Call of Duty: World at War - Final Fronts

Call of Duty: World at War: Final Fronts is a standalone spin-off of the main World at War entry, developed for PlayStation 2 by the British studio Rebellion, while the main version for PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii was handled by Treyarch. It isn't a scaled-down port of the same game, but its own set of missions set in the same period – the Pacific campaign against the Japanese army as well as fighting on the European front – with its own take on levels, enemies and scenarios, though carrying the same dark, raw tone that made World at War famous. The campaign takes players through a series of standalone missions built around the series' classic recipe – scripted firefights against waves of enemies, holding positions, and occasional use of heavier weapons or vehicles.

Because PlayStation 2 was already noticeably behind the era's generation of consoles by 2008, Rebellion had to adapt both the scope and the technical side of the game to the older platform: lower resolution, simpler character and environment models, and shorter, more linear missions than in the next-gen sibling versions. The multiplayer is more limited and focuses mainly on split-screen play for two players on one TV, without the full online component offered by the PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions. The smaller campaign scope and simpler graphics were the price paid for the game running smoothly at all on an already aging console.

Final Fronts thus doesn't work as a direct replacement for the main World at War, but rather as its parallel, content-different variant tailored to the aging console – it released alongside the main entry and targeted players who hadn't yet moved to the new console generation but still wanted to experience the war in the Pacific and Europe as told by the Call of Duty series. For PlayStation 2 owners who didn't yet have a next-gen console or a decent PC, it was often the only way to play the World at War theme at all, albeit in a different and technically more modest form.

Why play it: For PlayStation 2 owners without a next-gen console or a powerful PC, this was often the only chance to experience the war in the Pacific and Europe as told by the series, albeit in a different and technically more modest form than the main World at War.