Call of Duty: World at War Multiplayer, Co-op

The Marines have a few tricks up their sleeves as well, namely the flame thrower. Players will be able to use fire-based weapons such as the flame thrower to uncover hidden enemies as well as torch underground bunkers and tunnels. But the flame thrower is also dangerous to whoever is using it, since Japanese snipers are adept at putting a bullet through the fuel tank strapped to the soldier's back. If you're not careful, you'll find yourself setting fire to a bamboo hut one second and then bursting into flames the next.

Treyarch demonstrated the flame thrower in action, and the weapon gives new meaning to the term "scorched earth." The game's fire effects are exhilarating: set fire to a patch of grass to your right, and suddenly the flames jump across the screen and there's a brush fire to your left. Treyarch officials told the audience that game testers burned virtually every inch of ground around them during battle because they were so paranoid about potential ambushes. That fear is exactly what the development team wanted to convey.

World at War, as the title suggests, isn't just limited to the Pacific Theater. The new title will also feature another Russian campaign, which at first seemed like an odd choice. However, Treyarch explained that there was more to be done with this theater of WWII. In particular, the developer felt that the Russians offensive against the Nazis, which pushed the invading forces back all the way into Germany, was one of the most violent and brutal sides of the war, and therefore made it a natural fit to go along with the Pacific theater campaign.

Treyarch showed a brief demo of the Russian campaign, which wasn't nearly as impressive as the Maken Raid level. The demo began with yet another takeoff from the WWII film "Enemy at the Gates," featuring a Russian sniper and a fellow comrade who are severely outnumbered. Staying hidden, the player must take out a number of different Nazis and then scurry through flames and bombed out buildings in Stalingrad. While the demo was intense and action-packed, it was still too derivative (Call of Duty has already done the Battle of Stalingrad) and didn't quite match the intensity of Modern Warfare's brilliant sniper mission.

Finally, Treyarch introduced the third type of campaign for World at War, which returned the game to the Pacific theater for an epic naval-air battle. Players must man U.S. fighter plans and take down battleships in the Japanese fleet using .50 Cal. Machine gun turrets. This looks like it will be a great addition to World at War. While not as original and alluring as the classic "Death from Above" air support level in Modern Warfare, the action was blistering. It's good to see Call of Duty coming back with aerial combat; the United Offensive expansion pack's air combat level was one of the great additions to the series (coincidentally, Gray Matter Interactive developed United Offensive and then became part of Treyarch under Activision).

World at War uses the same graphics engine as Modern Warfare, which is a good thing. But Treyarch has added a few new touches to the engine, such as the fire propagation effects, destructible environments, and improved physics. The compass and grenade indicator return, but there will be no mission briefings like the older WWII Call of Duty titles. In addition, melee combat with knives, bayonets and swords will play a big role. World at War will also feature a stronger, more developed single player narrative like its predecessor and will get away from the nameless, faceless storylines of the previous WWII games.

World at War will also bring some key multiplayer features to the series. For the first time ever, Call of Duty will have cooperatives modes: a two-player local version with split screen and a four-player online version. Treyarch demonstrated the two player co-op, which took place on a Japanese island and involved quite a bit of fire. Farrelly and Noah Heller, senior producer at Activision, used the flame thrower to burn plenty of trees and tall, thick grass, which often would reveal lurking Japanese soldiers poised for an ambush. The demo also included a massive firefight on a large airfield with tanks and aircraft, and it was classic Call of Duty action.

Modern Warfare fans will also be pleased to know that World at War's online multiplayer looks almost exactly like Call of Duty 4's acclaimed multiplayer mode, right down to the "Killcam," leveling up, and unlockable weapons. Treyarch also hinted at enhancements to the party system that will offer more intimate squad-based combat. "Now that Call of Duty is on top of the multiplayer world, we intend to keep it there," Lamia said.

But rather than just replicate its predecessor's multiplayer, Treyarch had added some features like a "spawn influencer system" that creates random safe zones to prohibit spawn camping. Treyarch's David Vonderhaar, multiplayer design director for World at War, told the audience that the game will also introduce a "vehicle team deathmatch" mode for fans of the playable WWII vehicles. Lastly, Vonderhaar emphasized the size of World at War's multiplayer maps. "The maps are massive," he said. "They're bigger than anything you ever seen before."

Treyarch has two Call of Duty titles under its belt (not including the outstanding United Offensive, which was developed by Gray Matter), and both were console-only titles, much to the dismay of many Call of Duty fans. While Call of Duty 2: Big Red One is an underrated title, Call of Duty 3 is disappointingly flat and unoriginal. The mixed results could be attributed to the short development cycles for both games. Lamia told the audience that World at War was given a two-year development cycle, which was twice as long as its previous two Call of Duty projects. If you do the math, then you know what kind of crunch Treyarch was under.

No doubt, Call of Duty 4 will be an extremely tough act to follow. But with a longer development period, Treyarch looks like its up for the challenge. The developer's staff is clearly excited and enthusiastic about this project, and with good reason; rather than copy Modern Warfare's formula, Tryarch is trying to build on it and add some ingredients of its own. While the decision to return to WWII can be debated, World at War looks like it will be decidedly different from Call of Duty 3 and is poised to bring a new style to the WWII shooter genre. And that's a good thing.

Check out the next page for a brief Q&A with Rich Farrelly and Lt. Colonel Hank Keirsey.

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