you to think about positioning as you advance. This mechanic makes the game challenging, but the difficulty feels warranted given the setting. If you’re stuck on the other side of a battlefield with no health kits, well, you probably should have stuck with your squad.
At its core, this is still a Call of Duty game. There’s over-the-top action set pieces, occasional vehicle piloting, and fairly linear level design. There’s nothing particularly wrong with any of these things, but whether you enjoy it will come down to what type of games you like to play.
If you like strapping yourself in for a wild ride curated by its creators, you’ll love it. If you like games with freedom of approach, you might have some qualms.
I tend to fall into the latter category – give me the tools I need and let me figure it out. COD: WWII is at its best when it leaves you to your own devices. I enjoyed the boots-on-ground combat where I was free to swap out weapons and take on the enemy how I wanted to. This was dampened by moments where I was forced to take on a particular role, like sniping from a building or driving a vehicle.
One part in particular had me drive a tank and while that all sounds well and good, it just ended up being a frustrating diversion from my main objective. The PC controls here were incredibly clunky and caused me to die a number of times, but that might not be the case for console.
There’s also a number of quick-time events that can feel quite unfair in their approach. On PC, you have to move your mouse in a certain direction and then press a button, which, at times, can be unnecessarily hard in practice. If you fail, you gotta watch the sequence all over again up until that point and hope you don’t fuck up.
These issues aren’t really deal-breakers, but simply small grievances that amount to personal preference. If your a fan of the COD series or don’t mind being funnelled through a gaming experience, you’ll be happy to strap yourself in for the ride.
On the whole, COD: WWII is a graphically stunning shooter that does more right than wrong. You can check out the latest trailer below.
