Activision event unveils new downloadable content for highly touted Call of Duty: World at War


March 19, 2009

Activision
event unveils new downloadable content for highly touted Call of Duty: World at
War

By Michael Lafferty


New multiplayer maps, new zombie gameplay featured in DLC pack


Activision scored with Call of Duty: World at War, but on March 13, at Dogpatch
Studios in San Francisco, the company made it very clear that it has no
intention of resting in the WaW laurels.

Three
downloadable maps become available today, adding more terrain for the
multiplayer gaming. The maps – Nightfire, Knee Deep and Station – are diverse
and allow for more obstacles to negotiate and new vantage points with which to
shoot at your enemies, whether in Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag or Free for
All modes.

Nightfire
takes place in a European city and is a dark place, illuminated only by the
burning debris of the city. Knee Deep is a jungle village, with broken
fortifications, and jungle encroachment. The third map is an underground train
station that have been bombed to a shell of their former self and offers some
areas when the city framework above has been pummeled downward into the debris.
The three maps pit Axis against Allied teams (well, except for the free for
all), whether that configuration involves the Red Army and Nazis or the Japanese
Imperial Army versus the Marines.


Call of Duty: World at War Xbox 360 screenshots

The maps
are all confined, but that does not mean there are an incredible number of areas
to work around behind enemies, with spawn points randomly set and the action
fast-paced and challenging. The elements that gamers have come to know and enjoy
about CoD multiplayer are all intact, with kill streaks leading to recon planes,
artillery and dogs to use to attack the enemy.

The other
new element being brought in with the DLC is a new zombie level. The Asylum (the
name of the level is actually the German equivalent of ‘asylum’) levels features
a different type of zombie – creatures that move much faster. To help try to
keep the playing field even, though, the dev team at Treyarch has created some
new defense schemes that should give players a fighting chance – like an
electrical defense system that has to be triggered and maintained during the
waves of assault from the undead. However, that new electric defense grid will
not only fry the zombies, but any of the players who get too close to it.
Generally, the basic gameplay and objectives remain unchanged.

Still,
Activision and dev team are far from done when it comes to continuing to evolve
the game. Plans for deeper stat tracking (the game already keeps an incredible
amount of stats available for players for view at any time) are in the works.


Call of Duty: World at War Xbox 360 screenshots

The
content shown at the event was demonstrated primarily on the 360 for the new
multiplayer maps, with several play types launched in the new map schemes. The
PS3 was dedicated to the zombie level, and came across as much more vibrant
graphically. It might have been the levels/maps themselves and not system
oriented. And the zombie level was much more visceral (read that as much
bloodier) than the multiplayer maps. Later in the event, several of the 360s
were turned over to the zombie level and the PS3 set-ups still were more vibrant
and lush, in terms of lighting and environmental texturing.


Information about how the PC content will be handled was not available at the
Activision event.

Yes, this
content will be available through the Xbox LIVE marketplace and PSNetwork and
there will be a fee for it; and yes, you must have the base game to avail
yourself of the content. The three main maps are for multiplayer gaming and not
part of the campaign.