Call of Duty 5: World at War starts to surface

by Phil Larsen { Jun 10th 2008 at 11:46AM }

Call of Duty is one of the biggest names in gaming today, and the hard-fightin' adventures of World War II soldiers just keep coming, ready for twitchy trigger-fingers to blast some baddies. The Wii had a taste of the action with Call of Duty 3, even though it couldn't match the super-fine graphics featured on the other consoles.

In development at Treyarch, Call of Duty 5: World at War is coming to all three consoles -- but this time, the Wii gets a bit more TLC. It's being developed by a separate team, although the graphics will be much more comparable between the different versions -- apparently running the COD4 engine on the Wii. That's no slouch, folks, as the COD4 engine was stunning.

We can expect vehicle and squad-based additions to the multiplayer, along with ~~ZOMG!~~ a full co-op mode. That's pretty hardcore, because this isn't your church-picnic Call of Duty. Apparently, the setting will be far "grittier" than anything we've seen in the series thus far, which means plenty of grizzled soldiers standing around looking badass with cigarettes, simultaneously getting their violent on. This all goes down in the Pacific theatre of WWII, where hectic battles were commonplace.

We want great games to be commonplace on the Wii, and COD5 is shaping up nicely. Stay tuned for more details as they arrive!

Tags: activision-blizzard, call-of-duty, call-of-duty-3, call-of-duty-4, call-of-duty-5, call-of-duty-5-world-at-war, co-op, cod5, multiplayer, pacific-theatre, treyarch, war, wwii

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Onomah @ Jun 10th 2008 12:00PM

Usually when an announcment that a wii version game will be using an awesome engine like the other consoles, something comes along and spoils it.
Fingers crossed that they don't "clarify some details" and ruin our day
But what I really want is something as awesome as COD4. I am so sick of the second world war it isn't even funny.

Sisyphus @ Jun 10th 2008 12:05PM

I keep mentioning it everytime I see a story about a new CoD/similar WWII game that's coming out, but here it goes again.

Make a FPS or 3rd-PS out of the Korean War. It could be amazing, especially since it's virgin terriority. Mountainous terrain, overwhelming numbers, hostile conditions, first major use of jets in war, etc. And to boot, people know very little, if anything about the Forgotten War, so it would essentially be a new storyline for modern gamers. Multiplayer deathmatches could be epic.

hvnlysoldr @ Jun 10th 2008 1:31PM

The Korean War shall not be forgotten.

Ricky @ Jun 17th 2008 1:39PM

Yea, I think the Korean War would be a great Idea. I have played so many WWII games and I know a lot of the history behind WWII and its a very interesting war, but I think COD should make games based on different wars, such as Korea, Vietnam, Persian Gulf and maybe even WWI. My grandpa fought in Korea and there are a lot of interesting stories from the war.

Ricky @ Jun 17th 2008 1:42PM

The only thing is that the Korean Wars main technological advancement is the use of jets. It weapons of WWII are still basically the same M1s, Tommys, Brownings, etc.

Garu @ Jun 10th 2008 12:05PM

I've always wanted to see a first person shooter based on the original Planet of the Apes films!

Damn dirty apes!

shawn @ Jun 10th 2008 12:10PM

i really think the wii can pull nice visuals that havent even been tapped into yet,people keep saying its 2 gamecubes and thats not right cuz how do we really know what it can do,we keep getting shovelware why not really show us what that machine can do and i think cod 5 will be that game that does it

igorponweed @ Jun 10th 2008 12:10PM

I've never been into war games, but this might be the one to win me over. On the Wii! Not the PS360! How about that?

Eternityx @ Jun 10th 2008 12:53PM

Give me online multiplayer and i'm sold.

il_duce620 @ Jun 10th 2008 12:59PM

I'll be curious to see the CoD4 engine running on a Wii... I'm sure the developers will have to "cut a few corners" to shoehorn it on, but as long as the right corners are cut, I bet it'll still be an awesome game.

I very much like MoH: Heroes 2, but moreso as a proof of concept. I'd like more maps to be available and more multiplayer modes, but as an FPS with a non-Nintendo multiplayer section (a la EA Nation), I think it works wonders!

I guess I'm saying that I wouldn't necessarily mind a slight graphical decrease as compared with the 360 and PS3 versions as long as it has the same multiplayer modes and the superior Wii controls.

PunchyMcJunk @ Jun 10th 2008 1:17PM

There appears to be a new generation of Wii games that are really looking to push it's graphic capabilities: Alone in the Dark comes to mind, as does COD5, Fatal Frame, Tenchu, and even some recent 1st party titles have looked really solid (Mario Galaxy had some great effects).

