Call of Duty: WWII

Call of Duty: WWII
Developer(s)	Sledgehammer Games
Publisher(s)	Activision
Director(s)	Bret Robbins Dennis Adams
Artist(s)	Joe Salud
Series	Call of Duty
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows PlayStation 4 Xbox One
Release	WW: November 3, 2017
Mode(s)	Single player, multiplayer

Call of Duty: WWII is an upcoming first-person shooter video game developed by Sledgehammer Games, and published by Activision for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Microsoft Windows. It is the fourteenth primary installment and first Call of Duty series game to be set primarily during World War II since Call of Duty: World at War in 2008. The game is set in European theatre of the war. The campaign is centered around a squad in the 1st Infantry Division, and follows their battles in the Western Front, while the multiplayer expands on different fronts not seen in the campaign. Nazi Zombies mode also returns.

The game was announced on April 21, 2017, with a reveal trailer released on April 26, 2017. The game is set to be released worldwide on November 3, 2017.

Gameplay

Call of Duty: WWII ditches advanced system of movement present in three latest Call of Duty titles, which included double jumping and wall running, and instead returns traditional combat to the series, taking it back to "boots on the ground" gameplay style. The game does not feature unlimited sprint mechanic, seen in the previous two titles. Instead of "slide" movement mechanic, which allowed players to slide quickly on the ground, WWII features "hit-the-deck" mechanic that allows the player to leap forward and throw themselves on the ground in order to get to cover quickly.

Campaign

Gameplay-wise, WWII is the first title since the original Call of Duty to not feature health regeneration in the campaign. Instead, players must rely on their medic squadmates to provide health packs, as well as other squad members to provide ammunition. Other squad members can spot enemies, revealing their position in form of silhouettes. In addition to the lack of resources in campaign, all players are in "Hardcore Mode" automatically, eliminating the campaign's difficulty settings. Enemy soldiers in the campaign can be captured, and wounded allies can be dragged to cover. Both of these actions, as well as killing enemies and completing objectives, add up to player's experience (XP) which can be increased and improve the character's skills. In some parts of the campaign, players will be able to control vehicles.

Multiplayer

The multiplayer mode for Call of Duty: WWII was revealed on E3 2017, which took place from June 13–15. Sledgehammer Games has announced new features such as the new headquarters social space, divisions, war mode and the return to "boots-on-the-ground" gameplay. Players who pre-order the game will be invited to a closed beta, which will initially be for the PlayStation 4, but later be released on other platforms.

In online multiplayer matches, players are randomly assigned either to Allies or Axis side. On Allies side, players can play as soldiers in United States, British, Canadian armies, and French Resistance. On the Axis side, players play directly as Germans. Glen Schofield, co-founder and co-studio head at Sledgehammer, said: "The big distinction that Germans still make today is that between the German military and the Nazis. We made sure we made that distinction in the game, that the Germans were doing their duty” Schofield said, “We also make a distinction between the SS and the regular German Army." The Wehrmacht would be playable because they were not Nazis whereas the Waffen SS would not be featured because they were members of the Nazi Party who were responsible for horrific war crimes.

Instead of usual create-a-class system, WWII features Divisions. Players can choose one out of five divisions, each with their own, different basic combat training, division training and weapon skills. This also eliminates perks, as players need to progress through ranks in divisions in order to use additional skills. Five divisions featured in the game are:

• Infantry: The most versatile division in the game, it is equipped for mid to long range combat. The special skill of this division is the bayonet charge, which can lead to brutal melee combat.
• Airborne: This division makes players move fast while remaining quiet. Players in this division can attach suppresors to submachine guns at any time during combat, that hide the muzzle flash and silence gunfire, which allows for more stealth based gameplay style.
• Armored: This division has the heaviest firepower, being able to mount machine guns and carry rocket launchers as secondary weapons.
• Mountain: This division focuses on long range combat, making sniper rifles more precise with aim assist and improving the aim through scope by blocking out surroundings from player's view.
• Expeditionary: Shotguns used by players in this division have incendiary rounds that burn enemies to death.

WWII also features Headquarters mode, which acts as a social space in the game. The massive hub is set on the Omaha Beach in Normandy, three days after the invasion when Allies retake the beach and turn it into a base. 48 players can be in the Headquarters at a time, and take part in various activities. There is a firing range in the hub, where all players can practise their shooting skills with all weapons, as well as a field where they can test scorestreaks. There are also areas where players can engage in "1v1" fights, as other players watch the duels.

