GameSpoon - Call of Duty: World at War

I have to admit, I am a Halo guy. When Call of Duty 4 was released, I was too busy playing Halo 3 to notice. I discovered COD4 far too late into the lifespan of that game, but I have to tell you, I love that game! I was amazed by the campaign's gameplay, graphics and epic battles, but I was blown away by the COD4 multiplayer...it changed my life.

Needless to say, I was a bit worried when Call of Duty: World at War was annouced. After all, how could a WWII game hold up to the technology of modern warfare? Would COD5's multiplayer even be in the same realm as COD4? Well, thanks to the graciousness of SpoonGamer, I can put these questions to rest.

Today marks the release of Call of Duty: World at War's multiplayer beta! SpoonGamer hooked me up with some special access to this fantastic game. While waiting for the game to download, I nervously played some random XBA games, but I could barely even concentrate on what I was doing as I eagerly awaited COD5...then, it was time.

As soon as the game loaded, I instantly felt at home. The user interface, design and controls all felt reminiscent of COD4. I was easily able to jump into my first match. And what I experienced set the tone of my entire night.

First Impressions -
Call of Duty: World at War's multiplayer experience is remarkable. The gameplay is smooth, fast and challenging. COD5's predecessor took place in a modern setting which allowed for multiplayer features such as radar, airstrikes and helicopters; how could a WWII timeline handle these? Don't you worry, the folks at Treyarch did a fantastic job at creating some brand new features that take place of COD4's modern technology. Of course, they added some additional content as well.

Critiques -
Don't get me wrong here, this is obviously a beta version of multiplayer, there could be certain things that occur that may be bugs or certain features that may or may not be included in the final version of the game, but as of now, I really have not encountered anything that I disliked. However - yes there is actually something that stood out to me - first impressions and all - there is one thing that seemed a bit strange to me. Playing as a sniper, I noticed that it took a (seemingly) long time to actually look down the sniper scope.

Let me try to clarify this a little here. What I'm talking about is the time it took for me to actually be able to look down the sniper scope from the time I pulled the trigger to activate that functionality in the game. It seemed to me, that it took a "long" time, a time delay in the animation that I don't recall occurring in COD4. There really isn't an issue here, but I just found it to be difficult to run over to a spot and try to quickly look down the scope for a target, the move on. The time it took to look down the scope seemed to inhibit my ability to actually get my sights on someone if they were simply running by.

I could definitely see this lag as being a feature of the weapon, after all it is an extremely effective weapon type for this game. The time delay seems to add a bit of a challenge to this already, outstanding gameplay.

Final Thoughts -
With this simply being a response to my first impressions of the multiplayer (beta) aspect of the game, I can't really provide too much of an in depth review, but I can honestly say that I know that I'll enjoy COD5 very much. I am very impressed with this multiplayer aspect of the game and I look forward to playing the final version of both multiplayer and campaign modes.

As of now, I highly suggest purchasing this game, you will not be disappointed. I look forward to spending my weekend plugging away at this game. Maybe I'll post again on it. COD is awesome! Great job Treyarch!