The Call of Duty: WWII emblem editor is a pretty great thing. It lets you do stuff like this: 

And this:

And this (On a completely unrelated note, the 2017 Game Awards nominations are out.):

And a whole lot more that you can see in this roundup of some of our favorites. The only problem is that it's not actually available on the PC yet. To be honest, I'm not sure if a release date for the PC version had ever been announced (it was available for consoles at launch) but there was obviously an expectation somewhere, because Activision said in yesterday's update patch notes that it's been delayed.

"Because most of our players are using a mouse & keyboard we wanted to take advantage of that, particularly for the UX around Emblem Editor. Therefore, we are taking some extra time to apply some more polish into the feature before releasing it on PC," the Activision support site states. "The Emblem Editor is planned to be released in December, but stay tuned for more details on what PC specific features we are adding."

It seems odd that this escaped notice until now, but if it gets us a better editor then I don't think think a little delay is too overly onerous. Also delayed, as noted on Twitter by Activision support, are Call of Duty Points, the in-game currency used to purchase Supply Drops.

This past weekend was double XP time for Call of Duty: WWII, but a number of players noticed, and complained, that they weren't actually getting double XP. It turns out that they were right—not because Sledgehammer forgot to turn it on, but because it forgot to turn it off. 

"We launched with 2XP active, unintentionally. Everyone was getting 2XP since 11/3 [the COD:WWII release date] and up until we made the playlist change late Thursday night, which effectively launched 3XP," Condrey explained in greater detail on Reddit. "Come Monday, when we turn off the XP bonus, it will effectively revert to what we should have had at launch (aka 1XP).  So early players, you got a huge head start."

Full credit to Sledgehammer for letting players continue to reap the triple XP (and the double XP weekend has been extended into Tuesday), but the replies to Condrey's Reddit post illustrates the problem it faces going forward: The general consensus, at least based on that thread, appears to be that the pace of progress is already a slow grind—and as of today it's going to be a whole lot slower.   

Players who haven't yet taken up online arms won't likely be bothered by that fact, but those who dove into Call of Duty: WWII straight-away—committed fans, in other words—may find it frustrating. Given EA's climbdown on Star Wars Battlefront 2 hero costs today, which demonstrates quite clearly that vociferous gamer anger works, I wouldn't be at all surprised to see similar crosshairs brought to bear on Sledgehammer and Activision next.

In his review, James reckoned Call of Duty: WW2's solo campaign failed to do history justice, but that its multiplayer "recalls the glory days of Modern Warfare." Server issues have however marred its social features—and developer Sledgehammer Games has now addressed how it plans to fix them, and when we might expect the forthcoming PC patch. 

In a blog post on its website, the devs describe WW2's post-launch period as a "whirlwind" wherein online issues have stirred frustration.

"While our previous Game Update which released early Friday solved several critical needs, unfortunately it also had an adverse effect on server performance," reads the post. "As a result, we moved to P2P (listen) servers. Overall, the game is stable, however we know that P2P brings things like Host Migrations and other issues that make for inconsistent gameplay experiences. Our objective to return to dedicated servers is our highest priority."

On dedicated servers, the post continues: "This weekend we rolled out various test solutions in limited markets in order to fully analyze real-world conditions without risking disruption. This level of data and diagnostics is helping us work toward a permanent solution as quickly as possible.  We’ve begun to test dedicated servers today in the US. We’ll watch this test closely, and once we analyze the results we’ll look to expand."

Sledgehammer says it's identified the root cause of game disconnects from servers which is said to also result in lost stats and lobby freezes. The dev then turns its attention to PC players, and the incoming PC patch. 

"We also want to reinforce our commitment to PC fans," the post adds. "We have the next PC Title Update ready to go, but we believe we need to work through the issues noted above first—many of which also affect PC players. For this reason, we’ll wait a bit longer before deploying the patch to the PC in order to ensure everything is the way it needs to be first… This is only the beginning, so thank you for playing. We won’t rest until we resolve everything we can for the community."

Read Sledgehammer's post in full here, while here's eight things Omri wished he knew before playing Call of Duty: WWII's zombies mode.

Sledgehammer’s return to World War II ticks the necessary boxes for slick shooting and quicktime events (during which you knee a Nazi in the nuts), but don’t be fooled by the plainness of its Zombies mode. Come the inevitable map packs, and the insanity will truly begin: celebrity cameos, exploding planets, something involving pizza, and zany gadgets more at home inside a clown’s suitcase than a laboratory. You must prepare. You must prepare now. Our Call of Duty: WWII Nazi Zombies beginner’s guide can help. 

