Call of Duty: WW2 played it safe in a lot of different ways, and I only wish they took the opportunity to dive deeper. What makes many first person shooter’s stories nowadays so impactful is their willingness to not hold back on some of the darker details, even if they aren’t pleasant to hear or look at. While I’ll avoid spoilers, after finishing the game I did feel as though some of the more horrific parts of WW2 were kind of dodged. However, I do feel that Sledgehammer could have maybe gone a bit deeper and darker with the horrors of WW2. So yes, the campaign is as gritty and dirty as I was hoping it would be. It also built up a great sense of camaraderie with your squad. It’s a really great system, because combined with the new health system, it really allows you to play more cautiously while also never slowing down the action to search a cleared out area for supplies. One squad mate provides ammo, while another provides health packs if you need it, and so on. Another great mechanic is the squad system, a sort of toned-down Battlefield-esque system that has your AI squadmates acting as replenishment system for your various needs. After some embarrassing moments in the opening of the game, this new health system really fell into place for me and actually forced me to play more cautiously as one should while running through an open field during WW2. Taking cues from the likes of Doom, players no longer regain health after a certain amount of time and must instead rely upon health packs. What’s really fantastic is the new gameplay mechanics the story introduces to the Call of Duty franchise. Pierson was also a fantastic performance that really brought a sort of grit and heart to the story. “Red” himself is a fascinating character, only for his internal dialogue and diary entries narrated throughout the game. The characters throughout the story are, for the most part, pretty interesting and unique. I’ll just say this: fans of Inglorious Basterds rejoice.
One in particular, a mission taking place in Paris (I won’t go any further to not spoil the mission), is surely to go down as one of the coolest Call of Duty missions ever. While I won’t dive into spoilers, many of the stereotypical WW2 set pieces are used throughout the 10 story missions. Throughout the story, players only really see the US side of the war, as you storm through the beaches of Normandy and push through Germany as the end of the war is near. Players assume the role of “Red” Daniels, a farm boy whisked away to the war as part of the 1st Infantry Division. While it did run a bit short clocking in at around the 6-7 hour mark on my first playthrough on the Normal difficulty setting, the bombastic and harrowing tale of a band of brothers was too enjoyable to even notice the short playtime. Probably the biggest component for CoD: WW2 I was looking forward to, and it did not disappoint. But really, let’s just jump into the nitty-gritty. Although the phrase gets tossed around so much nowadays with games, Call of Duty: WW2 really is the video game equivalent of comfort food. From the action-packed yet grounded story, to the “classic” style multiplayer, Call of Duty: WW2 embodies what made the franchise so popular so many years ago.
#Call of duty ww2 bit series#
I’ll just jump right in and say it: Activision and Sledgehammer games weren’t lying in saying that Call of Duty is back.* After an iffy year for the Call of Duty franchise with Infinite Warfare, Call of Duty: WW2 brings the series back to where many felt like it needed to be, and is it good to be back.