History YMMV / CallOfDutyWWII

** Although the developers have stated that the game will tackle the Holocaust, [[https://www.polygon.com/2017/11/3/16604330/call-of-duty-wwii-holocaust some]] [[http://mashable.com/2017/11/08/call-of-duty-wwii-review-holocaust-critique/#GF7mFQ_8Maq8 commentators]] felt that the game didn't really handle the subject well. For much of the game, the Nazis aren't really shown carrying out atrocities against non-Germans on screen and their racial ideologies aren't really analyzed. The Holocaust was really only briefly acknowledged in the final epilogue with Daniels encountering an abandoned concentration camp while [[spoiler:searching for Zussman]].
** On a similar note, the game includes a chapter where the group works with an African-American soldier named Marcus Howard, wherein one of the members of your squad shows discomfort with doing so for racist reasons. Then at the end of the game, said soldier apologies to Marcus and thats it. On paper it sounds like a good character arc, but it comes so late into the story that it means neither Marcus, nor the character in question get to actual show time developing an on screen friendship that would lead to the character apologizing. This is at least partially because the game has timeskips after each mission, but that means any potential development is entirely not shown, plus outside of the first mission you get Marcus in, the character never shows any signs of actually being racist, making it come across an InformedFlaw. It comes across less as character development, and instead AnAesop being thrown in to say "Racism is bad!" without putting the work into making it fit naturally.

* DarthWiki/MostAnnoyingSound: Whenever the campaign forces you to do specific things like sniping, planting explosives, etc, the NPC characters will ''constantly'' yell at you to do it. This isn't normally a problem, but they do it every few seconds, meaning you could be looking around for collectibles, ammo, or med-kits, only to be hearing someone yelling at Daniels to do something constantly.

** Zussman's knife wound in the first chapter is supposed to be a dramatic moment and bring panic. However, it comes across as very silly given how Zussman looks perfectly fine model wise, making it look like [[MajorInjuryUnderreaction Daniels is freaking out over a relatively shallow wound instead of the life-threatening injury that the game tries to sell it as]]. Plus he has no blood on his model from the wound either, which while not outright needed, makes it look like people are being overly dramatic.

** ''Nazi Zombies'': [[BigBad Peter Glücksbringer Straub]] is a Nazi MadScientist instructed by Adolf Hitler himself to create a new type of soldier that doesn't rest or fear death. Finding a mystical sword hilt in Mittelburg, he used the energy from it to [[BadBoss kill his own men]], resulting in these soldiers becoming walking corpses. Believing he found his perfect soldiers, Straub would then use the sword hilt to turn the town's entire population into [[SlaveMooks undead abominations]], having a subordinate [[AndIMustScream sewn onto one of them alive]] when he learns of his ties to the Allies. Leaving Mittelburg, Straub goes to the island of Heligoland where he stored thousands of his creations and takes them to his Zeppelins where Straub would travel to Berlin, so he can unleash them in hopes they would kill off every human being in the city while he would reclaim what's left of it for the Nazis. Taking pride in creating the Devil himself, Peter Straub would gladly doom the world with his monsters if he could prove his superiority.

** ''Nazi Zombies'': [[BigBad Peter Glücksbringer Straub]] is a Nazi MadScientist instructed by Adolf Hitler himself to create a new type of soldier that doesn't rest or fear death. Finding a mystical sword hilt in Mittelburg, he used the energy from it to [[BadBoss kill his own men]], resulting in these soldiers becoming walking corpses. Believing he found his perfect soldiers, Straub would then use the sword hilt to turn the town's entire population into [[SlaveMooks undead abominations]], having a subordinate [[AndIMustScream sewn onto one of them alive]] when he learns of his ties to the Allies. Leaving Mittelburg, Straub goes to the island of Heligoland where he stored thousands of his creations and takes them to his Zeppelins where Straub would travel to the Berlin, so he can unleash them in hopes they would kill off every human being in the city while he would reclaim what's left of it for the Nazis. Taking pride in creating the Devil himself, Peter Straub would gladly doom the world with his monsters if he could prove his superiority.

* DemonicSpiders: Enemies wielding the Lever-Action Incendiary Round variant are some of the hardest enemies in the campaign to fight. They hit hard, have good range, and hit with enough power to make you think its a shotgun. They become very common later on as well.

