Call of Duty: World at War

Overview

Call of Duty: World at War is a 2008 first-person shooter developed by Treyarch and published by Activision. It is the fifth main game in the Call of Duty series and the fourth to be set during World War II. Activision announced it in June 2008 and released it in November 2008 for PlayStation 3, Windows, Xbox 360 and Wii. Other games under the World at War name came out for the Nintendo DS and PlayStation 2, with different stories and missions.

The story is told mostly from two sides: U.S. Marine Raider Private C. Miller in the Pacific and Soviet Red Army Private Dimitri Petrenko on the Eastern Front. It is a mature, open-ended shooter that otherwise plays like earlier Call of Duty games. You carry two weapons plus grenades, take cover to recover health, and can find thirteen hidden death cards in the campaign that unlock cheats for co-op. Multiplayer has eight modes, including Team Deathmatch and capture the flag, plus vehicles. Ground War supports up to 18 players.

The Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Windows versions include Nazi Zombies, the first Zombies mode in any Call of Duty game. One to four players hold off waves of undead enemies, starting with an M1911 pistol and spending points to open up the map and buy better weapons. The first map, Nacht der Untoten, starts by itself after the last campaign mission. Zombies became a mainstay of every game Treyarch made afterwards.

Development took about two years, twice as long as Treyarch's Call of Duty 3. The game runs on an improved version of the Call of Duty 4 engine, with more destructible environments, fire that spreads from the flamethrower, dismemberment and burning on character models. Sean Murray wrote the music. Kiefer Sutherland voices Sergeant Roebuck and Gary Oldman voices Sergeant Reznov. A multiplayer beta ran on Xbox 360 from October 10, 2008 for people who pre-ordered.

Critics gave it generally favourable reviews, praising its intensity and the addition of co-op, while some felt it was too close to earlier Call of Duty games. It was the second best-selling game in the United States in November 2008, with over 1.41 million copies sold on Xbox 360, and the Xbox 360 version was the sixth best-selling game of 2008 there with over 2.75 million. Later critics have often ranked it among the best of the series' World War II games, and its characters carried over into Call of Duty: Black Ops in 2010.

Official trailer

CoD: WaW - Launch Trailer, Call of Duty. Watch on YouTube

Gameplay

Call of Duty: World At War (Xbox 360) - Full Game 1080p60 HD Walkthrough - No Commentary, ToughGamingGuy. Watch on YouTube

Screenshots

Game details

Genres

First-person shooter

Developer

Treyarch

Publisher

Activision

Series

Call of Duty

Engine

IW 3.0

Composers

Sean Murray

Designers

David Vonderhaar

Writers

Craig Houston

Producers

Pat Dwyer

Directors

Corky Lehmkuhl

Modes

Single player

Yes

Local multiplayer

Yes

Online multiplayer

18

Release dates

Editions

Buy this game

Disc IDs

The serial printed on the disc and the case. It tells you which region a copy is from.

Achievements

Achievements66 (1,500G)

1000G possibleYes

Total

66

Gamerscore

1500

100% time

25 to 35 hours

Difficulty

6 out of 10

Playthroughs for 1000G

1

Playthroughs for 100%

1

1000G without online

No

Online trophies

5

Online note

Five achievements need Xbox Live, worth 85G, including the two 0G prestige ones.

DLC has trophies

Yes

1000G includes DLC

No

100% includes DLC

Yes

DLC still for sale

Yes

DLC note

Map Packs 2 and 3 add 20 achievements worth 500G. Each is US$9.99 on the Xbox store.

Missable trophies

0

Separate trophy lists by region

No

Only in a language other than English

No

Languages

English

Online-only version

No

Digital-only

No

Disc-only

No

Players with 1000G

4%

Gamerscore, base game

1000

Gamerscore with DLC

1500

Grind

• All 13 death cards
• Campaign on Veteran
• Multiplayer prestige for the two 0G achievements

