PLEASE NOTE: This is not an effort to advocate or criticize any particular game system but rather thoughts on how two very different systems can produce very different but possibly equally satisfying gaming experiences.
Call of Duty World at War is an excellent opportunity to make such a comparison because it was released over all three consoles and the PC with virtually identical scores (Metacritic): PC (84), PS3 (85), Xbox360 (85), Wii (83). It was also released on the DS (75) but I’m not enough of a handheld gamer to judge.
My graphic whore credentials are in good order. I LOVE fantastic images. Besides the fact that high resolution graphic imaging is how I put bread on the table professionally, I just like creating them. People come by my office just to see my latest wallpaper. If I choose to stay after hours and game at work I have a Dell Ultrasharp 30” with a native resolution of 2560 x 1900 and enough CPU & GPU underneath to make it happen. At home my choice of weapons is more modest but still quite good. Even my notebook is capable of running any current game at top settings in HD.
Although not much inclined for other violent games, urban crime, zombie massacres and the like I am a history buff and I have always loved and spent many hours on Call of Duty, United Offensive, CofD 2, CofDuty4 was too modern. By the time World at War came out I had largely abandoned PC gaming for the Wii so …. Which way to go? Super sharp graphics and precise mouse and keyboard control, or in my case mouse and Belkin Nostromo SpeedPad n52. Or go for the physicality of motion control and an even larger screen but greatly reduced resolution and more restrictive online play.
In the end I decided I really wanted to try them both and being Christmas I could keep the one I chose and give the other as a gift, having several eager recipients available. I’ve tried them both and they were both great games, and great experiences but I have made a choice. It’s now 11:00 PM EST. I’ll post my choice at midnight after giving anyone that wants to a chance to speculate, or explain their choice first. Negative posts will be ignorned, I want to know why you chose the one you did, not why that makes everybody else an idiot.
