Treyarch send the series back to 1945 with a brutal Pacific and an uncompromising Eastern Front. The campaign embraces darkness, Kiefer Sutherland roars as the sergeant, and Zombies takes its now mythical first steps here.
First-person shooter by Treyarch and Activision, November 2008. Allied soldiers battle Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan during World War II across Pacific and Eastern Europe theatres. Immersive solo campaign with realistic war brutality, the founding franchise co-op Zombie mode - first in the series - and online multiplayer. Entry that introduced the iconic Zombie mode.
Call of Duty - World at War review
4/5
Art direction
★★★★★
"Striking"
4/5
Music
★★★★★
"Excellent"
4/5
Story
★★★★★
"Captivating"
The Pacific scenery is treated as a combatant: tall grass where ambushes betray themselves in a quiver, coconut groves shredded by artillery raining back down as fiber, flooded trenches whose mud swallows bodies. Treyarch turns vegetation into a readable threat, and the eye learns to scan the landscape itself, before the silhouettes that burst from it.
Sean Murray embraces anachronism: over this 1945 war he lays saturated electric guitars, processed bass and near-industrial loops, refusing the expected orchestral reenactment. The choice pulls the era closer instead of museifying it, the riffs giving the assaults a contemporary rage that traditional choirs and drums would never have carried.
Sergeant Reznov is the story's true center of gravity: a rasping voice that survived Stalingrad, he turns the Soviet push into a personal crusade and teaches young Dimitri, and thus the player, his reading of vengeance. The game follows that troubling mentorship all the way to the flag planted on the Reichstag, and the mentor would become one of the series' most enduring figures.
Gameplay
"Excellent"
Fun
"From the very first seconds"
A brutal return to the fronts of World War II, through a raw, intense campaign, and a snappy multiplayer that gave birth to the legendary Zombies mode. Surviving waves of undead in co-op delivers a thrill as tense as it is gleeful. Dark, visceral and packed with modes, a landmark FPS that adds a cult dimension to the formula.
A darker Treyarch return to World War II, which invented the Zombies mode that became a brand institution. Mass-printed in the West, its collecting interest there stays low, except for the markedly rarer Asian and Korean pressings. An affordable piece, mainly of note as the cradle of Call of Duty's Zombies.
Better with friends
The birthplace of Nazi Zombies, this entry launches the cult co-op mode on the Nacht der Untoten map, where you barricade windows and hold the line against undead waves. It's also the first Call of Duty whose campaign can be played co-op for up to four players. The brutal, snappy competitive side rounds it out. The era's official servers are no longer guaranteed, but the founding dread of zombies and the multiplayer campaign keep all their force.
Is Call of Duty - World at War still worth playing in 2026?
Released in 2008 on Xbox 360, Treyarch's World at War brings the series back to the Second World War with a far darker, more brutal tone than its predecessors, across the Pacific and Eastern fronts. The campaign, raw and striking, is carried by memorable voice acting and unflinching violence. Above all, this entry gave birth to the Zombies mode, which became a cult pillar of the whole franchise. The multiplayer stays nervy and enjoyable. The official servers have shut down. But the solo and local Zombies stay excellent. For fans of historical shooters and the curious about Zombies' origins, it keeps great interest.