** As noted in HollywoodHistory on the main page, the campaign is focused exclusively on the Western Front and the main characters are US Army soldiers. Given how there have been an overabundance of ''Call of Duty'' games that featured Americans vs Nazis in Europe, some fans wished that the game could've also focused on different theaters of the war, like the North African or Pacific campaigns, or even different units, such as Japanese-American soldiers of the 442nd Infantry Regiment, or other armies entirely, such as the Russian front or the Italian front (a conflict virtually never touched by any of the games).

* MemeticMutation: A [[GoodBadBugs weird announcer glitch]] on the War mode causes the announcer's voice to suddenly go to [[SensoryAbuse eardrum-shattering]] levels of volume. The sheer unexpectedness and frequency of this glitch caused a few specific quotes that this glitch happens on to go memetic, namely "A BOMB'S BEEN PLANTED ON OUR AMMO SUPPLY!" and "B IS RETREATING, KEEP FIRING!"

** Zussman's knife wound in the first chapter is supposed to be a dramatic moment and bring panic. However, it comes across as very silly given how Zussman looks perfectly fine model wise, making it look like Daniel's is freaking out over a relatively shallow wound instead of the life-threatening injury that the game tries to sell it as. Plus he has no flood on his model from the wound either, which while not outright needed, makes it look like people are being overly dramatic.

** The over-the-top train crash at the end of S.O.E. is pretty difficult to take seriously. Basically, Daniels and Zussman catch up to the armored train in a jeep and took out many of its occupants, but then a grenade causes them to veer straight onto the tracks sideways, derailing the trainhead while they bail. The first few dozen train cars derails normally, but all of a sudden the traincars behind them ''shoots across the screen'' like being launched by a train-catapult. The game spends a good '''30 seconds''' launching traincars across the screen, causing explosions, big crashing noises, and destruction, all the while Daniels sits in the middle of an open field miraculously avoiding the flying traincars.

* ThatOneLevel: The 6th mission "Collateral Damage" in generally disliked for its forced stealth elements and unlikable characters. Near the end of the mission, Daniels had to rescue Anna from a building swarming with German soldiers. What makes this level particularly infuriating is that Daniels has to carry Anna to safety without any means to defend themselves, forcing him to take the stealth approach while she spends several minutes loudly whimpering into his face. Outside of that, its also the first level where enemies with rocket-launchers start popping up, and regardless of difficulty, they instantly kill you if they hit even remotely close to you.

* ThatOneLevel: The 6th mission "Collateral Damage" in generally disliked for its forced stealth elements and unlikable characters. Near the end of the mission, Daniels had to rescue Anna from a building swarming with German soldiers. What makes this level particularly infuriating is that Daniels has to carry Anna to safety without any means to defend themselves, forcing him to take the stealth approach while she spends several minutes loudly whimpering into his face.
* TearJerker: Turner's death. He sacrifices himself to the hoards of Nazis, while his men hold Daniels back from trying to vainly rescue him. The agony on Daniel's face, makes it all the more emotional.

** On a similar note, the game includes a chapter where the group works with an African-American soldier named Marcus Howard, wherein one of the members of your squad shows discomfort with doing so for racist reasons. By the end of the chapter, said character realizes their mistake and apologies to Marcus. Its a good little arc, but it comes across as short and very quick, and only seems to be justified by fighting alongside Marcus, except the fight takes place over what is only roughly a day. Many feel the arc would make more sense if it was developed earlier in the story, such as Marcus being a member of the squad to begin with so that he has time to build up a bond with the group to justify the sudden turn around. It comes across less as character development, and instead AnAesop being thrown in to say "Racism is bad!" without putting the work into making it fit naturally.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: Although the developers have stated that the game will tackle the Holocaust, [[https://www.polygon.com/2017/11/3/16604330/call-of-duty-wwii-holocaust some]] [[http://mashable.com/2017/11/08/call-of-duty-wwii-review-holocaust-critique/#GF7mFQ_8Maq8 commentators]] felt that the game didn't really handle the subject well. For much of the game, the Nazis aren't really shown carrying out atrocities against non-Germans on screen and their racial ideologies aren't really analyzed. The Holocaust was really only briefly acknowledged in the final epilogue with Daniels encountering an abandoned concentration camp while [[spoiler:searching for Zussman]].

** Daniels' narrations are so jarring, out of place, and disconnected usually from what is going on that it makes what are supposed to be serious moments down right silly. For example, at the end of the fourth level, right after meeting the French Resistance, he starts narrating about Anna ''mid cutscene'' with no build up, causing the rest of the audio to stop to he can talk. It is so out of place that many thought it was a mistake at first.