WWII Zombies deviates from the previous perk-style system by introducing class loadouts and map-based powerup passives, but the biggest change is the debut of Jolts, the currency you get when you kill a zombie. To succeed in Zombies, respect the Jolt: it funds character upgrades, gun purchases, opens locked doors, and is the general mark of progress during a round. What’s the best way to get Jolts? Is that really David Tennant? Read on to learn it all.

Stay mobile and stay reloaded

Most of WWII’s zombies are of the standard shamble strain, but keeping them at arm’s length or farther demands constant attention to where you’re heading and how many groaning obstacles are in your intended path. Zombies can appear in front of you, around the corner, behind, or even from above or below. Check all of your angles, and don’t linger in one spot too long unless you’re prepared to use your class ability or toss out a grenade to avoid being overwhelmed. Keep your gun topped up as much as possible, especially if you’re wielding a boomstick or a bullet-spitter such as heavy machine guns with long reload times.

Focus on a specific goal or activity  

The wave you’re on dictates the ease at which you can accomplish tasks, such as unlocking a new area or exploring for secrets. You can certainly attempt to pack in multiple activities on a single round, but be aware of the heightened difficulty later waves impose on whatever you plan to do—say, unlocking the weapon upgrade machine at wave 10 instead of wave 6. You can certainly beeline to the final boss battle regardless of what wave you’re on, so figure out with your group what your intended round experience will be.

Use the shovel early for easy Jolts

Whacking that sleepy look off a zombie’s face with a digging tool isn’t just a pleasingly humiliating coup de grace, it’s also the best way to quickly earn the maximum amount of Jolts per kill—130 instead of the 100 gained from normal shooting. You can even dispense with your firearm entirely in the first three waves or so and solely focus on shoveling your way to a fat Jolt wallet useful for funding vital purchases later on. Remember to stay aware of the zombies’ increased health per wave, as it’ll take one extra hit per wave to down an enemy. Strong attacks using right click to focus your swing helps with recovering ammo and grenades, but you’ll be stuck in place for a few vulnerable seconds as you dig your shovel out of your victim’s nostril.

Stay on pace with the zombie power curve

Each wave bestows deeper health pools to all zombiesl, and your starting pistol will deal spitball-level damage by about wave 5. You’ll need at least a shotgun or SMG by then, and you’ll need to think ahead to the round’s endgame and appropriately upgrade your equipment in preparation for the truly difficult waves later on. If you feel your base weapons aren’t clearing waves effectively enough, get the weapon upgrade station unlocked and start spending Jolts on enhancing your guns.

Try your luck with the Command Room’s Mystery Box, as well—you could nab a beefy machine gun or powerful sniper rifle with one or two lucky rolls of the dice. The Blitz machines dotted throughout the village area and Bunker rooms are excellent flourishes to your firepower, increasing your reload speed, melee damage, run speed, and other bonuses for the duration of the round. Make those your priority.

Buy cheap ammo for your weapon by returning to its locker

If you’re comfortable with your chosen weapon, keep its initial locker location in the back of your mind for a quick loop to resupply. The Jolt cost for reusing the same locker is often in the low hundreds compared to the thousands needed to swap weapons at a different locker or pray to the Mystery Box.

Camouflage is the best ability for solo play 

The class loadouts in WWII Zombies are designed to complement each other when in a squad, and the Medic’s Camouflage is fantastic for swooping in for a safe revive on a downed teammate or to inflict some bonus bleed damage on a heavy boss-type enemy with the Serrated Edge augment. Consider favoring it over the other class picks for solo runs or to familiarize yourself with map layouts, as being able to vanish out of sight and recover safely is a great fallback tool. Be careful if you need to pop it close to a teammate—any surrounding zombies will instantly snap to the nearest visible target!

Delay the next wave with the straggler method

If you have the necessary Jolts to accomplish an objective or open a gate, you don’t need to blast down an entire wave in seconds. You can delay the deployment of a fresh mob by prolonging the current wave you’re on to explore or gorge on upgrades before pushing forward. An oft-used tactic is to whittle down a wave until one or two straggling zombies remain, keeping them close by as you complete errands. Proper distance is key—too close, and you’ll get swiped; too far, and the game will either despawn your pursuers and force them to reappear closer to you (often right in your face in a jumpscare) or cause them to break out in a loping sprint directly towards you. 

