CALL OF DUTY: WWII REVIEW

i7-5960X, 32GB RAM
Multiplayer: Online competitive and cooperative modes
Link: Official site
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Call of Duty: WWII is so damn big that I'd be surprised if I didn't like something it has to offer. It's a series that blueprinted the feel and responsiveness of modern first-person shooters. I've always enjoyed the series' sugary pace and instant gratification, but too often the ideas wrapped around the signature shooting just don't work. WWII would be one of the better games in the series if I were judging purely based on its competitive multiplayer, but the Nazi Zombies mode is an awkward, obtuse grind, and the campaign fails to introduce many new ideas to Call of Duty at all.

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The singleplayer campaign isn't really about WWII anyway, it's about how friendship between adult men requires both great sacrifice and a great aim. It turns a global catastrophe into a melodramatic test of camaraderie, more concerned with making you feel cool than bogging anyone down with historical context. I'm not surprised; Call of Duty always flubs the grandiose promises made by its marketing. This isn't the powerful history lesson for future generations it was first billed as. This is another Call of Duty campaign, replete with slow crawl concussion scenes, cornfed soldiers, and angry COs.

You play as Bradley, a US soldier and member of the 1st Infantry Division. Starting with the iconic and obligatory landing at Normandy, you shoot your way through the Western Front, liberating Paris, crossing the Rhine, and taking part in the Battle of the Bulge. To my surprise, it wraps with one of the quieter (still loud) endings I've seen in a Call of Duty game. Things are different in the return to 1940s Europe, but by small degrees.