Call of Duty: World at War Image
Metascore
84

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

User Score
7.6

Generally favorable reviews- based on 733 Ratings

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  • 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,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
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Call of Duty: World at War Map Pack 2 Trailer
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 76 out of 84
  2. Negative: 0 out of 84
  1. 100
    Call of Duty: World at War is clearly one of the top games of this year, and a must have for any action gamer.
  2. If you enjoyed Modern Warfare or FPSs in general, this is one of the higher quality shooters you'll find this year. If you're not a fan of grit and prefer your war games more sanitized, such as in Halo, then you'd do well to steer clear.
  3. 90
    It's nothing revolutionary, but you can't fail to enjoy World at War and it ticks every box rather convincingly.
  4. If you don't care what era your action takes place in, then Call of Duty: World at War manages to be an exciting addition to the series.
  5. Xbox World 360 Magazine UK
    85
    A great WWII shooter. [Jan 2009, p.51]
  6. an ordinary game on an extraordinary engine. The faults are mostly swept aside by the gameplay, which is taken straight from Call of Duty 4, and the multiplayer should be different enough to pull those stuck on its prequel away in favor of a change of location and weapons.
  7. Edge Magazine
    60
    Treyarch has taken just enough from COD4 to make World At War a broad success, but it remains firmly in its shadow. [Christmas 2008, p.90]

See all 84 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Negative: 28 out of 165
  1. Apr 20, 2011
    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 greatBy 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. [anonymous]
    Dec 27, 2009
    10
    The best single player campeign in the entire francize, really good sound and graphics like all the others, and Nazi Zombies is the best DLC The best single player campeign in the entire francize, really good sound and graphics like all the others, and Nazi Zombies is the best DLC ever. FYI I haven't played any multiplayer. Expand
  3. Jun 25, 2022
    9
    An amazing game that takes the realism of war and pushes it to the breaking point. The best WWII experience of any video game with the abilityAn amazing game that takes the realism of war and pushes it to the breaking point. The best WWII experience of any video game with the ability to blow off limbs in a shower of blood or burning people alive and watching them screaming, this game pulls no punches and shows the true experiences of war. Great level design and gun play make for an enjoyable experience. The music and sound design for this game is top notch and the best of any Call of Duty. Amazing story telling with characters that make you truly feel like your choices matter. While it doesn't do anything groundbreaking to make it a 10/10 it is still a very good game and the best Call of Duty in my opinion. Expand
  4. May 21, 2019
    8
    This game has the weakest multiplayer and story of the Call of Duty games that I've played (with the exception of Advanced Warfare for theThis game has the weakest multiplayer and story of the Call of Duty games that I've played (with the exception of Advanced Warfare for the story), but the introduction of Zombies bumps this up a ton in my book. Expand
  5. Nov 19, 2013
    7
    Single Player/Multi Player (2/2)

    (If the single player is better than the multiplayer, review this section as if it had no multplayer) (If
    Single Player/Multi Player (2/2)

    (If the single player is better than the multiplayer, review this section as if it had no multplayer) (If the multiplayer is better than the multiplayer, review this section as if it had no single player)

    Gameplay (1/2)

    Visuals/Story (1/2)

    (If the visuals are better than the story, review this section as if it had no story) (If the story is better than the visuals, review this section as if the visuals didn’t matter)

    Accessibility/Longevity (2/2)

    (Review this section only on Accessibility if the game has no longevity) (Review this section only on longevity if the game isn’t accessible)

    Pricing (1/2)

    Wildcard (0)

    This is a guideline for how to properly review games. Many reviewers like to get a “feel” for a game, and arbitrarily give a game a score that they believe it deserves. This results in wildly different scores between different reviewers, and vastly different scores between similar games. This guideline addresses these problems and scores games fairly and consistently. This guideline also gives scores that are usually similar to the metacritic score.

    The review score is based out of 10 points. There are no “half” or 0.5 increments. It is impossible to have a score above 10 or below 0. The review score will change as the game gets new dlc, drops in price, or if more secrets are found through the game increasing its appeal.

    The scoring is split into 6 sections. The first five sections can add a possible 2 points to the final score. The first 5 sections are Single Player/Multi Player, Gameplay, Visuals/Story, Accessibility/Longevity, and Pricing.

    Notice that 3 of these sections have two parts. These particular sections will be scored based on the stronger part of the game of the two. For example, if a game has a lousy single player campaign, but an excellent multiplayer component, that section will be based solely on the multiplayer as if the single player did not exist. This allows games to be based on their own merits, as many unnecessary features are shoehorned into video games by publishers to reach a “feature quota”. Games that excel in both areas of a section don’t receive should be noted in the written review, but cannot increase the score past 2 in that section. However, it can be taken into account in the final section

    The final section can add 1, add 0, or subtract 1 to the final score. This final section is the “wildcard” section. This section is for how the reviewer “feels” about the game, but limits this only to this section, rather than the entire 10 point review. This section can include any positive or negative point that was not covered in the previous 5 sections.
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  6. Feb 20, 2012
    6
    And yet again we see another generic shooter. This, is actually the best CoD game out there. I enjoyed it... For a while. After finishing theAnd yet again we see another generic shooter. This, is actually the best CoD game out there. I enjoyed it... For a while. After finishing the campaign there was nothing more to do. Yeah, there is Nazi Zombies, but it's crap to play it alone. The online? Oh man, don't get me started at that BORE... Expand
  7. DaveC.
    Nov 20, 2008
    0
    When a company release IMPROVE the game nope just change it back to a WW2 game that ive played a 1000 times and worsen the spawn good job When a company release IMPROVE the game nope just change it back to a WW2 game that ive played a 1000 times and worsen the spawn good job treyarch maybe u should spend more than 30 mins to edit a game from last year and ship it as a new game. DO NOT BUY. Expand

See all 165 User Reviews