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[RANT] Call of Duty: World at War

S

Stuxnet

Diamond Member
I really, really wanted to like WaW. In fact, I was extremely impressed at first. The graphics are stepped up a notch from COD4, and not only did they not dick around with IW's multiplayer formula, they made it better with improved stats, a better post-action report (which can be accessed after closing it), and a few other small tweaks (WaW's melee is kick ass, and makes COD4's look like a back rub).

However... the map design is absolute awful. They're too big, too cluttered with endless crap, and there is no strategic "flow" built in to their layouts. Compounding this problem is the spawn system, which spawns people right smack in the middle of the other team. All of this leads to one fatal flaw, and that's that a true battle front never develops.

Instead, matches degenerate into total randomness and chaos. Perhaps that's what WWII was like, but it sure as hell doesn't make for a fun, strategic video game. Unlike in COD4, "skilled" players rarely emerge. At the end of a match in COD4, it was typical for 2 or 3 players to have a 3:1 ratio, and they would be consistent map to map. In WaW, this is VERY rare because there's no real element of strategy. The best strategy to employ is to hole up in a house or next to a busted wall and pick some poor sap off if/when one ever strolls by.

Frag spam may have been a problem in COD4, but at the end of the day, it was still a thinking man's game. WaW is never elevated to this style of play.

Several maps in COD4 suffered the same fate as ALL of the maps in WaW: Bog, Countdown, and Chinatown (bonus map) had very similar problems (although they weren't further compromised by an idiotic spawn system). Again, too much clutter, no real cover or choke points, and no real "front".

It's unfortunate, because the rest of WaW feels great.

And what the hell is with the sound? Why are my footsteps louder than my grenades?
 
I feel you, those reasons are exactly why I play COD4 more than WaW. Spawns suck ass and the maps are wack...they're too big and its a spawn kill/camp fest.
 
I was put off by W@W the moment I played the beta. It just seems shoddy and very much "how much can we rip of CoD 4 and still make it seem new and cool," which they failed at.

Yeah, levels were weird, dogs were annoying, and when did Thompson SMG's get silencers?
 
The best players in WAW just camp out at where the other team is spawning and pick the newbs off. It's really not any fun to play that way unless you are obsessed with your K/D ratio.
 
Originally posted by: kabob983
I was put off by W@W the moment I played the beta. It just seems shoddy and very much "how much can we rip of CoD 4 and still make it seem new and cool," which they failed at.

Yeah, levels were weird, dogs were annoying, and when did Thompson SMG's get silencers?
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Wait, what? Have you played the retail game? The beta sucked, but the retail is much more polished.

And yah, it's going to be based off of CoD4 - it's basically the shell of the game. I think WaW really builds on it, but the SP game never really reached the height that CoD4 set. And yah, the f'in multiplayer spawning is a bitch - but I also had that issue in CoD4. I'll take the damn dogs over the helicopter though, and the wonderful thing about the artillery is it isn't always a guarantee kill streak because of the spawn system.
 
Yeah, I agree. There's just too many places to get shot from, from anywhere on nearly any map. Most of them are actually worse than bog or countdown because the junk and cover is much more random and less uniform than it was on those maps.

I dont really have a problem with the spawn system though, I think the reason why it seems different is because the maps already screw up the flow. Its not that youre spawning any closer to the enemy, just that it's far more likely that within two steps you're going to get nailed from some random junk pile.
 
the infinite number of dogs is really stupid as well - there should be a set number so that your team can eventually kill them off. Instead, I shoot a dog from far off coming towards me, then I get hit by one so I knife it, then another one pops out of no where and finishes me off.

the spawns are horrible - I enjoy the CoD4 graphics more because they're more polished in my opinion (in W@W, the devlopers tried to give it a more sketchy look to look more ww2 like - eg: when you scope into the sniper rifle, there's dirt and the cross-hairs aren't perfect)
 
Originally posted by: BD2003
Yeah, I agree. There's just too many places to get shot from, from anywhere on nearly any map. Most of them are actually worse than bog or countdown because the junk and cover is much more random and less uniform than it was on those maps.

I dont really have a problem with the spawn system though, I think the reason why it seems different is because the maps already screw up the flow. Its not that youre spawning any closer to the enemy, just that it's far more likely that within two steps you're going to get nailed from some random junk pile.
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Exactly. From any point on any map, you're really only one or two steps from a line-of-sight to any other point on the map. Players aren't "funneled" from to and from key points on the map. Instead, you can get anywhere from anywhere. Perhaps this is more realistic, but it sucks for gameplay.

Take COD4's Crossfire - one of my favorite maps. You can travel from cover to cover on the left side of the map, on the right side, or up the middle (if you're suicidal). Players are always encountering one another, but it's controlled and there's ample opportunity for employing strategy. Most of COD4's maps play like this, and the ones that don't are routinely voted down for good reason.

