Impressions: Call of Duty: World at War DLC

3:40 PM on 03.19.2009   |   Ben Perlee

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Let me just say it: I’m not the best at first person shooters. Something about the perspective and orientation makes me feel claustrophobic. Yeah, weird, I know.  

So it is with pride that I can announce to Destructoid, that during an official play session of the new Call of Duty: World at War DLC, I got second (to last) place. This is playing against fellow game journalists, who, as we all know, are the world’s best gamers.

Ultimately, I can thank my aptitude to shooting people in the face with a grenade launcher. I even got props from some other guy, which made me feel special. I like feeling special.

But enough about me! What’s really important is the new COD: WAW DLC coming out ...today. It's actually available right now. So, should you get it? Is it worth the 800 Microsoft point or $9.99 on PlayStation Network? It might be, and you should hit the jump to find out what I have to say about the experience. Trust me, zombies are involved.

So what can you expect with your cash? Well, Treyarch and Activision have four new maps for multiplayer. Nightfire is a map of burned out Berlin. The map is nice and smoky, full of the charred remains of the Berlin city-scape. There’s some vertical elements, and lots of places to jump out and shot people in the face.

Knee Deep, which I played the most of, is a jungle map with the Americans versus the Japanese. There’s actually a lot going on, with plenty of places to hide and jump out. Snipers can get up on the roofs of villager’s huts, but watch out. Sitting in the open is sure to get you shot in the face...with a grenade launcher. I should know. I shot them.

Station, taking place in the Berlin underground, is actually pulled from the single player. A disappointment, I know, but I’ve been told that the linear layout of the map is perfect for capture the flag. To quote one of the developers, it’s good for players who have “steady aim and are quick on the trigger”. So if you are good with a sniper rifle, and can shoot people in the face down long corridors, you’ll be good to go.

Finally, the last map is the most interesting. I actually think this might be worth the whole ten bucks in itself, as it really feels refreshing compared to the rest of the game. It’s a map called Verrückt -- German for "crazy" -- and it’s a new map for the Zombie Nazi multiplayer mode. Instead of shooting people in the face, players are expected to work together and see how many zombies they can shoot in the face.

Based on a re-skined Asylum map, with lots of remnants of horrible Nazi experiments, a team of four have been separated across maps and must work together opening electric doors, setting off electrified traps, boarding up doors and windows from the Nazi undead before finally meeting in the middle of the map. From there, it’s all about making the dead dead.

To help you out with that, you can improve the defense system of the traps, you can buy new weapons, and, oddly, drink soda for temporary stat boosts. Yeah, to make things even weirder, you can buy pop like Perks-a-cola, among other pun-tastically named beverages, to get quick time improvements. It cute, and it lets you shoot zombies in the face even better than before.

Also, I should tell you, other than the re-skining, the zombies themselves have received improvements, with all sorts of new animations and stuff.

So is this DLC worth your money? Well, if you still play COD: WAW, sure. It’s always nice to have new multiplayer maps, and the new zombie map is charming. However, if you’ve moved on to other gaming pastures, maybe you can pass on spending a tenner.