The characters that aren't Tennant are funny too

Yes, that’s David Tennant voicing and lending his face to the art-appreciating Drostan Hynd, but the remaining cast of celebrity-alikes are just as effective at swearing in a panic as everyone’s favorite high-pitched Scotsman. Ving Rhames’ Jefferson Potts or Elodie Yung’s Olivia Durant are typical top picks in a full lobby.

It starts out like any other Call of Duty. A man is talking at me in a car. We pass by more men with guns (Nazis) shoving someone around while a brassy ensemble plays some low menacing notes to underline their low moral position. My character looks down and a hand with painted nails twists the cap on a blade made to look like a pen. Huh.

I don't see Daniels' apeish hands or hear his southern drawl. Instead a woman says, "Soon this nightmare will be over." I realize I'm playing as Rousseau, a French spy about to go undercover and covertly stab some evil bastards with a pen knife. This is Liberation, Call of Duty: WWII's best mission by a mile. It's also the one that plays the least like Call of Duty. 

But Liberation isn't a great level just because it diverges from Call of Duty's usual shooting galleries. Those can be fun too. It's memorable because it strips you of your superhuman power to tear down entire armies and asks you to slow down, think, and observe. For such a breathless series, it's pacing whiplash. Liberation proves Call of Duty missions can layer on interesting ideas without stripping out fast-paced action or halting completely to teach players complex new systems.

Also, playing a spy is just cool. But let's take this step by step. 

First off, major spoiler warning. We're walking through the entire mission.

Bathrooms and basements 

Before entering the Nazi stronghold in Paris, you're given a fake identity and story to stick to. I figure Call of Duty will do the heavy lifting here and carry me through, but your in-game life ends up hinging on memorizing your cover story. Press a button to take out your papers and specific fields light up. You need to know your name, where you're from, why you're there, and who you're there for. For the last three hours of play I haven't exactly exercised critical thinking skills, so I start to panic. The last time I had to memorize terms out of the blue was for a Spanish exam, which didn't go well. I feel dread. 

But my worries subside a bit when I head inside. The compound is a beautiful building, unfortunately full of Nazis at work. Some idle in corners chatting with one another. Others smoke and stare. The face of my enemy is a really unexciting face. Evil comes with paperwork.

My goal is to find my contact Oberst Fischer and pick up some explosives from him, which I'll then plant on reinforced gates leading into the compound, making a clean path for the men with guns to roll in on. I'm told he's dressed as an officer in grey uniform. Problem is, there are a lot of officers in grey spread throughout the building, and I can talk to them all. I'm also going to meet with Herr Heinrich, an officer that Rousseau holds personally responsible for the death of her family. Revenge time. 

But before I get to all that, I obviously need to check out the bathroom. Most important of all videogame environment props is the toilet, and while it's not a fully functional bathroom, Liberation at least has one. It doesn't need to be there, but it is. It took multiple people to design and model and place a toilet that most players will only glance at. When developers are able to create detailed levels that aren't overtly designed to catapult you forward, games stop being amusement park rides and become believable spaces. Toilets: that important.

When I finally talk to someone, I get the prompt to ask if they're the man I'm looking for, initiate the code phrase with a question about a French poet, or apologize and leave. I'm not sure where to begin, so observe a man smoking a cigar in a dark corner of the building. The scene looks like something right out of an old photograph I might flip through in a textbook. I talk to a few grey dudes and ask where Fischer is. Eventually, one tells me he's probably in the basement, a place someone like myself doesn't have access to. 

There's a soldier standing guard over the door who tells me to get lost. He wanders off to look at papers on a pedestal, and I follow him from a few yards off. My instincts were right. I see a prompt on his ass and hold a button to steal the key with his back turned. I get the impression he is a very stupid person, and with that in mind, I open the door to the basement and head down.

I don't think there are other ways into the basement, but that's OK. Like a Telltale game lets you color your character with dialogue choices without truly altering the course of how things play out, Liberation gives you enough space to at least give the impression that there are other routes downstairs. Even if the only way into the basement is with the key, the solution requires observation and navigation skills, which makes me feel clever. And if a game can make me feel clever, then it's already achieved a monumental task. 

