New locales, a grittier tone, and, of course, the debut of co-op gameplay could combine to make World at War a worthy successor to the stellar Call of Duty 4.



Infinity Ward's Call of Duty 4 was a huge success among critics and fans and it falls to Treyarch to one-up a game that is still on the top of the Xbox Live charts almost a year after its release. Call of Duty: World at War has been in development for two years now and Treyarch is looking to prove that it's just as worthy of carrying the Call of Duty torch as IW.

A groan arose among some fans when it was revealed that World at War would be set in World War II, after COD4 brought the series to modern times. However, while WAW will be set in World War II, it will be a different war than we remember from earlier installments of the series. Not just because half of the series will be set in the Pacific theater (though that's a first for the series). The real difference is that Treyarch is committed to showing a darker side of the war.

In the opening scene of the game, players will control an American soldier being held as a POW by Japanese troops. You'll watch as your Japanese captors burn the eye of a fellow POW with a cigar and then slit his throat. The U.S. army launches an attack on the Japanese base before you share your comrade's fate, and the first level depicts your escape. Meanwhile, the second segment will put you in the shoes of a Russian soldier near the end of the war. With millions of their countrymen dead, the Russians are hungry for revenge on Germany and the game is sure to showcase more brutal elements of the invasion.

So what about actual gameplay? The game will use the COD4 engine but with some important differences. Like Call of Duty 3, the previous COD game Treyarch made, World at War will have vehicles controllable by players. Given that the Pacific theater is made up of many tiny islands, WAW will introduce swimming to the series. Environments will also be more destructible, with players able to smash through wooden obstacles or set them on fire - oh yeah, I forgot to mention you get to use a flamethrower.

The biggest addition, perhaps, is the introduction of co-op gameplay for up to four players, both split-screen and online. Playing co-op will earn you experience points that go toward unlocking perks and weapons just like the COD4 multiplayer. In fact, the experience points from co-op carry over to normal multiplayer, so you won't have to be Level 1 cannon fodder once you start playing deathmatches. The strength of the enemies in co-op play will scale according to your experience level, as well, so you'll always have a challenge. There's also a competitive element to co-op; if you so choose, you can add scoring to the game and compete with your teammates to see who can get the most points from kills, headshots, etc. You'll also earn points for reviving fallen teammates, while they'll lose points for dying, which should keep reasonably well-behaved in the midst of the competition.

The only thing that really gives me pause about the game is this talk about "Day 1 Advantage". According to Activision Publishing CEO Mike Griffith, players will be able to dish out some extra cash in order to get an acceleration in experience points gains. Maybe it'll end up being an insignificant, temporary advantage but it still offends my bizarre nerd-honor. We'll see how it shakes out.

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