Call of Duty: World at War is the fifth installment in the Call of Duty series, and the third developed by Treyarch after Call of Duty: United Offensive, Call of Duty 2: Big Red One, and Call of Duty 3. After the success of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, developed by Infinity Ward the godfathers of the series, it's hard for this guys to bring again a 9 - 10 rating product like the previous one. But from what I've seen at GC Leipzig, this game will bring another huge portion of WWII in our homes with a lot of cinematics rated M.

Definitely the M rating opened new doors for the developers in terms of story and action. One part of a level called "Makin Raid" shows a cinematic where an allied soldier is tortured by the Japanese, before having his throat cut by a katana. Such dramatic images would have never had the chance to appear in Call of Duty without the acceptance of Activision to bring the new installment for mature audience.

The whole gameplay is more focused on "take no prisoner" combat style where you have to fight the Japanese forces in Pacific or the Germans in Russia. In conclusion the singleplayer campaign is made of two parts, first one follows the United States Marine Corps battling the Japanese Army in the Pacific, while the second one follows the Soviet Red Army on the Eastern European Front. Defintely the most spectacular seems to be the first one where the jungle can be the allied or the enemy. You will surprised by the A.I. in these missions, as the Treyarch tried to simulate the strange behavior of the Japanese troops which featured an unorthodox style of fighting. Snipers will climb trees and will try to wound one of your comrades so that the medic would go in his target zone to heal the patient. Not to mention the kamikaze which will hit you in the most unpredicted moments.

A good addition to the gameplay is the co-op mode for singleplayer demanded by the fans already for Modern Warfare. It can be played either in split-screen (for the console users), or online. For the ones that choose from the start to play the singleplayer in this way, Treyarch decided to award them with XP points that will be valuable in multiplayer mode.

The flamethrower has been brought again by Treyarch after its first appearance in Call of Duty: United Offensive. This weapon is a great addition to the gameplay, many of the graphical engine changes being focused on it: flammable environments, propagating fire effect, etc. Other additions like bullets cutting holes in thin wood, or the swimming elements, will definitely change the Call of Duty experience. The swimming option has been introduced both in singleplayer and multiplayer mode, to bring diversity and new tactic solutions. While swimming the player cannot sprint and can swim at half of the walking speed.

Vehicles have a greater importance in this game, bringing diversity between close and battlefield combat. There are maps and scenery specially designed for tank battles. From the video preview, the maps seem wider with a lot of space for maneuvers, similar in a way with the ones present in Medal of Honor: Airbourne. The cinematic moments have not been forgotten, and there are plenty of them. Using motion capture techniques, Treyarch realized a war experience like never before. To be even more dramatic there will be key moments in the story where the player has to take important decisions which might influence the end of the mission or even the end of the game.

The multiplayer mode has been developed using the same scheme present in Modern Warfare, bringing further improvements in statistics and XP management. We'll see how it works in November this year.