Ign review call of duty ww2

The third map, Dunkirk, is the worst of the bunch. It’s a long, narrow map with an open beach on one side and a line of buildings on the other. It's okay for Domination and less interesting for Kill Confirmed or Team Deathmatch, but the limited spawn points make this an awful map for Hardpoint. More often than not, one team spawns right next to the capture point, making the match a foregone conclusion. That’s worked to my team’s advantage several times, and it’s still not fun. Smart explosives paired with a coordinated team charge can help even the odds, but not enough to make it feel balanced. Tipping the scales further from fairness, Dunkirk also suffers from opportunities for spawn killing.

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War Mode was my favorite addition to the Call of Duty multiplayer suite when it debuted in WW2, but the newest map becomes progressively less fun with each objective you complete. Operation Husky adds tactical tools for both teams with its crates of limited Molotov cocktails and tripwires, and these made for a more interesting start as the Allied forces attempt to capture and return three cases to a base. I would have liked the first area to be a tad bigger so the lane between the buildings didn’t feel so congested, though I do appreciate that the Axis forces can sneak into the Allied base and retrieve the collected intel to turn the tide of a match back in their favor. As a small nitpick, the fact that it says “Flag Captured” when you deliver a case to the base makes Operation Husky feel a little unpolished, considering it isn’t a flag.

The second objective has the Allied team throwing bodies at a point to try to capture it. It's not overly difficult to defend as the Axis team since the point is in a small room with a nearby spawn, and the additional Molotov cocktails and flamethrower help keep things interesting once players start camping the room.

But that's ideally where I like to stop playing Operation Husky, because the third objective is bad. It’s a shame since it’s the only instance of aerial combat in multiplayer, but this first-to-25-kills team dogfight is so cramped for space that I often saw people accidentally fly out of bounds and explode before they could get back in – and it’s happened to me more than once, too. Even when things stay contained, battles are a bit dull because while the plane is fine to maneuver it lacks interesting weaponry beyond machine guns.

The new Nazi Zombies chapter, The Shadowed Throne, takes the team to Berlin as the zombie horde spreads. I liked this map more than the previous DLC’s The Darkest Shore; it’s not a big map, but every room is filled with interesting details, many of which are important to the Easter egg mission. It’s just as challenging to figure out as the last, but better in that multiple steps for different objectives can be done early on simultaneously. Like previous chapters, it’s fun to play with someone who knows how to get the puzzle started, learn from them, then use that knowledge in another game.

The Shadowed Throne also introduces a the Wunderbuss, a neat weapon that’s great for eliminating hordes of zombies after it’s been charged by shooting what amounts to a dart that sucks the energy out of a zombie. The three melee weapons – a nail bat, a combat knife, and a pickaxe – made slaying zombies and scavenging the walking corpses for supplies early on better, too. It’s a shame, though, that the only new zombie is just a regular zombie that evolves into a shrieking fire corpse. It’s incredibly easy to kill compared to the terrifying spider zombie from The Darkest Shore.

Verdict

The War Machine’s new multiplayer content has some high points, but also its fair share of duds. I count the large, versatile Egypt map as one of my favorites in all of Call of Duty: WW2, while I’d be happy without ever playing Domination or Hardpoint on the unbalanced Dunkirk map again. The new War mode map, Operation Husky, has a similar problem: its more tactical first objective being far more entertaining than its irritating dogfight at the end. The Shadowed Throne Nazi Zombies chapter, at least, remains consistently fun with a great new location and Easter egg mission, but it could have used a more interesting new zombie.

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Call of Duty: WW2 - The War Machine DLC Review

good

The War Machine is an uneven DLC with a great new multiplayer map and Zombies chapter but unfortunate issues elsewhere.

All in all, Call of Duty: WW2’s United Front DLC feels experimental and exciting in some ways, while safer and dull in others. The changes to the Zombies mode dramatically shake up the formula and make it a high point worth visiting, but otherwise, the mostly underwhelming new maps aren’t breaking any new ground.

When I first played Call of Duty: WW2 at release, it felt like a bizarre omission to not visit Stalingrad as a multiplayer destination. Over the years I feel like I’ve fought battles on that field countless times, because as the largest conflict to take place in all of WW2, it’s always been a staple for shooters based on the war. United Front finally brings it back, and it’s the best of the three new maps.

Stalingrad is a classic arrangement: two bases at opposite ends of a war-torn city with plenty of carnage in between. I’d have loved to see the map adapted to a larger-scale War mode mission, but it feels great to return there even still. It really doesn’t offer anything we haven’t seen in these types of shooters before, but it fits like a glove. Seeing the snow flurries and dilapidated buildings rendered in gloriously high resolution with HDR on the PS4 Pro made a setting I’d seen many times feel new again. For that reason, Stalingrad is easily one of my favorite maps in all of CoD: WW2.

Stalingrad is easily one of my favorite maps in all of CoD: WW2.

The other two new maps for multiplayer aren’t as memorable. First up is Market Garden, which takes place at a mansion in the Netherlands. It’s a tight-quarters map with lots of walls and corners making it difficult to really take in and appreciate the more natural beauty on display. Visually, it’s quite impressive and that contrasts well with the violence and bloodshed. The center of the map is laid out well for Domination and other similar game modes, except that camping is extremely easy and rampant. Overall, Market Garden is just fine, but it feels a whole lot like what CoD: WW2 already has plenty of: smaller scale, close-quarters maps.

