After last year's megahit Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare gave us a high-tech reimagining of the Call of Duty franchise it is doubtful anyone wanted to see the series return to WWII or have Call of Duty 3 developers Treyarch deliver another instalment. Yet that is exactly what happened, and for the most part the doubters have been silenced. Call of Duty: World at War delivers a depiction of the Pacific campaign between the US and Japan which up until now WWII shooters had failed to deliver with any measure of quality.

In fact the Pacific campaign sections of the game feel so fresh and deliver a different type of combat to the tired European setting that it begs the question why wasn't the entire game set there? Part of the reason for lacklustre tropical settings up until last year's Crysis was the inability of graphics engines to display jungle foliage in a faithful manner. With the COD4 engine at their disposal Treyarch have delivered stunning environments that suggest a quality rendition of the Vietnam War would now be possible. Treyarch's 2010 effort for Call of Duty perhaps?

There are two elements that make WAW's Pacific conflict unlike other WWII shooters. The first is the fighting style of the Japanese army. Japanese soldiers previously unseen will rise out of long grass much like the snipers in COD4's Ghillies in the Mist level (possibly the greatest FPS level ever) and ferociously charge your squads with bayonets fixed. These ambush tactics are intense and a shock to the senses delivering a unique combat experience. The best way to counter them is with the second new addition, the flamethrower. This is quite possibly the most ghastly weapon wielded in the Call of Duty series. It transforms the combat allowing you to ignite long grass or palm trees where ambush attackers or snipers potentially lie in wait. Seeing Japanese soldiers writhe about whilst on fire is somewhat unsettling and an appropriate depiction of the horrors of war and the ferocity of the campaign. The flamethrower is also worth its weight in gold when clearing out underground bunkers as you torch the interior first before entering to mop up.

Keeping with Call of Duty tradition, the alternate campaign is told through the eyes of a Russian soldier as you push on to Berlin at the end of the war. In contrast to the Pacific's breath of fresh air, Europe has a been there, done that feel to it from past COD games. Not that it isn't of high quality, but there are only so many times killing Nazis in bombed out cities or European countryside can be interesting. One notable exception is a tank battle set in a large valley requiring you to control a Russian T-34 with a flamethrower as alternate fire. Switching between long range firing on enemy tanks and torching nearby Panzerschreck crews has a decidedly epic feel to it and would have to be one of the best tank levels I have played. The final Berlin level delivers intense indoors fighting within the Reichstag building and is a particularly memorable set piece even if ridiculously difficult.

The gameplay follows the tried and true COD mechanic of largely linear paths requiring you to push for checkpoint after checkpoint and being constantly punished for being too aggressive or taking the wrong route. Just like all other games in the series, you will die a lot. It's not a matter of playing at a lesser difficulty, it's just how the game is setup to punish and reward. Having said that it is a little fairer than previous titles, at times you will be able to kill an enemy you get the drop on. In past games you would be sometimes killed regardless of who fired first simply because you traversed to a location where the games does not want you to be. The enemy AI appears a little dumbfounded at times, during the second half of the game I frequently encountered enemy soldiers who simply stood in the open failing to fire upon any of their attackers. Overall the game plays well but it won't win over anyone who previously couldn't stomach the series' punishing ways. There is no doubt this game rides on the coat tails of Infinity Ward's masterpiece, at times you feel the intention is to replicate all of COD4's coolest moments. For instance there is a two man sniper mission nowhere near as thrilling as its predecessor and involves one particular sequence which is just plain terrible gameplay wise. Also a mission upon a US aquatic plane with multiple gun turrets just screams out as a poor man's version of the highly original AC-130 mission from last year.

What is new to the COD campaign is long overdue co-operative play and it is excellent. Allowing four players to experience the game's levels together bar a couple which are single player only is a welcome addition and makes for a very satisfying experience. The style of play just lends itself to co-op very well. If you are incapacitated you will enter what is essentially Last Stand from COD4's multiplayer and must be revived by another teammate. You will only be required to restart if all players are put down at once. There will be many times where the last player standing will have to revive two or three others to keep your squad's hopes of success alive. It is disappointing that you can't team up in co-op to earn the Veteran Achievements much like you would for Gears of War's Insane difficulty. These are only attainable playing by yourself and would have been an excellent incentive for prolonged co-operative play. If you want to up the rivalry you can play co-op in competitive mode where points are awarded for kills, headshots, revives and consequently losing points for dying. There are co-op only challenges just like the MP ones which allow you to earn XP for your online rank. Individual kills during competitive co-op will not net the player XP, only completing challenges will. It would have been nice to see more points able to be earned during co-op for those players lacking significant online prowess.

The last of the co-op modes is a bonus received once completing the single player portion on any difficulty. It is Nazi zombies for up to four players and while limited in its replay value it is enjoyable. It features one level only where US soldiers inside a two storey outpost earn points for killing waves of Nazi undead and repairing boarded up windows. These points can be spent on better weapons and access to new areas of the building. There is a real risk/reward element to it, staying downstairs is somewhat easy to defend but provides only a couple of weapons. Move upstairs and there are more entry points to defend but more powerful guns at your disposal. Teamwork is essential and games are played out reasonably quickly. There aren't any achievements available for this mode or XP to be earned for ranking up so the replay value would appear somewhat limited considering GOW 2's Horde mode and Left 4 Dead offer more complete co-op experiences.

Which brings us to the real meat and potatoes of COD, the multiplayer. It is back and Treyarch have clearly taken an 'if ain't broke, don't fix it' approach which is probably for the best considering COD4 MP is still the benchmark for online military shooting by a long way. Returning are weapons challenges and all your favourite perks, unfortunately that includes Martyrdom. The new high rank is 65 and you can Prestige ten times over if you so desire. There are actual tangible rewards for Prestiging this time around, Prestige levels 1 & 10 unlock zero point Achievements and exclusive gamerpics. Every second level of Prestige unlocks a new Create a Class slot up to a maximum of 10 which players who play a variety of game types will find useful. While it does appear initially to be nothing more than a COD4 WWII mod, there is a unique feel to it. Some weapons appear to have been tweaked from the beta, with the semi-auto rifles appearing to do more damage and becoming easier to use. The combination of less powerful weapons compared to modern day variants and larger maps give the gameplay a real WWII feel and will force you to play in a somewhat less aggressive style at times. It just has a slightly different feel to COD4 and it is slowly winning me over as a different experience. The new addition to MP is tanks which feature on a couple of maps and you will either love them or hate them. They do tend to dominate when utilised correctly and if one side controls them all it can become an uphill battle for the opposing force. The balancing for them seems fine, it simply requires a change of tactics and ignoring their presence would be at your peril. All in all I can see multiplayer again being a rousing success offering enough new stuff to win over the majority of Modern Warfare soldiers.

There really is something for everyone in World at War and the production values and presentation are of a quality gamers have come to expect from this franchise. No this isn't as original or simply as good as Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, but then again neither is anything else. Treyarch will have surely erased Call of Duty 3 from the memories of all but the most cynical with their latest effort but even they need to move on from WWII now, it has well and truly been put to bed.