Call of Duty: World at War is a lot like its predecessor, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. In most respects, this is a good thing. The guns are tightly tuned, the tone is gritty and mature, and the action is exciting and fast-paced.

Gritty; exciting story; Same excellent multiplayer system; Four-player cooperative campaign; Bayonets and flamethrowers; Nazi Zombies

Familiar setting; Familiar game mechanics; Familiar guns

Is this the best Call of Duty game? I don't think so, Call of Duty 4 holds that title in my opinion. With that said, I think it ranks a strong number two. If the storyline had been a bit more cohesive then it would have been perfect.

Last time I logged into Call of Duty: World At War on Xbox 360 (just prior to writing this review, actually), there were 149,111 players online. The most I've seen online at once has been over 180,000. Given the game is only a week old, that's a pretty awesome feat.

Call of Duty: World at War , surprisingly, lives up to its predecessor. It loses a few points for lack of originality and while it doesn't have the same freshness that Call of Duty 4 had, it's ability to throw gamers into WWII battles that haven't yet been realised in a game is encouraging.

All in all, it's time to dust off the smoke grenades and jump back into the fray.

were sky high to say the least. This game isn't being developed by Infinity Ward though, with development being handled by Treyarch, developers of

If you've played Call of Duty games before then the control scheme will be instantly familiar and the weapons from past titles, such as the M1 Garand and the Browning Automatic Rifle make a predicable, but welcome, return.

Cinematic visuals and soundtrack; Great A.I makes it a rewarding challenge; Brilliant co-op and multiplayer modes

Extremely tough in places

Some people did seem a little disappointed in the fact that this was yet another WW2 Call of Duty and that it was a step backwards, but this is more in depth than the other ones, albeit a hell of a lot shorter, which did annoy me, and was one of the faults with Modern Warfare.

World at War is a fun rollercoaster ride that is every bit as good as Call of Duty 2 and 3. Unfortunately after the success of Call of Duty 4 it's hard to go back to World War II, even when the game looks and plays this good.

Over the last year I have been really harsh on Treyarch. After my disappointment with Call of Duty 3, I really wished that the series would be done exclusively by Infinity Ward. It was made even more apparent after the release of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, a shooter that not only continued the...