* UnderusedGameMechanic: Comparisons to ''VideoGame/Battlefield1'''s Operations mode aside, the new multiplayer mode War has been praised as a new addition to the Call of Duty gameplay that captures the exciting cinematic experience of the single-player campaign. However, there are only 3 maps at launch, leading to some players getting bored and leaving the mode. Fortunately, Sledgehammer has confirmed that there will be more War mode maps added via DLC.

** Daniels' narrations are so jarring, out of place, and disconnected usually from what is going on that it makes what are supposed to be serious moments down right silly. For example, at the end of the fourth level, right after meeting the French Resistance, he starts narrating about Anna ''mid cutscene'' with no build up, causing the rest of the audio to stop to he can top. It is so out of place that many thought it was a mistake at first.

** As noted in HollywoodHistory on the main page, the campaign is focused exclusively on the Western Front and the main characters are US Army soldiers. Given how there have been an overabundance of ''Call of Duty'' games that featured Americans vs Nazis in Europe, some fans wished that the game could've also focused on different theaters of the war, like the North African or Pacific campaigns, or even different units, such as Japanese-American soldiers of the 442nd Infantry Regiment.

* {{Narm}}: The over-the-top train crash at the end of S.O.E. is pretty difficult to take seriously. Basically, Daniels and Zussman catch up to the armored train in a jeep and took out many of its occupants, but then a grenade causes them to veer straight onto the tracks sideways, derailing the trainhead while they bail. The first few dozen train cars derails normally, but all of a sudden the traincars behind them ''shoots across the screen'' like being launched by a train-catapult. The game spends a good '''30 seconds''' launching traincars across the screen, causing explosions, big crashing noises, and destruction, all the while Daniels sits in the middle of an open field miraculously avoiding the flying traincars.

* ThatOneLevel: The 6th mission "Collateral Damage" in generally disliked for its forced stealth elements and unlikable characters. Near the end of the mission, Daniels had to rescue Anna from a building swarming with German soldiers. What makes this level particularly infuriating is that Daniels has to carry Anna to safety without any means to defend themselves, forcing him to take the stealth approach.

* FandomRivalry: ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'' once again came head-to-head with its old competitor, ''VideoGame/{{Battlefield}}''. However, this time the rivalry are even more vitriolic due to ''VideoGame/Battlefield1'' having came out the year before with a similar historical throwback theme comparable to ''Call of Duty: WWII''. The fandoms of the two games have fought and argued with each other over which game is more historically authentic, innovative, and fun. The only thing anyone can agree on is that ''Battlefield 1'' got one hell of a head-start.

* BaseBreakingCharacter: [[TheNeidermeyer Pierson]]. Some absolutely hate him for his callousness and aloofness towards Daniels (to say nothing of his refusal to rescue civilians or [=POWs=]). However, others are more sympathetic towards him given how he has a rather [[MyGreatestFailure tragic]] [[ShellShockedVeteran backstory]] and an actual character arc.

* SnarkBait:
** The weapons, and the errors in them. While the weapon selection (and the inaccuracies that come with them) has never really been a major issue with the franchise up to this point (outside of the hilariously anachronistic ''Black Ops'' weapons that handwaves for being in-setting prototype and RuleOfCool, and some hating the bulky fictional designs of ''Black Ops III''), a lot of people were not OK this time with how much ArtisticLicense was taken to the World War II weapons and how others were just simply wrong. Examples include the Springfield[[note]]The reload animation shows it being reloaded with a stripper clip... even if the weapon has a scope, which prohibits the use of a stripper clip due to the scope getting in the way[[/note]], the Lee Enfield[[note]]same problem as the Springfield, plus the ability to load its whole 10-round magazine from a single 5-round stripper clip[[/note]], the Karabin[[note]]The magazine is depicted as detachable, when in reality the Kbsp wz. 38M was fixed and the weapon was reloaded via stripper clips...which the scope blocks in this case as well! The fact that the base game has the ultra-rare Polish Kbsp wz. 38M (only 150 were ever built, and only '''one''' ever saw recorded use) as the standard semi-auto sniper instead of something more sensible like Gewehr 43 also didn't sit well with some, especially concerning the campaign[[/note]], the M1928[[note]]It's actually the [=M1A1=] variant of the Thompson, and the [=M1A1=] can't use drum magazines like the gun in-game does with the Extended Mag. (though the named M1928 variant can use a drum. It should also be noted that if they were to actually use an M1928, there would be complaints of historical inaccuracy because the [=M1A1=] is the service variant)[[/note]], the Type 100[[note]]sticks out like a sore thumb amongst the otherwise European theatre-centric weapons. The Extended Magazine is also straight; the Type 100's magazine is curved because the 8mm Nambu round it chambers is bottlenecked[[/note]], the [=PPSh-41=][[note]]For some reason the normal version has the magwell of the PPS-43, which during the beta [[SpecialEffectsFailure clips straight through the drum magazine]][[/note]], the Toggle Action[[note]]The weapon in reality loads from a tubular magazine, not a box or drum[[/note]], the M1911[[note]]it's "Extended Magazine" only holds 10 rounds, even though it looks like it could hold twice that[[/note]], and the [=Kar98k=][[note]]Not only does it have the same "always reload with stripper clip regardless of remaining rounds or ejection port clearance" problem as the Springfield and Lee-Enfield, its extended 20-round "trench magazine" only holds 7 rounds.......'''and the magazine is depicted as detachable'''. And to make it ''even worse'', the Springfield has this problem with its Extended Magazines (based on the 25-round fixed magazine used on the Air Service variants of the rifle) as well![[/note]].
** The revelation that you can play as any gender and any race in Multiplayer, no matter what side you're on. This includes black female soldiers...fighting for the ''Nazis''. The fact all COD multiplayer segments aren't even close to canon hasn't exactly stopped many from mocking this senseless, joking about other historically impossible combinations.