No one is terribly surprised to see me downstairs. Some men sit at a table smoking and playing cards. A grey guard leans on the wall nearby, and I figure he's the man I'm looking for, basement-based and all, so I open with the code phrase. He talks some shit about French poetry and asks for my papers. Oops. I stopped thinking about my cover awhile ago. Luckily, he only wants to know my name, which I do somehow remember and skirt through his suspicions, asking where Fischer might be now. I should've studied harder.

He's upstairs. Third floor, also off limits.

First contact 

Luckily, the elevator is open down here, and I can take it to the third floor. But I explore the basement a bit more before moving up. A jailed man sits in his cell while a nearby guard dozes off. A prompt implies I can free him, but I don't. Not worth it. Can't blow my cover. I don't know if he'll get out alright, but if everything goes to plan, he'll be free soon anyway. Still, it pains me a bit. In reality, I'd probably have to restart at a checkpoint a few minutes back and try again, but I'm not about to break cover or character.

I head up the elevator and find my man. I utter the code phrase, he responds with his half, and we find a place to talk in private. We trade briefcases, and I head upstairs to meet with Herr Heinrich, the bastard. His secretary says he'll be with me in a moment, so I scope out the room in the meantime. 

I read an errant document on his desk and notice my name and my contact's name. They've suspected us this whole time. It's a trap. I make a break for the window since there's a little interaction bubble hovering over it, but as I begin to fiddle with it, Heinrich enters. 

He gives a menacing speech with the Wolfenstein turned to 11, and asks who sent me. I get a few seconds to answer, but totally blow it. He confronts me,  but I gouge him with a broken bottle during a quicktime event, a very classic Call of Duty moment, and book it out the window. I wonder what happens if you answer correctly? Honestly, I like not knowing. 

From here, I need to circle the courtyard outside and plant two bombs without being spotted. Call of Duty's stealth isn't great, but the courtyard allows you to weave in and out of the building and climb up to a small ledge that rounds the perimeter. I'm fairly sure you can sneak directly through the courtyard too, if you're willing to put up with the wonky soldier AI. Now the choice isn't an illusion, it's real, even if it's still taking me to the same destination. 

On my way to the second bomb, I hear my contact's strained voice. He's been caught and I can rescue him if I like. It would mean going out of my way, but how could I not? Call of Duty could still learn to lay off the massive objective markers dictating every other action, but the choice to rescue your contact is a fairly tasteful moral test despite the massive lettering letting you know it's an option. I'm not sure saving him gives you an advantage later on, but I dig that ambiguity. Save the guy who helped you. Or don't. Up to you, jerk/hero. 

With two bombs planted, the perspective switches back to Daniels and company as they lead the assault to take and defend the Nazi base. We're back to shooting again, but with something to protect. I actually give a damn. Call of Duty earned its big, dumb action, and made it feel the tiniest bit more urgent than its typical slurry of soldier barks and violence tries for.

The ability to linger and examine a room, to chat up every grey-uniformed officer you see, to inspect the toilets, to make eyes with a man smoking a cigar in a dark corner—the ability to hide in plain sight is an inherent thrill in a series where you spend most of the time playing whack-a-Nazi crouched behind a hay bale. 

Though they don't play the same, Liberation and Call of Duty 4's All Ghillied Up succeed because they're the rare Call of Duty missions built around patience. They're a clear sign that the Call of Duty format is capable of asking players to do more than just point and shoot, and examples of talented mission design that I really hope we see more of in next year's war game. 

Over the launch weekend, Call of Duty: WWII's meta took a hard turn. Players are now using excellent custom emblems to claim victory over their opponents no matter the score, because what does losing matter if you look good doing it?

WWII's emblem creator apparently has more going on than someone as boring as me could imagine. Using the decals, resizing tools, and tons of layers, players are coming up with some ridiculous stuff, from their favorite food brands to accurate recreations of their grandfather's military emblems. Here's a glimpse at the best we've found so far, but if we're missing something special, go ahead and share it with us in the comments. 

[Note: The emblem maker isn't available on PC yet, so consider this selection as inspiration for what I'm sure will be far nicer tiny square pictures.]

8th Air Force homage

Reddit user ZombieLenBias made this emblem as an homage to his grandfather, who served in the 479th Fighter Group in the 8th Air Force. Nearly perfect. 

Pigeon perfect

In remembrance of all the hard working birbs out there, flying high in the sky and hanging out on telephone wires and such, Reddit user box77 made this colorful honorary. 

Football?

Is Chelsea the monster on the emblem? Why are they part of a football club? I sent the link to our UK team for translation. Until then, this lovely looking symbol remains a mystery. 

