I am starting a new thread about the HUGELY erroneous exclusion of a save option for spit screen co-op in Call of Duty: World at War.

COD:WAW is not a true co-op game if you cannot SAVE your co-op game. This is highly misleading, to the point of being a bait and switch to the consumer.

My girlfriend and I game together. Other couples bowl or do karaoke, we play shooters. If Gears of War (1 AND 2) is capable of great story, graphics, and co-op play why couldn't the COD Dev. Team simply include a save option?

Was this arrogance? Do they think that everyone has the time, or the desire to beat the game alone first, only to "UNLOCK" and play the EXACT SAME levels in co-op?

I have written an email to the COD:WAW Support staff demanding a patch or my money back but I doubt that will go far through hose channels.

If you have had the same experience and are upset or feel mislead, please post here. I would like to forward some feedback to Activision (with your permission, of course).

If I sound a little too heated about this it is because I have had this experience over and over again with games that claim to be co-op only to find out they really are not the type of co-op my girlfriend and I can play together on the same couch, in front of the same TV, on the same console. We're crazy like that.

Please post. Thanks

"MISLEADING", "bait and switch to the consumer".... I totally agree.

I just got Call of Duty:World at War to play slit screen coop campaign with my girlfriend and found that you cannot save in coop mode. Also, on COD:WAW, the coop campaign mode does not make use of the full screen. Instead to smaller offset squares are used that reduce the visibility of opponents.

Previously to this we purchased RFOM2 and found that it had NO coop campaign at all. Instead RFOM2 had some sort mission type coop game that was not very satisfying as it had no story line. Additionally in this mode you could not re-attempt the same level if you failed the mission, because it would randomly pick a new map once you failed.

I would love to see more split screen coop campaign games. If they are not fully functional it should be clearly indicated on the box.

Frustrating... Feeling your pain...

Great Split Screen Coop Campaign shooters:
Rainbow Six Vegas 2
Army of Two
Conflict Denied Ops
Haze

We'll make a news post about this on Monday with a little bit of editorializing.

Fellas...while I agree that this is an underhanded and baffling move by Treyarch...this is why Co-Optimus is here.

If you had read our co-op review or listened to our Co-Opticast, you would not have been surprised.
Granted, those were posted a week after release, but unfortunately, we weren't privy to the game in advance; we had to play through like everyone else.

I'm not defending the developers nor the publishers. They cut corners, that much is true. But I can never agree with a consumer that does not do their homework before rushing to buy the latest and greatest game. Tens of thousands of people paid for SOCOM Confrontation before it was released, and it wasn't even playable the first week! They're still complaining over at the PSU forums, and it's been two months.

So while I feel your pain (I bought the game, too), no one is to blame but the one who handed money over without doing any research.

It's not the first time it's happened. Rainbow Six Vegas 2 on the Playstation 3 would'nt allow you to play with 2 profiles on split screen coop, there fore not allowing you to save your progress when the xbox 360 version did allow you to sign in and save. THAT is bait and switch. But for CoDWaW they should've at least taken off the rank floating above your head, that makes you think you can get experience there and level up. And why the hell did they decide to make the screen's smaller instead of just on top of eachother, I have a 47" LCD tv, but we had to literally sit right in front of it to see the guys we're trying to shoot. But for those 2 small negatives, it being the first game in the series to have coop online (2 different modes, 4 players) AND have splitscreen coop is a huge plus to Treyarch.

Wow. I actually think the two smaller screens is more retarded than the no save issue. Yes, I too would prefer to play through a game first time cooperatively. But is this not a 5 hour single player game? A minor distraction. In the time it took you to get pissed, come into this forum, and post about it, you could have been half way through the single player;)

And how much research should a gamer have to do before a game purchase? It sounds like it takes about 2 weeks to get a decent feel for a game before you can purchase it. By then, the forum discussions have dried up and moved to the next game to discuss. Forums are like high school peer pressure. The cool kids get the games and talk about them first. You want to be cool right?

Which is why hype works for the game companies. On kids and adults alike.

txshurricane,

I hear you on both points, Hype! and research.

There has been so much Hype! lately about co-op making a big comeback (I think it was IGN that had an entire issue dedicated to co-op) that I assumed every developer was drinking from the same let's-all-play-togther Kool-Aid.

Me and my significant-other-gamer were still high off this co-op-love-fest when we finished GOW2 together. We couldn't wait to try all the new co-op offerings that came out this November.

What a hangover.

I was completely gullible to the Hype! and I only skimmed your checklist stats of COD:WAW a few weeks back. ...local co-op [CHECK], split screen [CHECK], single player content available in co-op [CHECK]

There was so much hype (GameInformer, IGN, The Internets) that COD:WAW had co-op that I never imagined they would set you up with a split screen campaign mode with no save.

I still don't get what the developers set out to accomplish by doing this. It just feels like a slap in the face to people who game on the same couch together.

But, unfortunately, you are right. I can't just buy a game and trust that "offline 2 player" and "co-op campaign" add up to a split screen campaign mode right out of the box.

I can only wait for a cheat at this point to unlock all the missions so that we can at least mark our own progress. Sucks but, as always, buyer beware.

txshurricane, I'm glad you guys are here. You have saved me and my significant-other-gamer from a lot of heartbreak. I only wish I had waited to read your review–or that Treyarch had simply let us save our game.




...and mitsa, thanks for the heads-up on the other co-op campaign shooters. We haven't tried Haze or Conflict Denied Ops yet. We'll definitely check them out.

