For those fearing that WWII is expended as a setting for an FPS, World At War manages to introduce subtle change to the formula. While you’re used to being pitted in such against-the-odds battles against dug-in foes as Normandy landings and desperate defences of Stalingrad, World At War instead presents your enemies in headlong flight, and you and your allies victoriously pursuing them.

For here we have two new scenarios: the ruthless Russian assault on Berlin and the bloody advance of the Americans into Okinawa. Though triumph isn’t far away for your forces, threat is still all pervading, with suicidal Japanese charging over razed fortifications and Germans doggedly holed up in shattered tenements.

The setting allows Treyarch to make World At War address the horrors that revenge makes soldiers commit. Both the Americans and Russians are established as enraged at atrocities committed by their enemies, with a Japanese officer stubbing out a cigarette on the face of the unfortunate Private Pyle before cutting his throat at the game’s very start, and a German later callously machine-gunning injured Russians in the Stalingrad rubble.

These are nothing more than matinee villains, of course; all the better to fuel exhilarating rushes through their camps, flamethrowers searing and bullets rending the fleeing troops before you. You’d almost feel guilty, but for the obvious pleasure Treyarch takes in it all, rewarding kills with delightful parabolas of viscera and brains, and portraying epic destruction with splendid vistas of fire and black smoke.

Regrettably, such entertainment tends to undermine Treyarch’s loftier goals. Once the spectacle subsides, the technical cracks begin to show. You’ll frequently see opposing soldiers obliviously standing right next to each other, tossing your suspension of disbelief to the floor and proving a frustration when the actions of your cohorts are invaluable guides to enemy positions. The invisible triggers in the environments that progress the level scripting along are particularly evident too, with entire squads of hostile enemies exiting from the battlefield seemingly just because you managed to step over the line that governs them.

In fact, all of World At War’s achievements can be attributed squarely to Infinity Ward’s work on COD4 – the impeccable graphical engine, the blood and thunder, the swift, smooth gunplay, its fashion of storytelling, the multiplayer. Many levels reference those of COD4 too, with a sniper mission, panicked rescues and mentors dying. But none challenge the heights of that game, and Treyarch has failed to notice some of Infinity Ward’s subtler accomplishments in setting naturalistic objectives.

Here, we’re back to destroying three tanks, planting four explosives, clearing three anti-air gun crews. Meanwhile, calling in oddly pinpoint rocket strikes seems a crass way to approach settling the WWII setting with player expectations set by COD4. Treyarch seems incapable of striking the careful balance Infinity Ward has always pulled off between incendiary spectacle and historical accuracy.

This is WWII on amphetamines, not the sadder, more sober and traumatic WWII of Infinity Ward’s COD2. It’s difficult not to enjoy the game, however, especially in fourplayer co-op. World At War is peppered with outstanding moments amid the tuned controls and weapon dynamics, such as a Berlin street battle and stunned Japanese troops stumbling across a devastated landscape. Treyarch has taken just enough from COD4 to make World At War a broad success, but it remains firmly in its shadow.

6/10