A bit cheesy

Doritos are an American pastime, so what better way to immortalize a very popular brand than by recreating it within a competitive game set during WWII? 

Irony is dead. Anyway, here's the Mighty Ducks logo.

'90s kids only!

Remember that movie? Here's an emblem made to look like the thing from the movie. Only '90s kids will remember that movie. If you weren't born in the '90s, you won't remember the movie. You'd have to be born in the '90s to remember. 

Seeing S.T.A.R.S.

Raccoon City. Why is it called that? Is there a place in the US named after squirrels? Oh well, here's a nice interpretation of a police department's logo from the fictional town that got nuked to hell. I'm pretty sure it got nuked. But I'm glad Leon got out. He looks cool in his tactical gear, and without his over-the-shoulder spin kicks, third person games would have been forgotten.

5th Marine Division

Alright, let's get another real world shoulder patch up in here. Reddit user eag424 made this recreation of the 5th Marine Division's patch from WWII, and it looks quite cool. Is that a spear and the letter V? Tip of the spear? Vanguard? That said, the spear makes it look like a W too, which I'll just say stands for 'Wow' because this is a nice looking emblem. 

Teacup man

It's Cuphead's head! Reddit user xTheFatJesus nailed the look of the cartoon cup person, but I'm concerned about where his body went off to. Thinking about the emblem at all has me imagining Cuphead's anatomy, like does he bleed? Does he have guts? Can you just peek at his brain over the lip there? Best not to linger on such thoughts. They'll drive a man to the brink.

ERROR [EMBLEM] NOT FOUND

Heh, fooled you, didn't I? That wasn't a real error message at all. It was actually a heading I wrote to imitate a real error message. So it goes for Reddit user joshshoewah's playful jab at the server troubles some players have reported over the weekend. He's channeled his frustrations into an emblem that looks like an error message, but is actually just an emblem he made to look like an error message.

The blue guy from the old man and kid cartoon

Reddit user IamMclovin made this cute portrait of Mr. Meeseeks, a character from Rick and Morty that is summoned into existence for an explicit purpose, then snaps out of existence once they complete their goal. They almost mirror the lives of my digital avatars in Call of Duty games: born to die. 

This has been nice

As the sun sets on this emblem showcase, it also sets in this emblem where the sun is setting. And also in our hearts, because we had a lot of fun here today.

Thanks princeapalia, we needed this. 

Call of Duty: WWII's social hub isn't all that social at the moment. High player volume since launch has caused connectivity problems across all platforms, and one of the fixes has been to make Headquarters a solo experience for now, Sledgehammer Games said yesterday.

That, along with deactivated leaderboards and a couple of performance updates, appears to have fixed the problems, Sledgehammer said. Although clearly it's not ideal—HQ is supposed to be a place where you can face off in 1v1 skirmishes, eyeball other player's outfits and...ahem...watch people open loot crates. "Headquarters will return to its fully-populated, shared experience shortly," the developer said. For now, you can still invite friends into the HQ so you're not completely lonely.

The connectivity problems also caused some players to lose ranks, which isn't ideal. The "vast majority" lost five ranks or fewer, Sledgehammer said, which at lower ranks is less than an hour of playtime. Still annoying, though, and the developer said it is "committed to making it up to the affected players", so watch this space.

For what it's worth I played the game's multiplayer for a few hours last night and it was basically lag-free, save for one game in which I was rubber-banding quite badly. I'm sure that more fixes are incoming over the next few weeks as Sledgehammer continues to tune the game up.

James' review of the shooter is live here, so go and have a read.

With so many games on the horizon, you can expect a frantic pace of new GPU driver releases from AMD and Nvidia. Today it was AMD that released a new Crimson ReLive 17.11.1 driver package for Radeon graphics card owners, with an emphasis on Call of Duty: WWII performance.

According to the release notes, Radeon RX Vega 64 owners should see up to a 5 percent bump in performance when running the game at 2560x1440, compared to the previous ReLive 17.10.3 release. AMD didn't produce any other stats, though we imagine the optimizations yield minor gains at other resolutions, and for other Radeon graphics cards.

The new driver release also adds support for running the Radeon RX Vega 56 line in external GPU enclosures, using AMD's XConnect technology. These types of enclosures are designed to deliver desktop-grade gaming performance in laptops, and are especially intriguing for ultrabooks with comparatively weak integrated graphics. They connect over Thunderbolt 3. There is some loss of performance due to overhead, but it still beats running off an IGP.

