Xboxist

Call of Duty 5 Returns to WWII: Our Thoughts

Yesterday, Activision released a teaser trailer showing off some of the new settings and action from Treyarch's upcoming installment of the Call of Duty Franchise. The clip shows off some of the weapons and environments that players will face this time around. Many gamers and fan blogs reacted negatively to the new trailer, suggesting that the WWII theme is overdone and that the developers should have continued the evolution of the series that took place with the recent COD4. Check out the trailer, as well as our thoughts on the not-so-new direction the company has taken with the franchise.

First of all, it is hard to deny that the action and environments shown in the trailer look awesome. The narration and images shown during cutscenes seem to capture the horrific brutality of the Pacific theater quite well, and the brief clips we have seen so far give us high hopes for a superb single-player campaign. The fluidity and realism of character animations in particular left us feeling impressed.

Is the WWII theme really overdone? Undoubtedly there are a lot of strong contenders in the genre competing for gamers' attention, but the Call of Duty franchise has always delivered one of the strongest gameplay experiences in the pack, and is arguably the best console WWII shooter franchise around. There are still a lot of improvements that can be made to the formula, in terms of realism, physics, AI and multiplayer modes. If Treyarch can bring some creative new ideas to the genre, there is no reason why we won't be eager to enlist when COD 5 comes calling later this year.