Finally, the third new multiplayer map is Monte Cassino and it’s probably the worst of the bunch. The setting is a badly damaged Italian village beneath a monastery, and the semi-unique hook is the focus on verticality created by plenty of rooftops and cliff edges to flank along. The problem is that this style of map doesn’t really lend itself well to the lack of mobility found in a WW2-era shooter. Something like this in Advanced Warfare or Black Ops 3 might fare better because you can easily scale and access high points in those games, but as it stands it just feels a little tedious. If you’re not sniping from a rooftop or trying to sneak up on snipers and campers then you’re just running around getting shot by someone you didn’t see. The best CoD: WW2 maps have a hint of verticality, but instead focus on varied yet level playing fields.

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The last two additions found in United Front are a new War mode mission called Operation Supercharge that’s mostly more of the same and a new Nazi Zombies story called The Tortured Path that dramatically alters the flow of a Zombies match. For Operation Supercharge the battle moves to a sandy Tunisian location in which Allied soldiers airdrop into the skirmish to try and capture a Nazi-occupied village and gain important supplies, blow up a bridge, and then capture key objectives at the end.

The new Tunisia setting is a good shakeup from the typical retreaded European ground we’ve seen a million times, but the gameplay loops ends up feeling eerily similar to existing War missions after completing the first objective. It starts out on a high note as Allied forces have to capture supplies that are literally raining down from the sky, adding a lot of nuance and excitement that makes each match play out a bit differently. But after that, the typical “blow up a bridge then take these outposts” objectives funnel in. The finale has moments of excitement since the objectives are located in exposed bunkers, making it tricky to capture for the attacking team, but overall Operation Supercharge doesn’t do enough to really stand out.

The undead cherry on top of the United Front sundae is The Tortured Path.

And the undead cherry on top of the United Front sundae is The Tortured Path, a multi-chapter Zombies map. Under the hood there are lots of cool ideas on display here, such as its nifty sub-chapters that feature different locations, a more involved XP system, and actual objectives that build toward an ending to the story, but it’s all nestled in mostly uninspired map layouts.

Instead of just being one large Zombies map with an endless stream of undead to kill, Tortured Path is actually more like three smaller maps that stand on their own as you progress through them. The first chapter is mostly outdoors with a collection of small buildings surrounding a courtyard full of vehicles. Between buildings there are lots of tight corridors and some of the objectives are extremely tough given how wide open most of the map is. Chapter two takes place on a boat and features some excellent particle and weather physics. The final chapter, and the toughest of the bunch, is an underground ice cavern with lots of entry points for the hordes to flank and swarm.

In Tortured Path the story involves Allied forces continuing to struggle against the Final Reich, and sends you across the zombie-infested landscape to deliver the pieces of Emperor Barbarossa’s legendary sword you (presumably) finished assembling in The Shadowed Throne’s Easter egg story.

For each section of Tortured Path you’ll complete objectives, fight a boss monster, then go to extraction for the next phase of the mission. Objectives are randomized for each map and consist of things like repairing valves, defending a machine, or stopping a specific zombie from reaching its destination. Each section has nine core waves, topped off with a tenth wave boss fight. The result is that each section of Tortured Path feels frantic and intense almost all the time, rather than a slow-burning build to a chaotic finale like in other Zombies maps.

I wasn’t a big fan of the changes to weapons in The Tortured Path. Instead of pre-determined weapons dispersed at specific locations that you can save up for, you instead spend points on random weapons. You have no choice, though if you get a weapon you like you can buy ammo for it (or pick up a Max Ammo drop if you’re lucky) to keep it a bit longer. It feels almost like the randomized loot box-style system is being forced into the Zombies mode, and it ruins a bit of the fun when you can’t plan ahead for specific weapons. Luckily, another new addition – the XP system – helps soften the blow as you earn perks as you play that “level up” your character for Tortured Path specifically.

Verdict

Call of Duty: WW2 - United Front has some good moments with its Tortured Path Zombies campaign, but everything else is more of the same.

Is it worth it to play Call of Duty World War 2?

A solid return to its roots, Call of Duty WWII reminds us what made us all fall in love Call of Duty in the first place. It ticks all the boxes which is both a blessing and a curse. Good fun and worth your time but offers nothing exceptional.

Is cod WW2 still worth it?

Yes, if you're into fast-paced FPS combat. It's a good game if you used to the series and want to kill Nazis. However, it has contains a lot of factual and historical inaccuracies and feels more like glorified Hollywood depiction of the American WW2 campaign.

Was Cod WW2 a success?

Was Cod ww2 a success? The game was a commercial success, generating $500 million of revenue within just three days of its release.

What is ranked in Call of Duty: WWII?

Tiers and XP Ranked Play includes seven tiers: Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, Masters, and Pro. Only the top 100 players in the Masters tier will be recognized in the Pro tier at the end of each season. Starting is Season 2, players will earn a flat rate amount of XP based on the match results: Win = 8,000 XP.