Up until now, we’ve been talking about preparation and planning. Now it’s time to discuss performance: the action you’ll see in the European theater and beyond!
Aiming
In Call of Duty: WWII, your weapons are period-accurate representations of the firearms and equipment available to soldiers in World War II. You get to fire classics like the M1 Garand and M1928 submachine gun.
That also means you must manage those weapons’ drawbacks. Without appropriate specialization, many of the firearms in the game are surprisingly inaccurate when fired from the hip. In close-quarters combat, that isn’t as important. At medium to long range, however, you should get into the habit of stabilizing your weapon. By crouching or going prone, as well as using your gun’s iron sights, you can control your weapon and vastly improve its accuracy.
As a rule of thumb, fully automatic weapons (like SMGs) are most useful when fired in short bursts. Call of Duty: WWII accurately represents real-world physics such as muzzle climb, which means the longer you hold down the trigger, the higher the barrel of your weapon will go. It’s surprisingly easy to burn off an entire clip in close quarters without actually hitting anything.
Specialization
Although touched upon previously, it’s important to note again: the game’s systems are not designed to let you find a preferred approach and stick to it. The game encourages you to change up your arsenal, abilities, attachments, and equipment based upon the map, mode, and your team’s goals. Not every map lends itself to every possible approach, so you are expected to match the game’s flexibility with flexibility of your own. It’s part of why you’re given five create-a-soldier slots.
For example, the Gustav Cannon map presents a sniper with a wealth of opportunities as long as he or she can take and hold the high ground. The middle of the map is a huge, open area, which makes it difficult for short-ranged builds to get anything done. Try to charge a guy and he will pick you off from twenty yards.
Conversely, the Carentan map has precious few places where a sniper can hide and hold useful vantage points. It also features a wealth of blind corners and low fences, which makes a fast-moving, short-range specialist truly lethal.
You can split the difference here and go with an all-around contender build (Airborne or Infantry with Forage and a decent SMG or rifle, for example), but you tend to perform better in Call of Duty: WWII if you specialize for a particular situation.