** BrokenBase aside, many fans had been disappointed with the franchise moving further into the future after ''Modern Warfare 3'', with the franchise becoming SnarkBait to some. The mere announcement that the series was returning to World War II caused fans to rejoice. Given how the game grossed $550 million in 3 days (more than ''double'' that of ''Infinite Warfare''), it's safe to say that fans are coming back.

* ClicheStorm: The whole campaign seems to be a mishmash of every single cliche one would expect from both a World War II story and a Call Of Duty campaign. Character-wise, the hero is a simple country boy with a girl back home, his immediate superior office is a [[TheNeidermeyer jerkass]], one of his squadmate is a nerd, and his commander is a [[AFatherToHisMen benevolent father figure]], and so on. Gameplay-wise, there are mandatory turret sequences, vehicle sections, and slow-mo shootouts just like the ones seen in previous campaigns.

* MostAnnoyingSound:
** Hope you liked that M1 Garand ping from the teaser. It is everything in the game. Start a level? Garand ping. Level up in multiplayer? Garand ping. Select any menu option? Garand ping!
** You'd better use those squad abilities in the campaign fast when you get them, because your teammates ''will not shut up'' until you do.

* InternetBackdraft:
** A ''firestorm'' of controversy has ignited over the fact that the multiplayer's customization gives the option to play as a black woman in German Wehrmacht. Granted, the multiplayer isn't exactly known for its realism but many find it rather baffling given Nazi Germany's racist and misogynistic policies. [[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment To put it lightly, this is a rather contentious issue.]]
** While [[{{Microtransactions}} supply drops]] have always had a mixed reaction, their implementation in ''Call of Duty: WWII'' really infuriated the fandom. In the social hub, players can watch other people open [[{{Microtransactions}} loot boxes]] in the hopes that spectators will get jealous enough to gamble for their own rare cosmetic items. As a few stalwart critics of these practices like [=YongYea=] and [[WebVideo/{{Jimquisition}} Jim Sterling]] have pointed out, this might be the start of Activision's long term goal to implement their [[https://kotaku.com/activision-patents-matchmaking-that-encourages-players-1819630937 patented matchmaking system]] to deliberately pair people who don't normally buy loot boxes with those who do in hopes of persuading them to buy said loot boxes. As one might imagine, this has garnered significant backlash from pretty much everyone besides players who are already knee-deep in this type of microtransaction from other games.
*** And to make things worse, when players actually got their hands on the game, they found that there are actual, in-game missions that require you to ''watch other people open loot boxes''.
** Some internet critics have lambasted the game for teasing at depicting The Holocaust, only for it to be [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot tacked on for the epilogue and only featured briefly.]]
** The buggy launch of the game has angered many fans. At release, many aspects of the game didn't work whether it's bad matchmaking in ranked mode or improper score tracking that have resulted in ''negative'' KD ratios. Making matters worse, the game relied on peer-to-peer networking instead of dedicated servers, preventing multiplayer matches from connecting. Players couldn't even join each other in their Headquarters at launch, making it impossible to complete in-game missions that require them to watch others open supply drops. Makes you wonder what's the whole point of a 3-year development cycle when the game can't be released in a polished state.

