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Call Of Duty World At War Map Pack 3 360

Format:
360

Genre:
Shooting

Style:
Firstperson
Competitive

Buy/Support:
Support Andy, click to buy via us...

Call Of Duty World At War on 360 and PS3 brings us a final map pack that has an unusual nautical touch but it's the new Nazi Zombies mission that's the star of the show.

After all those months of favouring Battlefield 1943 over any other First Person Shooting game, I'm back in the intense combat zone of Call Of Duty. The switch back to close quarters fighting, where everyone else is, as usual, far more experienced than myself, has not been an easy one. You'd think these new maps would mean that I had a chance of mild success, but the fact is that if you're out of touch you're going to lose.

There are three new maps to fight over: Breach, a sniper's paradise set in and around Berlin's Brandenburg Gate; Revolution, set in a nameless Russian factory environment; and Battery, set on an armoured island. Of all of them, Battery is the shiniest, since you're fighting a war on an island that resembles an offshore oilrig. Maybe it has something to do with catching Roger Moore's 80s thriller, North Sea Hijack, on TV a few weeks back.

I shouldn't like it since Battery doesn't suit my style of play - float around hoping to creep up on someone undetected. I ought to change it since I have so far died about five times more than I've scored kills. The truth is, I had more success playing in Revolution, filled as it is with plenty of shadowy nooks and crannies to skulk in. Here, playing Capture The Flag, I could hide out, wait for some fully-fledged Call of Duty expert to come running over to the flag I was hiding around, and pump him full of lead. Never mind that half of the time they'd be so good at this game that I'd get shot in the head before I'd even managed to point my gun at them.

But if this map pack had nothing more than these three new areas to fight in, I wouldn't have played it half as much. This third map pack has the added bonus of a new Nazi Zombies zone. Nazi Zombies are, without a doubt, the best thing about Call of Duty World at War. Instead of playing against people, you team up with a maximum of four other players and try to keep yourself and each other alive as wave after wave of ever-stronger Nazi Zombies come at you. The new area, Der Riese, is a Nazi Zombie factory. The task is a simple one, move around inside the factory, switching on all the terminals until you've connected the power to the Pack A Punch weapons booster. Once that's on, upgrade whatever weapon you have and get on with the zombie slaying. A good tip I learned from someone eminently better at Nazi Zombies than anyone else I played with was to boost up the pistol - one shot takes out a wave 20 hound of hell with one little pop.

Trying it out solo first gave me the absolute willies. The first wave zombies are a slow, shuffling bunch, and even though you've got four barricaded windows to cover, it's easy enough to run around to each and shoot them all. It still gave me the fear.

First you'll see a long shadow spreading up a wall, and then a skinless Nazi shuffles round the corner and begins to groan as he tears down the boards. I was alone in the house, clear daylight outside, and I still didn't want to play it solo again. Too many heart palpitations.

However, playing co-op Campaign turned out to be some of the most social Call Of Duty I've ever had. Admittedly, the first thing anyone really said to me was sent by voice message and was a barrage of foul-mouthed abuse, but since it came from some pre-pubescent lad of maybe 13, I couldn't help but laugh. He was right though; I was definitely responsible for our squad's early demise. It was totally unlike the usual gamer on gamer affair where either everyone's pretending they don't have a headset on or you spawn right in the middle of a free for all verbals match.

I've tried to get interested in the other three maps, but I always come back swiftly to Nazi Zombies Der Riese. The genuine gratitude you feel for the man who rushes to your side, shoots all the zombies around you and revives your ailing character is something I've not experienced in video games before. It's an act I've tried to follow myself. Oh, and I did play it solo again, when my wife was in the room with me, but it still scared me so stupid I wouldn't dare play it again after dying.

Written by Andy Robertson

You can support Andy by buying Call Of Duty World At War Map Pack 3



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Andy Robertson writes the Family Gamer column.

"Videogame reviews for the whole family, not just the kids. I dig out videogame experiences to intrigue and interest grownups and children. This is post-hardcore gaming where accessibility, emotion and storytelling are as important as realism, explosions and bravado."

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