Nazi Zombies

The game will include a zombies cooperative game mode, similar to previous entries by Treyarch and Infinity Ward, with its own original storyline set in alternate history and separate from the campaign. The game mode is also set in the events of World War II, as the Third Reich makes a desperate attempt to turn the tide of the war by creating an undead army in the final stages of the war. While the mode is based on science-fiction and is a fictional take on the war, Sledgehammer Games co-founder Michael Condrey said that the story of the mode is based on some "real events". He also revealed that the experience is similar to Dead Space, a third person shooter horror video game directed by both Condrey and Schofield during their work time at EA Redwood Shores.

Plot

Call of Duty: WWII focuses on the actions of a 12-men American squad from 1944 to 1945 in the European theater of conflict, at a time when the Allied forces were starting to gather strength on their march into Germany. The campaign will cover fighting in occupied France, Belgium, and across the Rhine into Germany. Some of the iconic historical battles covered in the campaign will be the Normandy landings (D-Day), Liberation of Paris, Battle of Aachen, Battle of Hürtgen Forest and Battle of the Bulge. Although the story is primarily set in 1944 and 1945, some parts of it will "touch on" events that happened from 1940 to 1944 to "help set the stage for the narrative and establish the characters."

In the single-player campaign, players primarily play as two soldiers of the 1st Infantry Division: 19-year-old Private First Class Ronald "Red" Daniels (Brett Zimmerman) and his best friend, Jewish American, Private First Class Robert Zussman (Jonathan Tucker). Additional playable characters include Rousseau, a female Maquis leader of the French Resistance, and Major Edgar Crowley, a British Special Operations Executive officer. Daniels' and Zussman's squadmates include Technical Sergeant William Pierson (Josh Duhamel) and 1st Lieutenant Joseph Turner (Jeffrey Pierce).

Development

A modern Call of Duty title set in World War II was alluded to in a 2014 Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare launch interview with Michael Condrey, co-founder of Sledgehammer Games. In the interview by Metro, the interviewer asked him what the possibilities of where the next Call of Duty could go in terms of setting. Condrey responded, "Well, no. It’s curious. I can only answer from my own personal tastes, this is my own personal opinion. But some of my favourite pieces of entertainment are set in World War II. Band of Brothers, I’m a massive fan of Band of Brothers." Condrey then dived further into the subject, "And that’s a great hero’s war, kind of the last that was recognised as a noble cause in a war. So yeah, I think a next generation game with the latest production values and robustness in a World War II setting like Band of Brothers would be amazing. Now, how would it play and how would the multiplayer work after the new movement set in Advanced Warfare? That’s a tougher question than I’ve had to tackle yet…".

Sledgehammer Games have yet to reveal all the authentic settings from World War II that developers have put into the game's storyline. Activision is refusing to deny claims that Nazi extermination camps could feature in the game. Adam Rosenberg of Mashable wrote that video games set during World War II tend to be holocaust deniers but this could be the very first Call of Duty World War II based game where the holocaust would be depicted. Senior creative director Bret Robbins said in an interview "Some very, very dark things happened during this conflict and it felt wrong for us to ignore that." He further stated “We absolutely show atrocities. It’s an unfortunate part of the history, but you can’t tell an authentic, truthful story without going there. So we went there.” Robbins argued that audiences can now handle games with more maturity and nuance, “People are ready for it. They want it,” he said. When asked directly over Twitter as to whether or not the story campaign would allow gamers the opportunity to play as soldiers from the Axis powers such as Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, Sledgehammer Games confirmed that the campaign gameplay would be limited to allied forces. More specifically, Sledgehammer co-founder Michael Condrey confirmed that the game will focus exclusively on the Allied powers.

All pre-orders excluding the PC version include access to the private beta, which will be available first on the PlayStation 4 from August 25 to August 28, followed by a second week for both PlayStation 4 and Xbox One from September 1 to September 4. The PC beta is slated to be announced at later dates. The game will be available in 3 editions: Base Edition, Digital Deluxe Edition, and the Pro Edition. The Pro Edition is sold exclusively at GameStop. Any pre-orders of the game at GameStop will also include a limited edition hat for a limited time. The game will be released worldwide on November 3, 2017 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

External links

• Official website