** ''[[VideoGame/CallOfDutyZombies Nazi Zombies]]'': [[BigBad Peter Glücksbringer Straub]] is a Nazi MadScientist instructed by Adolf Hitler himself to create a new type of soldier that doesn't rest or fear death. Finding a mystical sword hilt in Mittelburg, he used the energy from it to [[BadBoss kill his own men]], resulting in these soldiers becoming walking corpses. Believing he found his perfect soldiers, Straub would then use the sword hilt to turn the town's entire population into [[SlaveMooks undead abominations]], having a subordinate [[AndIMustScream sewn onto one of them alive]] when he learns of his ties to the Allies. Leaving Mittelburg, Straub goes to the island of Heligoland where he stored thousands of his creations and takes them to his Zeppelins where Straub would travel to the Berlin, so he can unleash them in hopes they would kill off every human being in the city while he would reclaim what's left of it for the Nazis. Taking pride in creating the Devil himself, Peter Straub would gladly doom the world with his monsters if he could prove his superiority.

** A ''firestorm'' of controversy has ignited over the fact that the multiplayer's customization gives the option to play as a black woman in German Wehrmacht. Granted, the multiplayer isn't exactly known for its realism but many find it rather baffling given Nazi Germany's racist and misogynistic policies. [[RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgement To put it lightly, this is a rather contentious issue.]]

** While [[{{Microtransactions}} supply drops]] have always had a mixed reaction, their implementation in ''Call of Duty: WWII'' really infuriated the fandom. In the social hub, players can watch other people open [[{{Microtransactions}} loot boxes]] in the hopes that spectators will get jealous enough to gamble for their own rare cosmetic items. As a few stalwart critics of these practices like [=YongYea=] and [[WebVideo/{{Jimquisition}} Jim Sterling]] have pointed out, this might be the start of Activision's long term goal to implement their [[https://kotaku.com/activision-patents-matchmaking-that-encourages-players-1819630937 patented matchmaking system]] to deliberately pair people who don't normally buy loot boxes with those who do in hopes of persuading them to buy said loot boxes. As one might imagine, this has garnered significant backlash from pretty much everyone besides players who are [[CrackIsCheaper already knee-deep in this type of microtransaction]] from other games.

** Main campaign: [[SoftSpokenSadist Metz]] is the [[StateSec SS]] commandant in charge of sending hundreds of American [=POWs=] to [[POWCamp labor camps]] throughout Europe, where they would be worked and tortured to death. Trying to separate the Jews from his next batch of American [=POWs=], Metz shoots one [[ForTheEvulz for no reason]] and beats up Robert Zussman when he refuses to comply with his demands before sending him and the other [=POWs=] to his own concentration camp. When the 1st Infantry Division arrives there, they discover the numerous casualties of Metz's cruelty, with the corpses scattered throughout the [[FieryCoverUp burned-down camp]], many of whom were starved and tortured to death. They later find Metz executing his remaining prisoners before attempting to execute Zussman.

* {{Narm}}: The over-the-top train crash at the end of S.O.E. is pretty difficult to take seriously. Basically, Daniels and Zussman catch up to the armored train in a jeep and took out many of its occupants, but then a grenade causes them to veer straight onto the tracks sideways, derailing the trainhead while they bail. The ridiculous part comes in that the resultant train crash lasts '''30 seconds''', with the first few dozen train cars derailing normally then more cars ''shooting across the screen'' like there's a train-catapult, then ''more'' trains fly across the screen, and just when you think it's all done, ''another one'' launches across the screen and destroys the watchtower nearby, all the while Daniels sits in the middle of an open field miraculously avoiding the flying traincars.

* BasedOnAGreatBigLie: The [=SDK=] suppressed bolt-action carbine, introduced in an update, is produced by a gunsmith that was previously known for being a scammer. In this case, he's trying to pass off the weapon as something that was used by the Gestapo. More info [[http://www.imfdb.org/wiki/SDK_silenced_rifle here]].

* BasedonAGreatBigLie: The [=SDK=] suppressed bolt-action carbine, introduced in an update, is produced by a gunsmith that was previously known for being a scammer. In this case, he's trying to pass off the weapon as something that was used by the Gestapo. More info [[http://www.imfdb.org/wiki/SDK_silenced_rifle here]].