AMD fixed some issues with its 17.11.1 driver release, too. They include:

• Radeon Software may intermittently cause an application crash on limited numbers of DirectX11 or OpenGL applications on their first run.
• Some gaming or productivity applications may experience a random hang or application crash when performing task switching.
• Radeon WattMan reset and restore factory default options may not reset graphics or memory clocks.
• ​Oculus Dash may experience a random application hang.
• Bezel compensation in mixed mode Eyefinity cannot be applied.
• Radeon Settings may experience overlapping text or corruption in the Multi GPU profiles page.
• Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Wildlands may experience minor corruption with Anisotropic Filtering (AF) enabled.
• Middle-earth: Shadow of War may experience ghosting or distortion in gameplay on Multi GPU enabled system configurations.
• AMD XConnect Technology products may not be detected/enabled on reconnection if previously disconnected during system sleep.
• A limited number of system devices such as printers may be removed during Radeon Software uninstallation.

If going for a manual install, you can grab the new driver package here.

Call of Duty: WWII is so damn big that I'd be surprised if I didn't like something it has to offer. It's a series that blueprinted the feel and responsiveness of modern first-person shooters. I've always enjoyed the series' sugary pace and instant gratification, but too often the ideas wrapped around the signature shooting just don't work. WWII would be one of the best in the series if I were judging purely based on its competitive multiplayer, but the Nazi Zombies mode is an awkward, obtuse grind, and the campaign fails to introduce many new ideas to Call of Duty at all.

The singleplayer campaign isn't really about WWII anyway, it's about how friendship between adult men requires both great sacrifice and a great aim. It turns a global catastrophe into a melodramatic test of camaraderie, more concerned with making you feel cool than bogging anyone down with historical context. I'm not surprised; Call of Duty always flubs the grandiose promises made by its marketing. This isn't the powerful history lesson for future generations it was first billed as. This is another Call of Duty campaign, replete with slow crawl concussion scenes, cornfed soldiers, and angry COs.

You play as Bradley, a US soldier and member of the 1st Infantry Division. Starting with the iconic and obligatory landing at Normandy, you shoot your way through the Western Front, liberating Paris, crossing the Rhine, and taking part in the Battle of the Bulge. To my surprise, it wraps with one of the quieter (still loud) endings I've seen in a Call of Duty game. Things are different in the return to 1940s Europe, but by small degrees.  

For the campaign only, the health system returns to the original Call of Duty's finite life bar. It never regenerates, only replenished by health packs scattered around the level or thrown to you by a squadmate. You can stockpile a few to use on demand, which adds a welcome, if superficial layer of tension. Once you run out, Call of Duty's ever-flowing enemy soldiers will almost certainly finish the job, but I enjoyed feeling frail and mortal again, even if I was using health packs at the same steady rate the auto-generating health would have provided. 

They made me feel like the opposite of a wall-running super soldier, and more aware of my small cast of useful squadmates. Each war friend that accompanies you comes with a simple perk that refreshes on a timer. One gives you health packs, another replenishes ammo, another grenades, one calls out a mortar strike, and your CO highlights the enemy soldiers in bright white. Ranging from practical to absurd and videogame-y as it gets, squad abilities help break up the monotony of WWII's mostly unsurprising level design.

World War II 2

A return to WWII means you'll be doing a lot of the same things you did back in Call of Duty and Call of Duty 2. You blow up mortars and AA guns. There's a tank level and some turret sequences. There are sniper bits. Things crash and explode and limbs fly. Men bark orders. Everything is prettier now, but 12 years after Call of Duty 2, we're still pumping bullets into enemies that are slightly too squishy while finding small opportunities to push forward and hit an invisible trigger that moves your squad up and starts the next shooting gallery.

Stealth levels are more prominent, and are as exciting as they are frustrating. The worst is punctuated by a sequence that's intended to be the emotional climax of the second act where you carry a stranded civilian through enemy territory. It'd be great as a set piece that you glide through, skirting on the edge of German lanterns, but the result is a frustrating stretch of trial and error. A few stealth sequences just transition into the typical Call of Duty firefights, which are far more forgivable, but without the proper training or UI to make enemy pathing clear, the pure stealth sequences easily fall apart. 

