The use of fog, smoke and rain is both film-like and disorienting, with fantastically atmospheric use of blur, particle effects and lighting.

No CoD before has had environments that look and feel so grounded in real-world locations.īut this isn’t about photorealism, but about a strong cinematic approach. For all the talk of ‘boots on the ground’ it’s more a case of boots in the mud or tramping through the snow. Ravaged buildings, rain-drenched forests and the beaches and trenches of Normandy have never looked so grim or realistic. This is easily the best-looking and most visceral CoD ever made, and while you’ve seen many of these battlefields before, you’ve never seen them quite like this. This isn’t just about the presentation, incredible as that presentation is. Sure it can be dumb, gung-ho and prone to uncomfortable shifts of tone, but it can also be powerful, emotive and thrilling. Yet CoD World War II puts gritty, fast-paced combat at the heart of everything, while trying to give you the strongest feeling yet that you’re part of a platoon being tested to its limits. This doesn’t mean that it strives for realism or that it cuts back on preposterous action sequences, as this remains a Hollywood vision of WWII – there are set-pieces Michael Bay might have considered a bit much. The secret, I think, is Sledgehammer’s commitment to going back to Call of Duty’s core. I can’t remember the last time that a Call of Duty felt this exciting. It doesn’t reinvent the series, so if you can’t stand heavily scripted missions and being hustled and funnelled from one action sequence to the next, then go elsewhere. Having given us the best CoD of this generation (not exactly a challenge) with Advanced Warfare, it’s now gone one better and given us the best CoD since Black Ops.

Available on PS4 (version tested), Xbox One and PC

Call of duty: world war ii