Call of Duty: World at War

 With Treyarch offering one last push on their title before the Mammoth of Modern Warfare 2 replaces it they have gone with the same formula that has work with t heir previous two map packs, offering three multiplayer maps and one Nazi zombie map. But have they gone all out on their last attempt to bring players back to World at War, short answer no.

The three maps aren't anything special and work well for all game modes, but I really wanted to se e a very different location this time around, but instead they have stuck with a bombed out German city, a Russian factory and a naval yard. Starting with Breach, this is split in the centre by a bridge like structure. Around the area is a German town with plenty of building to jump into and cars abandoned on the street. Revolution is the Russian factory; said factory is located at the centre of the map and is surrounded by buildings that again you can take cover in, though most of the fighting on this map happens on the ground floor. Finally, Battery places you out at sea on a naval supply yard. The backdrop for this map makes it seem bigger than it actually is as you are surrounded by sinking ships and what I think are oil rigs. Battery is probably my favourite of the three as Treyarch have given a much different local than the other maps, but Revolution isn't far behind.


Now unfortunately seeing how the next instalment of the Call of Duty series is out in the next few months it seems like this is the last map pack for World at War which means that there probably won't be a dedicated Nazi Zombie map pack. So Der Riese may be the last Nazi Zombing we wil l be experiencing and Treyarch have made this clear. What I mean by this is that this is the best of the best for killing those zombies. Offering two new weapons in the form of a monkey with cymbals that when thrown will attract zombies to and explode, similar to the pipe bomb in Left 4 Dead and the second weapon is a Bowie Knife which replaces your normal knife with a huge butcher knife that is a one stab kill and is particularly useful at killing Nazi Dogs.


The map itself takes place in a factory. You begin outside next to a weapon upgrade machine called Pack-a-Punch. This is closed off to you and you first have to fight to the power that you must switch on. This then allows you to get to the three teleport machines around the map. Once at one of the teleport machines you must sync it with the pad back at the start where the Pack-a-Punch machine is. Once you have pressed the button you have anywhere between thirty and forty-five seconds to get back to the mainframe. When all three teleports are synced with the mainframe then the Pack-a-Punch machine is open to you where you can place any gun into the machine and receive a much more powerful gun back. For example place your initial pistol that you start off w ith into the machine and you get a grenade launcher in the form of your pistol. The alien gun turns to a red shot but overall it has the same effect on every weapon, it makes your weapon damn powerful. But this does not come cheap.


The great thing abo ut this Zombie map is that you have to keep moving, standing still will not help. You must activate all three teleports so that you can get to the Pack-a-Punch machine which means you will have to open most doors and trust me if you don't upgrade your weapons you’re a dead man. There are also some secrets dotted around the map, such as an appearance from Teddy, a hanging man and strange messages. There are also your usual perk machines around the map and electric traps. Seeing how much there is in this one map I can easily see that Treyarch know where the strength of their map packs are, so it makes me wonder why they didn't make a standalone Zombie map pack.


World at War may be fading but Treyarch have given their usual three maps for multiplayer which are great for any fan of that multiplayer and the crème de la crème of Nazi Zombie maps. I would have loved to see what wacky weapons or devices they could have thrown in next and just looking back at the first Nazi Zombie map and seeing the progression it is astonishing. It is just unfortunate that you can't separate the two parts as I believe the Zombie map is easily a standalone pack, and the three maps only add to the price for people who only want the zombies. So should you get this map pack? Yes, if you can afford it as the zombie map is worth it and the maps are great but for me I only see myself coming back for more Der Riese. But easily this is the best out of the three packs.