CALL OF DUTY: WW2
A RETURN TO FORM FOR MULTIPLAYER, BUT A TYPICALLY NAFF CAMPAIGN. $99.95 | PC, PS4, XO | www.callofduty.com
After two years spent dabbling in sciencefiction and, most importantly, doublejumping and jetpacking, Call of Duty returns to its historical war roots with this aptly named instalment. Last year’s Infinite Warfare was a good stab at perfecting the type of hi-octane, traveral-centric FPS combat mastered by Titanfall 2, but given the size of the COD series, the conservatism of its fans, and the sad truth that Titanfall 2 itself wasn’t exactly a bestseller, here we are again, in the trenches. It’s easy enough to hate this game before it’s booted up and, let’s be honest, the campaign, in typically linear, explosive
COD fashion, is pretty average. Mass market shooter franchises can barely hope to lend gravity to narratives concerned with actual historical tragedies, and while the marketing for this game promised that it would — it emphatically does not. If you’re into trite war-is-noble platitudes and watching things explode, it might be worth a shot.
But WW2 is definitely worth picking up, because its multiplayer component is arguably the best it’s had for years — and this is coming from a critic who loved the sci-fi direction previous instalments took. While there’s a whole loot crate system, it doesn’t reach the cynical heights that Battlefront 2 does, and all is forgiven when one starts blasting shotgun shells into MountainDew Lover_360NoScope while tossing grenades over the rooftops of German bunkers.
There’s a zombies co-operative component as well — the usual horde mode affair — but if Call of Duty is really all about its PvP multiplayer, then Activision might not have to scratch this franchise off its list of priorities after all.