If you really cannot be arsed to read, then scroll down to the Co-op section and also read the Tactical section, rest isn't all that importnat.
So last week I decided to buy CoD:WaW after having seen a friend play it numerous time at his place. I've never been a fan of the CoD series - the only other one that I had played is Modern Warfare, which I thought was OK, but not amazing. I've always been an avid FPS'er, by that I mean that I played Counterstrike fanatically and used to put the hours into Quake 3 as well - two classics (and when it comes to SP campaigns, Half-Life and Quake 2 are obviously the best ever). Besides those, I've always thought that the FPS world has been offering very little, but that view of mine has changed with CoD: WaW.
Introduction:
The setting is WW II, and it's solid.
The weapons are realistic, very well balanced and there are loads.
You can also control tanks and their turrets.
There are various types of grenades:
-standard frag
-smoke
-flash
You can also get Bazookas, Bouncing Bettys (anti-personnel landmines) and satchels.
Sprinting - the normal sprint for a bit, then rest. However, there is also a new sniping mechanic, when you zoom in your crosshair moves, by holding Shift (the sprint button), you hold your breath and the crosshair steadies. This needs "recharge" time, just like sprint.
Regenerating life - it works well.
Let's start with the Single Player campaign:
The first thing that I thought when I tried this was - Squad-based, this is shite. I like taking my time when I play these games so having the squad pace me was a bitch. However, I have to admit that you get into it and it's not actually bad. The key here is playing on the hardest difficulty - your squad is practically useless and you can just pick your own pace. The missions are interesting and albeit linear, very enjoyable, because still a large number of approaches is offered. You can carry two weapons with you but you can pick up a new weapon from any corpse so you can change weapons whenever you want to, which is really useful since you need to change between the rifle / machinegun approach a lot. Although I'm not terribly far in the SP campaign, the missions thus far have all been very interesting and varied. Quite frankly, if you are into the World War II setting, then this is definately worth it for the SP campaign alone.
Multiplayer:
This is another aspect that either makes or breaks the game. Fortunately, this time it makes it. There are various game modes, standard Team Deathmatch, Domination (UT style), etc. The maps are interesting and generally accommodate weapons well, if you are a MG person, you can play every map with it, same for rifles and snipers. Obviously shotguns are at a disadvantage, but that would be a no-brainer.
Customizability is great, rather than picking the standard sniper, MG, etc role for each map, you can create custom classes, where you can pick your:
-weapon and its accessory
-sidearm
-types of grenades
-types of accessory, i.e. Bazooka, satchel or Bouncing Betty
-3 perks - this stuff is great, you can pick a total of 3 perks (1 from each category) which provide little bonuses, i.e. steadier aim when croucing, more health, increased bullet damage, as well as more unique ones like martyrdom, second chance.
-vehicle perk - customizability of vehicle controlling, i.e. increased turret rotation speed or slower reload time for turret.
From every match you earn experience (whether you won or lost, your kills, streaks, etc all contribute) which is in turn used to earn ranks (start at 1, max is 65) that unlock more weaponry, perks and achievments. It's really quite fun because you feel like with every match you've accumulated "lasting value" to your account. Completing achievments unlocks various things, i.e. getting 100 kills with a certain weapon will open up an extra for it, i.e. aperture sight if you so wish.
Skill:
The thing about CoD: WaW MP is that you don't have to be really good to get in there are start killing. The prime skill in the game as it seems to me is map knowledge, know your map = know your enemy. After that come aim, reactions and teamwork. Higher rank gives access to more weapons and perks, but essentially it doesn't really matter since the weapons are well balanced.
You are also rewarded for streaks, getting kills without dying allows you to call in a recon plane, dogs and artillery.
Hardcore: Hardcore game mode removes the HUD entirely which is refreshing, it also removes the radar so you are dependant on the standard map and your co-ordination skills. These are the settings by which people play on the PC anyway, is the impression that I get. On the PS3 (that's what my friend plays it on) you can choose between hardcore and normal game modes, however the PC allows customization of the server.
Tactical: If I hadn't discovered this on my first day, I probably wouldn't be playing this game right now. Standard COD: WaW DM is very chaotic, everyone running around all over the place, very noisy, packed and often frustrating since you have enemies spawning behind you. Tactical is not a mod, it's a simple ruleset set by admins for players like themselves who enjoy this kind of gameplay. The rules of tactical are:
-no running, except to avoid direct fire, grenades or artillery. This goes for both running and sprinting.
-curbed perks, so no annoying ones i.e. second chance and martyrdom.
In essence, this slows gameplay down loads and means that it's not a twitch action drool shooter, but actually makes this game very tactical and makes you use your brain. I play on tactical servers 90% of the time and it's extremely fun and rewarding, needless to say, most realistic war simulator that I've ever played. For thouse sickos among you that love sneaking behind enemy lines and getting knife / bayonet kills on their snipers? This is the game for you. You are rewarded for your patience and your smarts.
Co-op:
There is a co-op campaign, supposedly seperate from the SP campaign, but I haven't tried it yet. However where co-op really excels is under:
Nazi-Zombies:
Possibly the best survival FPS gamemode created thus far. The players (1-4) can choose between one of the four maps and make a holdout against the waves of nazi zombies that try to invade the setting that you're in. First map is a classic and it's amazing, I'd say that it's definately better for 30min of fun than L4D will ever be. By killing zombies, you accumulate points for which you can buy new weapons and open further boundries inside your sandbox. It gets extremely tough quite quickly and you cannot win, which makes it great fun.
Overall, CoD: WaW gets:
:subhuman::subhuman::subhuman::subhuman:out of:
:subhuman::subhuman::subhuman::subhuman:I highly recommend everyone to get the PC version, since I'm not sure that tactical is available on the PS3 and it also allows more customization. On top of that, all the map packs on the PC are free and you can also mod.
scale, it would have scored only a mere 