As rote as the rest of the levels are, there's at least one new classic, and it involves almost no shooting at all. During the liberation of Paris, you assume the role of an undercover operative infiltrating a Nazi garrison. What follows is like being on the receiving end of a first-person Papers, Please: You have to find your contact in the environment among plenty of lookalikes, and speak a code phrase to them. If you talk to the wrong person, they'll question your purpose and identity, which you are told to memorize beforehand by referencing a fake ID. It's a tense, novel break from shooting heads as they peek out over cover. I spent the remaining hours of the campaign hoping for anything half as interesting.

The few times you play as characters besides Bradley, Call of Duty veers slightly closer to depicting the true scale of WWII operations, the countries involved, the people lost, the atrocities committed, but never close enough to be an extraordinary war tale. It's firmly planted within the Saving Private Ryan storytelling archetype. WWII is not one man's story, which makes Bradley and company's push into German territory, thousands of enemy soldiers dead by the player's aim and the Allies' assured success, feel especially absurd. Call of Duty: WWII stops feeling historical beyond appearances pretty quickly, like the abridged version of the abridged Band of Brothers.

Back from the dead

WWII's multiplayer is simpler than usual by necessity, but it's still a great place to get your ass kicked. Gone are the jetpacks and wall runs and drones and techno industrial environments. Even so, weapons don't behave like the junky prototypes they're based on. They're far more efficient and accurate than Battlefield 1's WW1 arsenal, designed to feel snappy and accurate enough for Call of Duty's quick kill-die-kill-kill-kill-die rhythm. It's not a beat that everyone can keep up with, what with 10-year series vets hopping in on day one, but WWII is a return to something that feels more like an arena shooter (with the usual assortment of killstreaks). For the first time in years, I'm seeing the hit indicator on the back of my eyelids before bed. It's my favorite multiplayer component since Modern Warfare.

Call of Duty: WWII complicates its by-now retro shooting with the new War mode, an asymmetrical objective-based mode that gives more context and purpose to the loadouts you choose. Non-traditional playstyles are valid here, like hanging back and camping on a mounted MG, or finding a nice camping spot strictly to snipe. Most scenarios require management of several objectives, so team communication is also key, a refreshing change to Call of Duty's typical lone wolf crowd.

On the Operation Neptune map, one team mounts some turrets on a hillside while the enemy team bounces from cover to cover on the beach and attempts to reach the MG bunkers. If they do, the defensive team retreats and defends two AA guns. In Operation Griffin, the offensive team guides tanks up three lanes while the defense attempts to build walls and mid-road obstructions to slow the tanks' crawl. Another map tasks one team with building a bridge while the other camps on the other side and fires away. Smoke grenades completely cloud the field, turning combat into a tense guessing game. I'm not sure War will pull longtime players away from the usual free-for-all or team deathmatch modes, but I'm happy Call of Duty players can finally scream at one another for not playing the objective. 

All multiplayer activities orbit the HQ, a new online social space where you play from third-person (so you can really eyeball your outfit). While it's primarily an extravagant way to  manage progression and loadouts, HQ also features a 1v1 dueling pit, where you can cheer and jeer from above. There's an arcade where you can play Activision's old Atari games, a place to practice Killstreaks, and a public firing range. 

You can also open supply crates (WWII's loot boxes) in front of a crowd—they fall from the sky—and get new cosmetics, while giving anyone standing by a chance at earning their own just for watching. If you couldn't buy supply crates with real money, I'd call it a cute feature, but rewarding players for their material envy is off-putting. Insidious corporate interest aside, HQ is a novel place to outfit your character and queue up, though it makes me pine for private servers.

Nazi Zombies is also back with a much more gruesome look, even if it largely plays the same as last year's. Emptying clip after clip into spongy undead with weapons designed to pop and drop Nazis and multiplayer foes within a second still feels like a mismatch. And some solutions for the later puzzles have the same arcane logic as old adventure games, requiring the first-person version of pixel hunting, just with an endless horde of increasingly squishier zombies harassing you throughout. 

It's obtuse design, and will send everyone to the internet in search of guides when they shouldn't be necessary at all. But the Wolfenstein-esque occult Nazi aesthetic and deep loadout system that largely mirrors the normal multiplayer mode makes Zombies a fine distraction with friends. Honestly though, just go play Killing Floor 2 if this is your jam.