In WaW, your best bet is to hunker in somewhere and hope to get lucky... but you have absolutely no way of knowing if you're presenting yourself somehow to the enemy. You have no way of mounting an offense, defense, or anything else.

The maps are gorgeous, but the clutter and oversized haphazard layouts need to GO. This isn't just a problem with Treyarch, either. Like I said, a few of COD4's maps suffered similar fates. On the other hand, several of WaW's maps are ok (not great, but passable). Castle, for instance, has relatively decent gameplay. There's another pacific map, set in broad daylight (can't remember the name) that oozes flow, and I love it. But the rest aren't good for anything other than looking at.
 
Yeah, some are worse than others, but most are pretty bad. Realism has nothing to do with it, theres nothing realistic about a game like this. Theyre just simply not well designed maps. They seem to have a philosophy that chaos is good, but I cant think of a single map I enjoy as much as crossfire from COD4. Im just either getting shot in the back constantly, or getting picked off from one of a billion different potential spots.

And wtf is the point of the bolt action rifles if theyre not one shot kills? Theyve always been one shot kills in every other WW2 COD, and theyve always been my favorite weapon. Now theyre completely and utterly useless.
 
Originally posted by: Xylitol
the infinite number of dogs is really stupid as well - there should be a set number so that your team can eventually kill them off. Instead, I shoot a dog from far off coming towards me, then I get hit by one so I knife it, then another one pops out of no where and finishes me off.

the spawns are horrible - I enjoy the CoD4 graphics more because they're more polished in my opinion (in W@W, the devlopers tried to give it a more sketchy look to look more ww2 like - eg: when you scope into the sniper rifle, there's dirt and the cross-hairs aren't perfect)
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Lol, I love it when I respawn right in front of the area where the dogs are coming out.. not once, but 2 times in a row. My K/D ratio in hardcore is horrible.. I can't get above 80% overall and I've had 1+ day in gameplay.
 
Originally posted by: BD2003
Yeah, some are worse than others, but most are pretty bad. Realism has nothing to do with it, theres nothing realistic about a game like this. Theyre just simply not well designed maps. They seem to have a philosophy that chaos is good, but I cant think of a single map I enjoy as much as crossfire from COD4. Im just either getting shot in the back constantly, or getting picked off from one of a billion different potential spots.

And wtf is the point of the bolt action rifles if theyre not one shot kills? Theyve always been one shot kills in every other WW2 COD, and theyve always been my favorite weapon. Now theyre completely and utterly useless.
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Chest & headshots are one shotters. I just lvled up my MN and didn't have an issue. I just really hate lvling them up because you're at a severe disadvantage in close range.
 
I play hardcore game modes pretty much exclusively, and I love the game... Maps could be better and the spawns sometimes suck, but overall I have really enjoyed it. Not quite as much as COD4, though.
 
Originally posted by: chrisg22
I play hardcore game modes pretty much exclusively, and I love the game... Maps could be better and the spawns sometimes suck, but overall I have really enjoyed it. Not quite as much as COD4, though.
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I would think that in the hardcore modes that strategy would be even more important.
 
it has its issues, but i still play it quite a bit. just tired of COD4 these days. spawns do suck sometimes, but it happened in COD4 too, just not as much.

but i will agree most of the maps in WaW are not up to par. some are, like upheaval.

some are mostly okay, like seelow. only problem with it is the S&D spawns. defending team cam take one step, start shooting through the barn wall, and take out over half the attacking team. then of course you have glitching in almost every map. castle, roundhouse, makin, and seelow all have some serious ones, and others have smaller ones.

one thing i think compounds the problem is map rotation. some maps do not make sense. why do i have to play S&D with 11 other people on dome? i can throw a grenade across the whole map for crying out loud. asylum is almost the same way. i guess they do this because there is no team tactical in WaW. this is one thing i miss. that, and i wish domination, CTF, sabotage, and HQ were all hardcore as well. the only non-hardcore mode i have played in TDM, and that was to rank up and learn the game before i moved to hardcore.
 
Originally posted by: bdubyah
dome
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Dome is, quite possibly, the worst map. Ever.

Despite my complaints about the oversized maps of World at War, Dome is actually just the opposite and is way too small. You can't take two steps after the start of a match without killing or being killed.

Maps like Crossfire, Backlot, Strike, and Crash are perfect because of two factors: they're sized appropriately for the number of players, and players are guided through key pathways, thus concentrating the battles.

In World at War, the maps don't fit the player count and there are no "paths". Generally speaking, you can get anywhere from anywhere. You can't really move from cover to cover, because a) there IS NO COVER, and b) the enemy can spawn behind/in front of/next to you at any moment.

Even Vacant, which is absolute chaos in COD4, is better. At least it's *controlled* chaos. It's also the exception, not the norm, so it's a welcome change of pace most of the time.
 
i agree with pretty much all of that. also why i play hardcore S&D most of the time. kind of fixes a lot of the problems being discussed here.

oh, and don't get me started on last stand in WaW...oh my god. *takes deep breath* i'm okay!
 
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