The problem is really in the Miis. Anything that uses a Mii makes the Wii's technology look like it is from a 3dFX Voodoo 2 circa 1997. Although I'm awfully attached to my little avatar, it has often been an excuse to focus less on graphical prowess.

My big question is: would it hurt for Nintendo to do just a little antialiasing? Just a little? PLEASE!

Mr Khan @ Jun 10th 2008 1:34PM

I think AA is a hardware thing, so it's a bit late for them to do anything about that prior to 2010 or 2011

I don't know, though. It could be a software thing, i forget.

PunchyMcJunk @ Jun 10th 2008 2:21PM

I'm pretty sure you can do either Software or Hardware Antialiasing. Obviously, hardware is going to be the more efficient choice, if it's available on the Wii.

I just don't know if it is.

Microswirl (MKWii:1676- 4270-3674) @ Jun 10th 2008 5:00PM

Antialiasing is controlled by software. You can turn it on and off in the SSBB options.

Fulluphigh @ Jun 11th 2008 2:26PM

I've got some friends that are down south testing the DS version of CoD 5 over summer. They havn't commented on it yet though.

Mr Khan @ Jun 10th 2008 1:36PM

Sounds promising, of course. But then again a lot of things have sounded promising. To use the engine does not mean you're using it well.

Hopefully the new spin on WWII will make this a memorable title at all, whatever platform you're playing it on

Mickey @ Jun 10th 2008 1:38PM

Finally, a game I can look forward too. Besides Mario Super SLuggers, I haven't seen anything coming out or in development that has peaked my interest.

Oh and sisyphus, good idea about korean war. I'd play it (I just hope it's better than MOH: Rising Sun)

Sisyphus @ Jun 10th 2008 3:30PM

The island hopping campaigns could be interesting if they offered more of a user-controlled storyline. Marines ended up all over the place. The Pacific is huge, after all. Playing from the point of view of the Japanese would also offer up some staggering viewpoint, especially in Iwojima.

Mr Khan @ Jun 10th 2008 5:00PM

It would be a very good idea, since it would push the boundaries of story in gaming

The Japanese perspective of the Pacific theatre is an incredibly touchy subject, after all.

CJLopez @ Jun 10th 2008 1:48PM

'll be looking forward, COD4 is amazing (even though I hadn't played, 'll be buying it for PS3 in the near future) hope this comes true and the game look ok.

For the moment, 'll be looking forward for this, but as far as I see this, this games comes to my Wii

Apothekari @ Jun 10th 2008 2:48PM

My problem with Call of Duty 3 had zilcho to do with the graphics and everything to do with HITTING what I was CLEARLY aiming at you could have the targeting cursor perfectly on a target and shoot 15 or 20 times and ONE would actually hit it!

Nintendork @ Jun 10th 2008 3:22PM

I like that they are heading to the Pacific Theater. It'll be a WWII game with an unused area. Fighting the Japanese is different. The Wii is starting to get some cool stuff with good graphics now. Fatal Frame looks really good and hopefully these new games will show how lazy a lot of people have been when they made Wii games. I'm a WWII junkie and can't wait for COD 5.

Sisyphus @ Jun 10th 2008 3:33PM

Afghanistan has fallen into the same void that Korea did. Its just a matter of being the lesser war between a major US conflict. I'm very tempted to get into video game development just to make a Korean War FPS.

4N1M3H34D @ Jun 10th 2008 4:48PM

Usually there would be no reason to trust Treyarch with the COD series after what a disappointment 3 was compared to 2 and 4 but it running on the CoD4 engine is a good start, separate team for the Wii version and multiplayer and co-op is reason to keep an eye on this 1. Im hoping to hell their multiplayer is online cause an online wii fps with the CoD4 engine would beat the shit out of MoHH2

MarMar @ Jun 11th 2008 1:30AM

COD3 was not a disappointment by any means. The multiplayer was leaps and bounds ahead of COD2, and IW implemented a lot of things from COD3 multiplayer into 4 (the promotions and their benefits towards your gear and sprinting for example). In fact, 4 was a step down from the 3 because they took out vehicles! (the vehicles in COD3 were awesome -- way more fun than halo series)

Nintendork @ Jun 10th 2008 5:51PM

If they don't put in online multi-player they might as well not even bother having it on the Wii. They have to know that us older Wii players would kill for a great online multi-player experience. I bet it would sell an extra 25% more copies if the online was killer.