Game review – Call of Duty: WWII is an overly familiar return to series’ roots
A sense of repetition hangs over every mission in the Call of Duty series’ latest entry, while the earlier games’ focus on stressful and disorienting action is replaced by levels that render warfare as mere stagecraft
Call of Duty: WWII
Activision
How many times have the beaches of Normandy been stormed in a video game?
Off the top of my head I can recall it happening in Medal of Honor, Company of Heroes and even Conker’s Bad Fur Day, which spoofed Saving Private Ryan by recasting the Allied soldiers as squirrels stumbling across the blood-soaked sand. It might only been done once before in the Call of Duty series, but there is still a sense of familiarity when, in Call of Duty: WWII (available for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC), another band of soldiers speed toward the armoured sea walls in Higgins boats in the grey drizzle of dawn.
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Among them is Ronald Daniels, a ruddy private nicknamed “Red” by his comrades in the 16th Infantry Regiment. His commanding officer, a sour drunk with soap-opera-star looks, attempts to inspire the soldiers with a pep talk. The speech has the opposite effect on Red, reminding him of one of his high school American football coach’s inspirational orations back in Texas. “We lost that game by 42 points,” Red recalls.