Many players believe that Treyarch's Call of Duty Black Ops series started with the aptly named Black Ops, but it was actually with 2008's Call of Duty: World at War. When discussing the best games that Call of Duty has to offer, it is seldom brought up as many look to its sequels as better examples of what Call of Duty can be. However, Call of Duty: World at War introduced many elements that would become staples of Call of Duty, and it told one of the most interesting stories that the series has ever offered.
Right now, the Call of Duty franchise is preparing to undergo changes as Microsoft acquires Activision Blizzard. Some believe the series will do away with brand-new titles every year and instead focus on making the next chapter even better. This is great news for fans who have become burnt out by the yearly Call of Duty releases, but it may also significantly impact the business model of Activision which heavily relies on these yearly releases. To alleviate that, maybe it would be a good time to fill in the empty years with more remasters, since these aren't unheard of but are seldomly done, and specifically remasters outside the Modern Warfare franchise.
World at War Started the Black Ops Storyline
Call of Duty World at War served as the first chapter of the very popular Black Ops subseries. While it does not share the name of the titles that came after, the story contains many characters that were carried over to the rest of the series. At the time, the story and gameplay were also more mature than the previous entries in the franchise. It was also far more open-ended than the rest of the series, and it features a story that shows players two sides of World War 2.
The story of World at War followed three different characters throughout the story. Players got to control Private Miller during the Pacific campaign, Private Dimitri Petrenko on the Eastern Front, and Petty Officer Locke who serves as a weapons operator on a PBY Catalina flying boat. Alongside them came the characters of Sergeant Viktor Reznov, Sergeant Tom Sullivan, and Private Polonsky. Characters such as Reznov and Dimitri Petrenko make their return in the Black Ops campaign.
The story was presented from two different sides, the Americans and the Soviets. Both campaigns follow soldiers as they battle their way through World War 2. The game does not shy away from the brutality of war as it featured increased graphic violence compared to other entries in the franchise. It was the first Call of Duty to include the ability to dismember the enemy, and it was one of the most accurate portrayals of World War 2 at the time.
World at War Created the Zombies Mode
Zombies mode has become a staple of the Call of Duty franchise, but that would not have been the case without World at War. This was zombies in its most basic form since it was the first iteration before the series added loads of perks, gimmicks, and a whole storyline. This was simply four players fighting back against unlimited waves of zombies in a fun-filled mode.
Players would kill zombies and get points as they did. These points would then be used to buy weapons strewn about the map and unlock new rooms that players would have to protect. They would also have to repair wooden barriers that protected the windows and would have to do their best to survive as long as possible. It quickly became a fan-favorite mode, and three extra maps were added in the World at War DLC to further build it out.
It was not the most advanced zombies mode that Call of Duty has ever had, but it was the first. The series has taken the zombies mode and ran with it, adding on all sorts of new things or trying brand-new versions like Call of Duty Black Ops 2's TranZit. It can feel very dated because of this, but a remastered version could help let it shine again, even if these maps have been reworked or fixed up in other games. It is always nice to honor what came before, and giving this zombies mode a fresh coat of paint would go a long way to honoring the beginnings of this staple of the Call of Duty franchise.
World at War Had A Pretty Fun Multiplayer
The biggest part of Call of Duty is always the multiplayer, and World at War was no different. The multiplayer played very much like all the other Call of Duty titles at the time, and that is what makes it special. The newer games have all been criticized for the handling of multiplayer while many series veterans regard the older era of Call of Duty as some of the best multiplayer around. So many memories were made booting up games like World at War and jumping into a multiplayer lobby, and a remaster could help bring those days back.
The multiplayer of World at War featured six different modes that Call of Duty players are all familiar with. Modes like team deathmatch are the focal point of this multiplayer, and the maps were all pretty fun. Unlike some newer Call of Duty games, the multiplayer here only offered three different killstreak rewards. These came in the form of a recon plane, an artillery strike, and attack dogs. It is very basic by today's standards, but so much fun back in the day.
World at War was also the first time that the series offered co-op gameplay alongside the pvp multiplayer. The game offered a co-op campaign that would allow players to rank up and unlock perks for the main multiplayer, and that gave players a reason to keep revisiting it. They could do this either through split-screen with two people or online with up to four. It added a new dynamic to the game that had not been seen before.
A lot of Call of Duty World at War may be dated by today's standards, but that is where the power of the remaster comes in. This title introduced a lot of the staples of the franchise, and it also kickstarted one of the very popular subseries. It deserves to be honored with an HD facelift like some Modern Warfare games have been getting, and now would be the perfect time to deliver.