We still have plenty of testing to do in a live multiplayer environment, but WWII marks the first time I felt like I could get a grip on Call of Duty's multiplayer since Black Ops 2, and the most fun I've had with it since Modern Warfare. If the matchmaking works, the netcode is up to snuff, and if WWII can maintain a PC population larger than than a small town in North Dakota, this could be a great Call of Duty for anyone bothered by the direction the multiplayer was going with the complications futuristic warfare rolled in. But a dull, safe campaign has me aching to return to fictional wars, something that at least gives Call of Duty the room it needs to be loud and dumb and free from the responsibility of teaching the kids anything besides no-scope 720s.

Loot boxes are all the rage this season, and in every sense of the word. While some games use them as a simple cosmetic reward system, others offer up in-game benefits. You can typically obtain each through in-game currencies, but most loot boxes can also be purchased using real money. Worse, sometimes loot box systems are built entirely with your money in mind, and can detract from the typical reward loop you'd experience otherwise. It's hard to tell what's fair and what isn't anymore, so we're here to help out.

Call of Duty: WWII includes its own take on loot boxes called Supply Drops that fall from the sky and burst open to shower the player with a few goodies. They're flashy and feel as good to open as any package of Magic cards, but are they exploitative? With about 15 hours of multiplayer under my belt, my early conclusion is that they're just fine, with one major exception.

What loot boxes contain 

The contents of Call of Duty: WWII's loot boxes are almost entirely cosmetic, rewarding gun skins, emotes, callsigns, and soldier apparel. You might find timed XP multipliers in the mix, which will grant bonus XP earnings for a weapon or Division alignment. However, in the zombie mode, supply drops may also contain consumable powerups, which grant temporary status effects during play. 

How do you earn Supply Drops? 

You can earn supply drops without spending money by...

...receiving them as a random reward at the end of a match.

...completing Contracts, timed challenges (get X kills, get X headshots, etc.) you purchase with Armory Credits (which you can  earn for free on a timer or through completing certain challenges). 

...completing daily and weekly orders, challenges without a time limit that you can turn in at any time, even after the daily/weekly selection refreshes. They don't require Armory Credits to purchase, but you can only hold three at once. 

...watching other players open supply drops. Curiously, you'll also be able to earn supply drops and other rewards through a new social score. By interacting with players in the HQ mode, you can inspect them and give or receive a one-time commendation, which increases your social score. But again, here's the icky bit: you can also increase your social score by watching others open their supply drops. This has its own reward system, though I haven't been in a live environment long enough to test it.

Supply Drop tiers and currency prices

[We're waiting for the game to go live to verify what each supply drop tier contains and what they'll cost you. Call of Duty points are returning to WWII as the premium currency, but we're not sure what kind of exchange for your dollar you'll get yet.]

Do the loot boxes feel fair? 

On the surface, yes. The cosmetic focus means that anyone purchasing an abundance of supply drops won't grant an in-game advantage that isn't already present from the natural leveling system. The leveling system, between all the weapons and divisions and prestige options, is as diverse and wide as ever, meaning that even those with more weapon attachments aren't necessarily at a natural advantage against every loadout. I didn't ever feel like I was thirsty for more XP, but I'm sure once you level up enough the earnings will slow down and those XP multipliers will feel much more valuable. 

It's also possible to purchase specific cosmetics found in supply drops at an HQ vendor using Armory Credits, which are doled out in small payments every few hours in HQ. Purchasing individual cosmetics is more expensive than purchasing supply drops, but the random chance is not a factor. Having the option to pick and choose feels like a privilege, though I'd rather it were the norm.

 The supply drops are the most overtly exploitable in the zombies mode. Having the right powerups handy during a round can make a major difference, killing entire hordes outright or giving everyone the ability to one shot every monster. While players can only slot two at once, having a stockpile of the most helpful powerups will definitely help a team get further than if they only had a meager inventory to choose from, if any at all. Because it's not a competitive mode, powerup abuse only has the potential to diminish a group's experience, or incite frustration from those that don't have a limitless stockpile to pull from.

Earning crates through a social score feels gross, like we're being encouraged to feel envy, especially because it's paired with a system that rewards friendly player behaviors. I like seeing what other people dress their soldiers in, but the result is something like a dystopian future mall where we're rewarded for buying useless items with useless items. It feels harmless, and that's exactly what worries me.  

Being rewarded for material envy would be fine if you couldn't purchase supply drops with real money, and even with the option, supply drop voyeurism still isn't quite as concerning as Activision's recent patent that uses matchmaking to set players up with prettier people. It just feels like the first step in normalizing something similar.