• Carlson's Raiders Surprised the Japanese with a daring raid of the Makin Atoll. 10G 86.96% of players
• Stormed Peleliu Took the fight directly to the Japanese on the island of Peleliu. 15G 66.48% of players
• The Last Stand Defeated the Japanese on their own soil in Okinawa. 20G 58.46% of players
• Stabbed in the Heart Took the fight deep into the Fatherland. 20G 55.93% of players
• Get Your Hands Dirty Completed 'Semper Fi' on Veteran difficulty. 30G 32.31% of players
• Saved Private Ryan Saved a soldier from a terrible death. 10G 72.76% of players
• Bloody Peleliu Completed 'Little Resistance' on Veteran difficulty. 30G 29.25% of players
• Weapon of Mass Destruction You called in a naval bombardment that took out at least 4 Japanese soldiers. 15G 59.24% of players
• The Sword Is Broken Completed 'Hard Landing' on Veteran difficulty. 30G 27.41% of players
• No Safe Place With the flamethrower, you've shown the enemy that no hiding place is safe. 15G 52.73% of players
• Architect Completed 'Vendetta' on Veteran difficulty. 30G 25.68% of players
• The Professional Quickly dispatched all of Amsel's henchmen in 'Vendetta' without reloading. 15G 25.48% of players
• Gunslinger Assassinated General Amsel with a sidearm. 15G 17.33% of players
• The Hammer Strikes Completed 'Their Land, Their Blood' on Veteran difficulty. 30G 22.82% of players
• Scorched Earth Completed 'Burn`em Out' on Veteran difficulty. 30G 19.82% of players
• Firestarter Made due with only the bare essentials: a regulation M2. 15G 30.56% of players
• Fearless Completed 'Relentless' on Veteran difficulty. 30G 17.03% of players
• Hell on Wheels Completed 'Blood and Iron' on Veteran difficulty. 30G 18.79% of players
• Iron Fist Destroyed all structures in your T-34. 15G 16.06% of players
• No Return Completed 'Ring of Steel' on Veteran difficulty. 30G 17.79% of players
• Ruthless Efficiently dispatched the enemy while mounted on a tank. 15G 18.17% of players
• When It Rains, It Pours Completed 'Eviction' on Veteran difficulty. 30G 17.41% of players
• Shot in the Dark Terrorized the enemy in the pitch dark of the Berlin underground. 10G 32.13% of players
• One Bad Gato Completed 'Black Cats' on Veteran difficulty. 30G 21.26% of players
• The Sum of All Zeros Established air superiority in a PBY Catalina "Black Cat". 15G 11.49% of players
• Lights Out! You eliminated the enemy's ability to see your Black Cat. 10G 26.13% of players
• Blowtorch & Corkscrew Completed 'Blowtorch & Corkscrew' on Veteran difficulty. 30G 15.7% of players
• Setting of the Sun Completed 'Breaking Point' on Veteran difficulty. 30G 16.08% of players
• Mortar-dom Your usage of improvised mortars devasted the enemy. 10G 57.52% of players
• Guardian Angel You saved Sergeant Roebuck's life. 10G 40.18% of players
• For the Motherland Completed 'Heart of the Reich' on Veteran difficulty. 30G 14.74% of players
• Bearing the Burden Completed 'Downfall' on Veteran difficulty. 30G 14.84% of players
• Rough Economy Demonstrated killer economic sensibilities by taking down 3 enemies with a single bullet. 15G 57.84% of players
• Close Shave Encountered a Banzai attack and lived to tell the tale. 10G 81.38% of players
• Snake in the Grass Took out a Japanese soldier camouflaged and hiding in the grass. 15G 70.98% of players
• Grave Robber Successfully collected all Death Cards. 15G 18.19% of players
• Kamikaze You were crazy enough to try it - completed a mission without firing a single shot. 15G 18.87% of players
• Throw a Six and a Half You took it to the enemy and came out of the fray unscathed. 15G 22.26% of players
• Purple Heart Awarded for demonstrating courage in the face of adversity. 5G 48.06% of players
• War Hero Completed the game on any difficulty and won on all fronts. 40G 55.21% of players
• Hardened War Hero Completed the game on Hardened or Veteran difficulty and won on all fronts. 100G 18.05% of players
• Get Your Left Foot Wet Got online, met some people, and kicked butt in a Campaign Co-Op game session. 30G Needs online 33.94% of players
• Get Your Right Foot Wet Got online, met some people, and kicked butt in a Competitive Co-Op game session. 30G Needs online 46.06% of players
• Blue Ribbon Finished in 1st place in a Competitive Co-Op match. 25G Needs online 17.55% of players
• It’s All about Prestige You achieved the first level of Prestige. Only 9 more to go. 0G Needs online 25.27% of players
• Go Get Some Sun You achieved the highest level in the game. Time to go outside and find some things to do... 0G Needs online 13.64% of players
• Soul Survivor You went the distance and proved your will to survive. 50G 13.11% of players
• Hammer Time Congratulations. You may now add "General Contractor" to your resume. 10G 13.26% of players
• Weapon of Minor Destruction You used a nuke to take out a single zombie. That's a little overkill, don't you think? 20G 16.89% of players
• Big Baller You scored 75,000 points in a single Nazi Zombie game. You should consider going pro. 30G 9.74% of players
• Perk-a-Holic Your cup overfloweth with Perks-a-Cola. What a lush! 20G 13.98% of players
• Big Brawler You are a bloodthirsty killer. You sure you don't have a little zombie in you? 30G 12.51% of players
• Dead Air Must have been a wrong number. 10G Hidden 14.55% of players
• It's a Trap! Piles of zombie parts are the trappings of your success. 20G 9.69% of players
• Fertilizer Man You've seeded the ground for the Circle of Death. 30G 16.1% of players
• Deadhead Congratulations. You may now add "Zombie Headhunter" to your resume. 30G 10.73% of players
• Locksmith! Great! More places to run for your life! 25G 23.74% of players
• The Might of the Monkey! With zombies about to overwhelm you, it seemed like a good idea... 25G 24.72% of players
• Wacker Packer! This is the start of something beautiful! 25G 24.1% of players
• Frequent Flyer! We thank you for choosing us as your preferred method of escape! 25G 14.66% of players
• 40 Knives! THIS is a Knife! 25G 12.3% of players
• Der Electrician! Excellent forward thinking, fellow Engineer! 25G 21.71% of players
• Acquire Waffle Weapons! International House of Awesome 25G 15.14% of players
• Perkaholics Anonymous! You stayed on the wagon until level 20! You have nerves of steel! 25G 14.26% of players
• Pack Addict! When enough is NEVER enough! 25G 15.43% of players
• Elevate Your Senses! With regards from Group 935 25G 20.87% of players

