Other games under the World at War title were published for the Nintendo DS and PlayStation 2, featuring different storylines and missions.

The game's multiplayer component retains several features from Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (2007), such as the leveling, perk, and "killstreak" systems.

Additionally, World at War marked the debut of the cooperative Zombies mode, which would go on to become a mainstay in Treyarch's subsequent Call of Duty games.

The game is based on an enhanced version of Infinity Ward's IW engine, with increased development on audio and visual effects.

Treyarch utilized the engine to make more parts of certain environments destructible and introduce limb dismemberment and realistic burns to character models.

Players can also find weapons with additional attachments, including guns equipped with rifle grenades, telescopic sights, and bayonets.

All versions of the game use a similar perk and ranking system[10] and feature six multiplayer modes, including Team Deathmatch and capture the flag.

[13] In this survival mode, one to four players fight an unlimited number of waves of Nazi zombies ( or, in the case of the map "Shi No Numa", undead members of the IJA), beginning with an M1911 pistol as their only weapon.

Players earn points for killing zombies or repairing barricades in boarded-up windows, which are used to expand areas of the map to access more useful weapons.

[14] As the game's DLC cycle continued, three additional Zombies maps were released, which added several new features to the mode.

Locke's crew works to rescue American sailors while fighting off Imperial Japanese Navy torpedo boats and Zeroes.

In May 1945, Miller's squad assaults a Japanese position on Okinawa, clearing out machine gun bunkers to allow American tanks to progress.

In September 1942, Private Dimitri Petrenko of the 62nd Rifle Division wakes in a body-filled fountain in Stalingrad as German troops execute his comrades.

Fellow survivor Sergeant Viktor Reznov (Gary Oldman) tells him of his mission to kill German General Heinrich Amsel, who is responsible for numerous war crimes across the Soviet Union.

Dimitri and Reznov then operate a T-34-85 tank alongside several others, eliminating the last German resistance in the area before boarding a train to Berlin.

[32] It includes several bonus items, among them a stainless steel canteen imprinted with the Call of Duty series logo and a metal storage tin.

[35] On March 18, 2009, Activision and Treyarch announced that downloadable content (DLC) was under development for World at War, titled Map Pack 1.

"Shi No Numa" (Japanese: "死の沼" 'swamp of death') is a new map on the Nazi Zombies co-op mode, set in a misty swamp-land surrounded by jungle.

The map takes place in the Japanese occupied Dutch East Indies and new features include flaming hellhounds, the Wunderwaffe DG-2 weapon and ten new achievements/trophies.

The multiplayer map "Banzai" is set in a jungle featuring a river bridge, villages, a waterfall and hidden caves.

The new Nazi Zombies map, "Der Riese" which means "The Giant" in English, is based in a factory in Breslau where "Element 115" is being processed and used to build teleporters and other mysterious devices, such as the "Pack-a-Punch Machine", which upgrades guns, such as the Wunderwaffe DG-2.

This map also heavily expanded the official backstory to Zombies mode, which is continued into Call of Duty: Black Ops.

[45] It was published by Activision and developed by n-Space, who used the same game engine as their previous title, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.

[46] The game's scenarios are also based on World War II's Pacific theater and Eastern front with American, British and Soviet campaigns.

[50] Call of Duty: World at War Zombies was released for the iPhone and iPod Touch on November 16, 2009, by Activision, Treyarch, and Ideaworks Game Studio.

"[62] IGN concluded that World at War was a "solid, confident shooter with plenty to offer the casual and hardcore alike.

"[62] IGN criticized that the scope of the campaign hurt the continuity of the plot, with some missions taking place several months after others and disrupting the flow of the narrative.

That's no longer the case — here, legs are severed, men cry out in agony as they reach for lost body parts, and gouts of blood fly as bullets pierce flesh."

[75] The Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions were the second and ninth best-selling game of December 2008 in the United States, selling in excess of 1.33 million and 533,000 copies respectively.

[77] It received particular interest in the United Kingdom, where it doubled the amount of first-week sales compared to Modern Warfare on the PS3 and Xbox 360.