Call of Duty regularly breaks records with its yearly releases. Despite modern entries being more divisive than previous ones, the series maintains a rabid fanbase eager to sink its teeth into every new installment. More recently, Activision has been remastering older titles in the franchise, such as 2016's Modern Warfare Remastered and 2020's Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered.

The player base now regularly discusses which titles should be remastered next, with Black Ops and Modern Warfare 2's multiplayer being some of the most requested projects. These conversations often overlook 2008's Call of Duty: World at War, though. If any Call of Duty game deserves a remaster, it's this one.

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World at War released a year after the genre-defining Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and fans were desperate for more entries set in the modern-day. So, many players then passed over Treyarch's 2008 release which was set firmly in the series' World War II roots. This criminally underrated title has a unique tone, atmosphere and energy that is only ever slightly emulated by other shooters. World at War portrays conflict as hell.

Right from the moment the main menu loads, the tone is set. Rows of fallen soldiers' helmets sit on rifles, and the screen is mostly black with rolling fog. An ominous track sings mournfully in German: "Brave soldier, Die with me..." This game is unlike anything the series has produced before or since. Rather than the bombastic, over-the-top set-pieces of modern entries, the game concentrates on its atmosphere to great effect.

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The game's campaign features two parallel storylines. One places the player in the shoes of Dimitri Petrenko as he embarks on a journey to avenge the massacre of Stalingrad, and the other focuses on Private C. Miller in the pacific theater. The game's exploration of the American-Japanese conflict was unique.  Few WWII shooters have featured it with any real prominence.

Throughout the narrative, the player is constantly faced with horror. Everything is dirty and rusty, covered in blood. The game features more gore than the series ever had. Trent Reznor's iconic score overlays every battle and story beat with emotion, from the loud distorted guitar in conflict to eerie ambient tracks as the aftermath of the battle of Stalingrad is observed.

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Call of Duty is famous for its multiplayer offerings, and World at War is no exception. The quality of  its multiplayer maps is unrivaled. The game features many smaller maps for the traditional run-and-gun playstyle, and larger ones that allow for sniper battles and tank skirmishes. With the exception of the rather notorious MP40, the weapons are also very well balanced. The game's multiplayer borrows a lot from the previous year's Modern Warfare, though this is hardly an issue as the system has remained largely unchanged ever since. World at War's multiplayer manages to successfully translate the rest of the game's tone.

World at War is also responsible for gifting the series with Nazi Zombies. The mode is at its most basic here, but basic is exactly what made it so popular. It became a hit based on its addictive nature, grim atmosphere and its status as a secret unlock when the game initially released. While Zombies has returned often, it has never been better. World at War's Zombies maintains the dark atmosphere of the main game, allowing moments of levity in later DLC maps. However, it never veered into the sheer absurdity that the mode has become known for over the years.

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Call of Duty has become an ever more bombastic franchise, set in the modern-day, the cold war and even space. WWII shooters are seen by some as outdated, but World at War's setting gave it the stakes and atmosphere it needed. A storyline about stopping a fictional villain from starting a nuclear war sounds like a harrowing concept, but in practice, this can just come across as fluff to justify shooting galleries. World at War works as it constantly reiterates that this horror occurred in reality. The goal of the game isn't to stop Hitler, it is to survive and do what little you can to fight back.

Since 2008, only one other game in the franchise has been set in WWII, being Sledgehammer's 2017 release. While an enjoyable experience that served as a refreshing break from the series' modern motifs, it never managed to capture what made World at War so special. With current rumors indicating that 2021's entry will see Sledgehammer returning to WWII, Activision is demonstrating that it isn't done with the setting just yet. Perhaps one day World at War will see the remaster it so greatly deserves.

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