Space and patches

Space needed7.43 GB

Update patchTitle update 7

The title updates on record for this game.

DLC

Three map packs came out in 2009, each with a new Nazi Zombies map. Map Packs 2 and 3 carry 10 achievements each. All three are still US$9.99 each on the Xbox store, or US$24.99 as the Map Pack Bundle, and the Makin bonus map is free.

Items

Name	Date	Adds	Obtainable today
Makin Day (free title update)	2009-02-26	A daylight version of the Makin map, bug fixes and more detail in the stats display. Free on the Xbox store as the Makin Bonus Map.
Map Pack 1	2009-03-19	Three multiplayer maps (Nightfire, Knee Deep, Station) and the Nazi Zombies map Verruckt. No achievements. US$9.99 on the Xbox store.	yes
Map Pack 2	2009-06-11	Three multiplayer maps (Banzai, Corrosion, Sub Pens), the Nazi Zombies map Shi No Numa, and 10 achievements (250 gamerscore). US$9.99 on the Xbox store.	yes
Map Pack 3	2009-08-06	Three multiplayer maps (Battery, Breach, Revolution), the Nazi Zombies map Der Riese, and 10 achievements (250 gamerscore). US$9.99 on the Xbox store.	yes

Playable today

Playable offline todayYes

The campaign and split screen play offline, and the Xbox 360 multiplayer still runs. On sale for Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S.

Online

Online servers runningYes

Plays offlineYes

Multiplayer and online co-op run over Xbox Live and still work on Xbox 360, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S. No shutdown has been announced.

Services

Service	Status	Shutdown date
Online multiplayer and co-op over Xbox Live	running	None announced

Reception

Aggregates

Outlet	Platform	Score	Scale
Metacritic	Xbox 360	84	100

Critics

Outlet	Score	Scale
Game Informer	8.75	10
GameSpot	8.5	10
GameTrailers	8.7	10
IGN	9.2	10
Official Xbox Magazine	7.5	10
Official Xbox Magazine UK	9	10
X-Play	4	5

Staff and cast

Staff

Role	Name
Director	Corky Lehmkuhl
Producer	Pat Dwyer
Designer	David Vonderhaar
Artist	Colin Whitney
Writer	Craig Houston
Composer	Sean Murray

Cast

Character	Actor
Sergeant Roebuck	Kiefer Sutherland
Sergeant Viktor Reznov	Gary Oldman
Sergeant Tom Sullivan	Chris Fries
Private Polonsky	Aaron Stanford
Private Chernov	Craig Houston

Notes for collectors

• Nazi Zombies starts by itself after the last campaign mission, and it is where the Zombies mode began.
• The Xbox 360 list has 66 achievements worth 1,500 gamerscore: 46 in the base game worth 1,000, and 10 each in Map Pack 2 and Map Pack 3. Map Pack 1 has none.
• The two multiplayer prestige achievements, It's All about Prestige and Go Get Some Sun, are worth no gamerscore.
• Collecting all thirteen death cards in the campaign is the Grave Robber achievement.
• The Collector's Edition with the canteen and tin was only made for Windows and Xbox 360.
• Map Pack 1 sold over 1 million copies in its first week, which set an Xbox Live record for weekly downloads.
• Three base-game achievements need online co-op over Xbox Live: Get Your Left Foot Wet, Get Your Right Foot Wet and Blue Ribbon.

Credits

Publisher

Activision

Developer

Treyarch

Director

Corky Lehmkuhl

Released

2008-11-11

Age rating

M (Mature 17+)

Disc ID

4156081C

Region

US

Time to beat

about 7 hours

Copies in the shop

• Call of Duty: World at War (XBOX 360) CA$14.99