Unfortunately, when I did my research for Resistance 2 Co-Optimus did not show up on the search results. Nothing I read online, gave any indication that they removed the coop campaign mode. The research might not have been so good, given that I had played RFOM1 Split Screen Coop to completion and did not expect the game to regress.

It was on the heels of that let down that we tackled Call of Duty-WAW as the only "Coop" game currently out that we did not already own. Again, Co-Optimus did not show on any search result when I did research.

Last night while researching "Call of Duty World at War No Save Coop" is when I got to this website. I am glad I found this post if anything to confirm there are others that feel the same way, spare some gamers the trouble an so that I could vent a little. This website is a great idea, I just wish I had found it earlier.

There seems to be a very deceptive trend regarding split screen coop campaign mode.

With that said, I am looking forward to Killzone 2, and hope there is no funny business in that game's split screen coop campaign. I will absolutely check back to this website in hopes that it can verify if Killzone 2 is on the up and up.

A PARTIAL SOLUTION FOR COD-WAW SPLIT SCREEN COOP CAMPAIGN:
(If you can get over the additional partial use of the screen issue.)
You can download an already completed game-save with all the split screen coop campaign missions unlocked and at least you can replay from the last general mission you reached after turning off the game.

Good point JayK47... COD-WAW is SHORT.
We were half way through the coop campaign on our first sitting before we decided to call it a night. That is when we discovered it did not save your progress.

I wish there was something we could do to petition for better coop campaign games.

Little Big Planet Rocks for couples!

I agree that it is un f$#%ing real that someone would make a split screen co-op mode with no save option. I mean c'mon, wake the f*%# up!!!!!!

i can't beleave i just beat that much with my friend after missioning to rent it please forward this i'm so f-ing pissed off

My brother and I live for co-op. And this game really screwed us both. The only reason we bought it was for the co-op. And we just recently realized that we can't save it after we made it to the fourth level. And we wanted to play split screen on x box live too, and of course you can't do that either. The developers really ruined world at war. Can't save in co op, can't play split screen on x box live, like you could in COD 3. And the 1 player x box live doesn't come close to touching COD 4. The game just sucks for all those reasons. And I want my money back too. Whoever has the power to do it, make sure this message is passed on.

This is weaksauce for sure. There are other games with this issue such as Earth Defense Force and Lego Star Wars II for the 360. I have also heard about this happening with Resistance 2, did that ever get fixed?

It's just plain lack of testing and/or foresight on the part of the developers. The only thing worse than a missing feature is a half-baked one.

As was intelligently noted in the latest co-opticast, it comes down to resources and time constraints. Would the developer rather invest in the online coop/multiplayer or rather focus on local/split-screen multiplayer (they might not have time for both)?

I'm not making excuses or giving the developer a free pass, but ultimately they're not missing this feature in error or in test, they purposefully didn't include it due to running out of time and resources just trying to ship the current game by the goal date.

When XBox first came out, I thought my son would never have any time to spend with dear ol Dad. But then we discovered games with split-screen co-op campaigns. We have been enjoying cooperative campaign play for a while now. The save feature allows us to stop and fullfill my obligation of work and coaching his little league baseball games and flag football games, not to mention his school work. After playing COD:WAW for two hours and deciding to save the war for another day, WOA WHAT NO SAVE !!!! That in my professional opinion really "SUCKS". MINI Split-screen not cool either....(eyes are bad enough) EXCUSE ME for not spending hours of research to find out these minor details....... I smell a "REFUND".

i hate this bs! ........but anyways, do you have to beat the whole game at once in split screen co-op? also, does the online co-op have the save option?...thanks

You can progress however you like, depending on how far the host has gotten in single player mode.
Online co-op has no save, because you can choose any level.

These issues seem like they could be fixed with a patch. The game has been out for a while now. Has a patch fixed the save issue or the split screen issue? Especially the save issue. That should easily be patchable. The game has been on sale quite a bit lately. If a fix is out, I may keep an eye out for a sale.

Does the PC version have online/LAN coop?

This game is just falsely advertised... I bought this game for coop and it basically has a useless feature that they call coop. Truly a rip off for people who only play coop games...

I also find it absurd that you have to complete the game in single player to even be able to play any other maps of the game in their "coop" mode... I dont even play single player. I play only coop or multiplayer...
A typical person doesnt investigate a game.. They see a advertisement on tv or such, it looks cool so they check out the box and purchase it.

Still the game was mishyped for the coop and I and many other people were ripped off. totally uncool and I myself wont ever buy another Activision game period if this is not fixed with a patch....

I agree.


Not entirely true: you don't have to complete the game to play any of the levels. You -- the host of the match -- have to complete up to the level(s) that you want to play. I think this is what you meant, but your wording was just exaggerated.


No offense, but this is why GameStop makes out like a bandit. People buy games without even looking at the box, and then trade them in for a lot less than they're worth.

Activision publishes much more than just action games, especially after the merger with Blizzard. StarCraft, Diablo, Guitar Hero, Warcraft, James Bond...remember that these are all Activision franchises now. Sure, it's aggravating that World at War co-op was gimped...but at least it's there. Same can be said for Fable II.

I highly recommend hanging out a week after a major game release. Check the Co-Optimus review, listen to the podcast, read what people are saying. If you absolutely have to have a game so bad that you'll pay first and ask questions later...well, let's just say that you're a marketing rep's best friend.

Hopefully, we can call this one "lesson learned".