Yesterday Activision followed up the circling rumors on Call Of Duty 5 to announce the next chapter in the popular FPS franchise, Call Of Duty : World At War.

This next installment will be akin to Call Of Duty 3, leaving the hands of the series’ original creators Infinity Ward, to be solely developed by Treyarch. While CoD 3 only surfaced on home consoles, this next chapter is scheduled to hit all home consoles as well as PC towards the end of this year.

The first question for most FPS enthusiasts is that of the setting for World At War, unfortunately again heading back to the 40′s in the era of World War II. World War II probably being the most over-used setting for video games ever, World At War will focus on the lesser-known South-Pacific battles putting players in the boots of US and Russian troops.

With a strong focus on Guerrilla warfare and jungle tactics, several new and interesting weapons will be introduced (such as a flamethrower) along new vehicles to control like tanks and trucks. Treyarch are definitely hauling the CoD formula up for this one, with the original Modern Warfare engine looking prettier than ever with a wide range of new particle and meshing effects. Then there’s the other inclusions such as being able to swim and flammable scenery that help add to that iconic CoD immersive action.

Expect to be utilising the familiar perks and leveling experience system from CoD 4 across large scale multiplayer for all platforms, this time including a co-operative campaign mode for 2 player local play or 4 people online. This is definitely an interesting move for the Call Of Duty series, something that may pay off for Treyarch who have a difficult task of creating something comparable to one of the best games last year.

Call Of Duty 3 did quite well and from the above, World At War seems to be a far more ambitious step for Treyarch this time around. Let’s hope it pays off later this year to shape up to anything near Call Of Duty 4.