Does the new Call of Duty WWII truly go back to its roots? No, it doesn’t, not in my opinion. I have played hours of the open beta on the PC and can say with certainty, as far as multiplayer is concerned, they are as far removed from the roots as they can be. This is a huge disappointment to me, as well as many of the people i’ve spoken to regarding the beta.
The maps are small, and the weapons don’t really feel like they are from World War II. I feel like I am playing a generic shooter with cosplay costumes of WWII soldiers and weapons. Movement is clunky, especially when it comes to vaulting over objects. As I stated, the maps are small, yet that’s not the most concerning part. Most of these maps are so small that you can transverse them from one side to the other in a matter of seconds. Yet the worse part still is how linear they are. You have no room for tactical or strategic planning. You cannot use most of the buildings (or even go up stairs), you are cordoned off in what seems like a rectangular box. You have two options, go up one of the sides, or go straight down the center. There is no going around to flank. It’s literally a straight line from point A to point B.
Graphics are a bit underwhelming. I played on a i7-6700k @ 4.0GHz with 32gb of ram, GTX 1080Ti FTW3 edition hybrid, and everything seemed “fuzzy” and overly soft to me. I had the game maxed out, and no matter what I touched with the Post Process Anti-Aliasing, I could not get a sharp, clear image. See screenshots below:
There are 4 game modes, the staple 3: Team Deathmatch, Hardpoint, and Domination. The fourth is a new mode called War. This mode has the largest maps but are cordoned off from each “zone objective” by barriers you cannot pass. The mode is fun, but seems one sided every match with the Allies having the favor.
Gunplay leaves something to be desired. When I play a WWII shooter, I expect the guns to have a certain depth of “meat” to them. Weapons from this era were very heavy and packed a very large punch. They should feel that way in game. Going back to the original Call of Duty, through Call of Duty 3, these weapons felt amazing. In Call of Duty: WWII, however, they feel a lot more like toys than guns. Not just from the damage output, but the sounds as well.
The Hybrid hosting system has it’s flaws. With no true dedicated servers or server browser, and a limited player limit, the game is very limited on your playability online. There is a huge issue with the Peer-to-peer hosting causing lag, hit registry issues, and constant host migration issues.
Final Thoughts
Call of Duty: WWII has potential. The developers need to listen to the PC community and answer their pleas. As it stands right now this is a 100% console port and poorly optimized at that. There are certain features the PC community want, and frankly need. If these issues are addressed this can be a very successful game on the PC. While I had fun playing War mode, I did not enjoy myself on the other game modes. The maps were simply too small. So overall I can say as the game stands right now, I wouldn’t buy it or recommend it to anyone on the PC.
