Monday, October 27, 2008

Call of Duty 4 +1

Over the weekend I got hold of a code to access the Multiplayer Beta of the new Call of Duty: World at War on Xbox 360. For those who may not be aware, this is the much feared sequel to Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, feared because it's a return to the World War 2 arena.

I'm pleased to report that they seem to have succeeded. The gameplay has lost none of COD4's charm, and they've somewhat tenuously included many of it's features. The unlockable red dot sight has become the "apperture" but it's much the same thing. The 3 kill perk is now "recon" which acts much like UAV, 5 kills get you an artillery strike and 7 kills gets you a pack of attack dogs. Which sounds rubbish, but are suprisingly effective.

It's not all a rehashing of the same, there are some new features also. Vehicles now feature and tanks on the battlefield can be a lot of fun. There is also now the ability to form your team into "squads" with your squad appearing in a different colour on the map. This encourages teams to work more tactically. The maps are obviously all new and gorgeous and there's a suprisingly high amount of gore. World War 2 was not pretty and this is well reflected. Walk over a land mine (known as "bouncing bettys") and expect to see both your legs blown off. Hold a grenade too long and lose an arm.

There's only 3 maps in the Beta but it's kept my attention for much of the weekend. I will definitely be pre-ordering.

For those interested, Beta keys can be obtained if you were previously registered on the Call of Duty website (or charlieoscardelta.com). In which case you should have received an email with a code. The email will indicate that the opportunity expires on the 19th October but still appears to work regardless.

Otherwise, you can also obtain a Beta key if you pre-order the game (via Game.co.uk in the UK or Gamestop in the US). The Game website indicates that the keys will be emailed out to people in batches on Fridays (providing you pre-order before 1pm Thursday). My American friends inform me that Gamestop sends the keys a day or two after your order.

The PC multiplayer beta will be opening shortly but will also require a code. Register on the website for details.

That's all from me. See you in the trenches.