Call of Duty: World at War

Video Game
STUDIOActivision
RELEASED2008

In the last two years of World War II, Pvt. Miller and Pvt. Petrenko, two allied soliders, will fight to end WWII. In famous battlefields from Pelelieu to Seelow Heights, Call of Duty World at War delivers brutal action, intense sieges, desperate stands, and memorable characters. Using any weapons at your disposal, from Thompson SMGs, to Flamethrowers, to T34 tanks, fight back the evil of the Fascist Reich and the Japanese Empire in the fifth installment in the Call of Duty Franchise.

Knowledge

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Call of Duty: World at WarSource

The FRA, ENG, GER Planks

Dotted around Der Riese are three wooden planks marked FRA, ENG and GER - widely believed to be a hint that Group 935 set up teleporters in France, England and Germany too, well beyond the one map you're actually playing.

Call of Duty: World at WarSource

Free Perks for a Well-Thrown Monkey

If you throw a Monkey Bomb into one of Der Riese's teleporters and activate it immediately, it unlocks a hidden launch control panel. Hit the green button on it and you get all four perks in the map for free - a proper reward for a trick almost nobody stumbles onto by accident.

Call of Duty: World at WarSource

Der Riese's Own Spelling Mistake

On the poster included with the later Rezurrection map pack, Der Riese is actually misspelled as 'Der Reise' - which translates to 'The Travel' instead of 'The Giant.' The same typo somehow made its way into Black Ops III's Zombies Chronicles years later, so somebody clearly never noticed.

Call of Duty: World at WarSource

The Asylum Was Once Wittenau Sanatorium

Verrückt is set in Wittenau Sanatorium, a former German asylum that the Nazis apparently repurposed - which explains the straitjackets, restraints, and unsettling gurneys scattered around what's otherwise a fairly cramped little zombie map.

Call of Duty: World at WarSource

Verrückt's Sprinting Zombies

The original World at War version of Verrückt had a unique breed of zombie that outright sprinted faster than the player, nicknamed 'Verrückt sprinters' by the community. They were quietly removed in later re-releases to bring the difficulty down a notch.

Call of Duty: World at WarSource

Unattended Children Sold to the Circus

There's a genuinely funny poster on one of the balconies in Verrückt written in German that translates to 'Unattended children will be immediately sold to the circus.' Bit of dark comic relief hidden in an otherwise pretty grim map.

Call of Duty: World at WarSource

Sobbing Behind the Power Room Door

Open the door left of the Power Room in Verrückt and you can hear the sound of a young boy quietly sobbing on the other side. It's one of a handful of unsettling ambient audio cues scattered around the asylum that most players just assume is a zombie growl and move on.

Call of Duty: World at WarSource

A Sneaky Waltz Playing Through the Speakers

Turn the power on in Verrückt and sprint up to one of the balconies and you'll catch a warped, distorted version of a stock track called 'Valse' drifting out of the wall speakers. It's easy to mistake for a glitch rather than an actual hidden bit of sound design.

Call of Duty: World at WarSource

Ghosts Haunt the Reichstag Too

During the Downfall mission inside the Reichstag, you can hear the exact same eerie shrieks, roars and ghostly laughter that show up on the Verrückt zombies map. It's a strange, spooky bit of audio overlap between the grounded campaign and the far more supernatural side mode.

Call of Duty: World at WarSource

You Can Shoot Down the Reichstag Eagle

There's a huge Nazi eagle hanging above the chairman's seats inside the Reichstag during Downfall, and if you blast it down with a Panzerschreck, Reznov will actually notice and comment on it. Small touch, but it shows the level of detail Treyarch put into reactive dialogue.