Call of Duty®: WWII was Treyarch and Sledgehammer Games’ 2017 effort to revitalise an otherwise creatively stale series. The franchise had focused primarily on far-flung-future-themed shooters for some years prior to WWII’s release and so Sledgehammer decided to instead look back in time for inspiration. It had been nearly a decade since Call of Duty: World at War was released — the last game in the series to have a story revolving around the Second World War — and so there was no better time to re-explore the genre, but with the latest game development technology.
Call of Duty: WWII garnered generally positive reception on consoles, while the PC version (the version I played) received a more mixed response. I’m going to say immediately that these reviews are not what I would consider “fair”, on the whole. The majority of them are directed primarily at the multiplayer element and convey peoples’ annoyances more so than genuine critique — this is especially true on PC and is a recurring thing on Steam.
There is a great feeling of team effort interwoven throughout the game. Not just in a traditional “this is the Second World War, so we all need to band together” sort of way, but through the actual mechanics. Killing enemies regenerate your team’s abilities, which are a range of useful items to use in the heat of battle. Different members can throw you ammunition pouches, health kits (yes health kits, more on those below), spare grenades, and artillery targeting smoke canisters; one teammate even highlights enemies in the area for a short time. I thoroughly enjoyed this aspect — even if it was somewhat unbalanced — as it strengthened the brotherhood element that a lot of World War II media tries but often fails to portray.
Not just that, but there are situations known as “Heroic Actions” that pop up throughout the campaign — usually at least a couple per level. They can involve dragging a wounded ally to safety, you and your squad forcing enemies to surrender, or escorting a demolitionist to clear a bunker. You can fail these if you do not act quick enough, but their outcomes don’t adversely affect the game; they are just fun little extra objectives. Again, these all add to the togetherness aspect and show that the Second World War wasn’t a one-man mission, which is often the perceived case in other shooters from this genre.