Call of Duty World at War

So I've had a good few hours on this game now and heres a few thoughs on it!
The single player is certainly far less imersive than COD4, the characters and story is ........a little rushed? Online however it redemes itself. there is split screen co-op and 4 player online which is a fantastic addition and something that makes up for single players lack luster. On the standard multiplayer it's a case of giving it time. We've all had a year to memorise every nook, crany and blasted brick on COD4 and jumping into COD5s multiplayer can be a confusing afair at first. Looking at it things are more chaotic, much more "war ravaged" theres certainly a better "feel" to online matches which make COD4s levels look posertivly pristeen.....an example would be, COD4 = moss side, COD5 = london in the blitz!.
The loby and weapon upgrade sstem has been lifted straight from COD4, if it works don't fix it is the aproach and a good one. The match options have now been increased along with a system of having to be a certain rank to unlock certain game modes.
Quick mention at this point about the tanks and dogs.......2 of the bigest changes. First the tank, there SLOW.....and taking guys down with the main gun is a tall order the second guy who gets to sit on the gun is more than a little exposed as well pluss a few RPGs will see your tank in bits! This however is a good thing, theres no advantage to be had in a tank other than to provide shorterm cover and to get accross open ground relertivly safley, happily it dosn't unbalance the gameplay! Now the dogs........on COD4 you got a helicopter for a 7 streak kill....and they were the bain of most matches, being responcible many a team victory. These have been replaced on COD5 with a pack of dogs and it's a briliantly well balanced system. Plus the sight of a pack of alsatians running riot in the enemys stronghold warms the cockless of any snipers heart just as it strikes fear when there coming for you Unlike the choper though you can see and hear there aproach, dispatching them isn't too hard as is just avoiding them.

I've got the PS3 version of the game and it's main rival is going to be Resistance 2 with it's 60 player online mayhem, equaly the 360 version is in compertition with the sublime looking gears of war 2, then of course theres Far Cry 2 ........all worthy copertition in the shooter market. The main question I supose is dose it surpass COD4? well yes and no.......Single player fairs badly compared to COD4 but the multiplayer certainly edges it, you do have to give it time to familiarise yourself with the umpteen maps and the slightly slower pace. Theres not a great deal of improvement over COD4 but its a big act to follow, the locations, weapons and map desighn however do a good job at distancing the 2 games and offer a more varied experience making it different enough to COD4 to make it a worthwhile purchase. This can be said of the other titles I mentioned, they are all slightly different in there aproach to the FPS system and as such owning 2 of them won't see you with 2 games the same.

Ultimatly if your buying the game for the single player then you may be disapointed, It's not that it's bad, it's just not as good as COD4 If however your getting it for some online gaming you'll be more than happy with it after you get used to the maps and especialy with the inclusion of a 4 player online co-op mode for the first time in the series.