The reason why I insisted on writing an article about the new Call of Duty: World War 2 even though I have never played any game of the franchise is because of the trailer I watched through a YouTube commercial by accident.

While I logged in to the website to watch a video of female idols, the trailer of World War 2 popped up randomly. The story was straightforward, with no plot twists. It was a compilation of scenes, from nervous soldiers before the Normandy Invasion, followed by intense battles, to fighters covering the sky and tanks charging forward on the ground.

Then, there was a rather unexpected scene - a soldier winking at me saying, “Duty first”.

I did not really give much thought as to why that scene was exceptionally impressive. Now, I suppose that the reason is probably because of my expectation that the game would be different from the other WW2-based games that have been released in the past.

A trailer should be a masterpiece of a game company, consisting only of a game’s strengths. If the appeal of Activision’s COD:WW2 lay only in its detailed portrayal of the war, the trailer certainly wouldn’t have had winking soldiers or troops chatting on the hull of a tank.

His wink represents drama. Although he’s just an AI who suffers a somewhat meaningless death in the game, his gesture implies a relationship between a player and him, one that shows they are comrades who depend on each other in the midst of battle. That moment where a comrade who was having a chat with the player just a few seconds ago gets bombarded builds a sense of crisis and emphasizes the tragedy of war.

My expectations of this game were quite high as I enjoyed HBO’s Band of Brothers which is the show based on WW2. Its realistic story and operations, and the excellent historical research of items used during WW2 made the show transform into an epic tale of a grandfather who experienced real war.

I was moved just by watching the show itself. It would then be a much greater experience if I could become a soldier myself and enter the battlefield and experience intense battles. The new Call of Duty is the latest product based on WW2, thus every aspect of this game such as graphics should surely surpass other similar games that were made in the past, and I couldn’t help but think that this will be a must-play release.

So, that’s why I insisted on writing an article. Unfortunately, my excitement for the demo did not make the queue at E3 any shorter. It was only 5 minutes after the opening of World War 2, but the queue was 4 hours long thanks to its popularity. A staff member of Activision sent me back, saying that they will make another waitlist between 2PM and 3PM.

Thinking that I should start waiting a bit earlier, I arrived at the Activision booth at 1PM instead. Surprisingly, the length of the queue was still the same, and then, spurred on by my hot temperament, I went to the same staff who told me to return at 2PM to make a complaint. With a look that seemed to be harshly judging my english skills, the staff member said that he meant I should come back after 2 to 3 hours. However, I don’t think I heard him wrong at the time and I suspect that he may have lied to me. He didn’t look into my eyes once while he was talking to me.

Despite being now upset, I decided to stand at the end of the 4-hour long queue. The other staff members approached me and said that I may not be able to try out the game if I stand in the queue this late, but I didn’t care. After 3 hours and 45 minutes of drowsy waiting, I finally managed to enter the booth.

As I entered the set inside the booth, there were analog watches on the side of the wall showing the times of certain regions around the world. On the other side, there was a yellow pencil with an eraser on top of it, a desk with an enlistment form, and a platform in the middle of the set. The set reminded me of the recruitment camp where Steve Rogers got rejected a number of times in the movie Captain America.

Then, a soldier in a WW2 uniform came out from the audience and stood up onto the platform. He then made a somewhat serious speech encouraging military enlistment to the audience. Some giggled at his passionate performance, but everyone clapped for him at the end of the speech.

We then went to the second set. There were real weapons that were used during WW2 on one side, while on the other were displayed uniforms, shovels, canteens, helmets, and cartridges also used during WW2. This was clearly a supply depot.

On the left-hand side of the set, there were some instructions on the LED TV about a firearm that players will use in the game. A number of firearms such as the M1 Garand, the M1903 Springfield for sniping, and the Thompson submachine gun showed up on the screen. Although all we did in the supply depot was wait, the time spent there was entertaining and surely not wasted.

In the briefing room, which was the last set of the booth, a soldier in uniform showed up again and explained the in-game missions for the audience. People were divided into 4 groups of 12 people each - Alpha, Beta, Charlie, and Dog - and one group was divided again and made into a 6:6 PvP match.

It had taken almost 4 hours and 15 minutes from waiting in line to at last grabbing the controller. I was relieved, and thought that now all I needed to do was enjoy the game, but I was wrong.

The thing is, I had never played an FPS game with a controller before in my life. I was trying my best to enjoy the game with this new technology instead a friendly keyboard and mouse. While I was struggling with this, one fellow comrade from the audience, who enlisted as a soldier and waited 4 hours together with me, suddenly became a 10-year CoD veteran and started shooting at me without mercy.

At that time, I was reduced to a being lesser than even a beginner level AI, and concluded the first round with 0 kills and 12 deaths. The big scoreboard popped up on the loading screen, and I had to keep looking down on the desk in order to avoid the glaring eyes of one of my allies who sat next to me, comparing the scores. The amount of bullets my virtual body took likely outnumbered the amount that hit the Czech hedgehogs on Normandy beach. Given that, my allies would’ve done better to take cover behind me rather than the hedgehogs.

The second round was a street battle. The enemy team had to drive us out of the building and march towards a broken bridge and defend it to allow their tanks to pass. The battle provided an sort of enjoyment that was different from Normandy beach. The buildings from Band of Brothers unfolded before my eyes, and I made a valiant (though overall fruitless) effort to stop the enemy force marching towards the building while making use of skilled cover and concealment.

Thanks to my experience from the first round, I managed to score one kill, but didn’t even have a chance to cheer as my characters head had a brief meeting with an enemy bullet. I did my best to join the battle at every respawn - although I could not find the sprint button until the end of the game. I met my demise at the hands of a flamethrower, grenade, and even a bayonet. I tried killing a defenseless soldier who was patching up his legs, but failed miserably because of an enemy veteran sniper. In the end, my team could not manage to stop the advance of an enemy tank until the fourth round and lost the battle.

Even though I lost the game, the demonstration was really satisfactory. I was able to experience numerous warships on the seas and fighters covering the sky, and the trench warfare and street battle that I only saw in Band of Brothers. The buildings and debris in the street battle were the same as in the show. I still hear the sound of the M1 Garand flicking its clip even as I am writing this.

The reason why American people still become excited about World War 2 even though WW2 itself is quite old is because it is not a story of others, but a story of war in which their fathers, grandfathers, and their country were directly involved. They can have an indirect experience of the war that their family had gone through by playing World War 2, and would be moved by the drama in the game.

While I was returning after the demonstration, the story of the Korean War that my country was involved in came to mind. What if Korean game companies made products based on the Korean War with the quality of World War 2? And, if that game could deliver the tragedy and pain of fratricide that our fathers and grandfathers  went through, it would serve as a testament to how painful and tragic the war is, and why we must not engage in it.

I could not describe how much the game has advanced in the aspect of console games, nor compare the new game with the old one, as I have never played console games including the CoD franchise. I apologize to the readers for this, but it is best that you try out the game yourself if you would like to know more about it. And I do hope that we meet as comrades in the game, not as enemies.