RAID: World War II

Raid: WWII is a monotonous, dated co-op shooter. It can be fun with a crew of friends, but there are better options.

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"RAID: World War II is a intense 4-player co-op shooter set in WWII, where players work together to thwart the Nazi regime and steal their gold. As prisoners of war, players must fight without mercy in various missions across Europe. Comedy legend John Cleese plays Control, a British Intelligence Agent assisting the team."

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Reviews

64%

Audience ScoreBased on 1,369 reviews

story56 positive mentions

graphics59 negative mentions

The game has improved significantly since its initial release, with dedicated developers actively working on updates and fixes.
Gameplay is fun and engaging, especially when played with friends, offering a unique twist on the Payday formula.
The character interactions and humorous cutscenes, particularly with John Cleese, add charm and entertainment value.

The game suffers from a lack of content, with only a handful of missions and a grindy progression system that can feel tedious.
Graphics and performance issues are prevalent, with many players experiencing crashes and low frame rates.
The AI, both friendly and enemy, is often criticized for being unresponsive and poorly designed, leading to frustrating gameplay experiences.

story
388 mentions
14 % positive mentions
78 % neutral mentions
8 % negative mentions
The game's story is minimal and primarily revolves around a series of missions set during World War II, where players engage in various objectives against Nazi forces, often with humorous cutscenes featuring Hitler's exaggerated reactions to their successes or failures. While the missions offer some variety and can be enjoyable, they often lack depth and coherence, feeling more like a collection of repetitive tasks rather than a cohesive narrative. Overall, players seeking a rich story may be disappointed, as the focus is more on gameplay mechanics and mission objectives than on storytelling.
- “The characters actually speak and banter throughout the missions, unlike in Payday, which is honestly a super lovely touch.”
- “The missions that really shine for me are the ones that have a passable story for me, a good atmosphere, like Wiretap and Odin's Fall for example.”
- “After every mission, you get an FMV cutscene showing Hitler's reaction to the heist you just pulled, and him overreacting is absolute gold.”
- “The game lacks any real story besides short cutscenes.”
- “The missions themselves are rather boring; it usually ranges from going into a location and killing someone, destroying something, or stealing something.”
- “The missions were a heavy downgrade from Payday 2 with no complexity to them.”
gameplay
252 mentions
20 % positive mentions
66 % neutral mentions
14 % negative mentions
The gameplay of "Raid: WWII" has drawn mixed reviews, with many players noting its similarities to "Payday 2" while also highlighting significant differences in mechanics and overall experience. While some appreciate the fun, cooperative nature and unique elements like the card system, others criticize the repetitive gameplay, poor AI, and lack of optimization, leading to a less satisfying experience compared to its predecessor. Overall, the game offers a blend of familiar mechanics and new twists, but suffers from issues that detract from its potential enjoyment.
- “The skill system has been overhauled and makes a lot more sense now; you don't need a million mods in order to have a stable game, and the overall gameplay is wonderful.”
- “The gameplay is challenging, and you will need your teammates to survive.”
- “Overall, this game is different from Payday 2 and brings a fresh feel to the gameplay.”
- “The gameplay is boring and uninspired; it's like a modding team with no experience tried to make a full conversion of Payday 2 into a WWII shooter and then gave up halfway through.”
- “Gameplay-wise it is the same as Payday: The Heist (not Payday 2) and as a result you might see yourself get downed a few times on normal.”
- “The gameplay itself sits somewhere between Payday 1 and Payday 2 type heister gameplay, with some very refreshing to see changes.”
graphics
211 mentions
14 % positive mentions
58 % neutral mentions
28 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game have been widely criticized as outdated and subpar, often compared to titles from the early 2000s, with many reviewers noting that they resemble those of games like "Payday 2" or even older titles. While some players appreciate the aesthetic and art direction, the general consensus is that the visuals are a significant drawback, detracting from the overall experience and making the game feel less polished. Despite the dated graphics, a few players argue that the gameplay can still be enjoyable if one can overlook the visual shortcomings.
- “The graphics are amazing-ly bad for a 2017 release, and it's just simply: not fun.”
- “While the graphics can be better, I think that in the stage they are now they are fully acceptable.”
- “The graphics also fit the atmosphere and time very well.”
- “The graphics are atrocious with crappy textures, horrible animations, a blurry (thanks to just FXAA being available) ugly mess.”
- “The graphics are a major downfall for it, and the amount of content currently available, with the current tier of graphics (HL2 era), does not make it worth the price.”
- “The graphics look like they are 15 years out of date, and that is just not any good, the camera angle is locked straight in the middle of the chest, so much in fact that if you play with a buddy and go real close in for a look at him you can actually see the underside of his chin above you.”
humor
78 mentions
97 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
3 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is widely praised for its campy, over-the-top style, featuring hilarious cutscenes, particularly those involving Hitler, which provide comedic relief after missions. Players enjoy the witty banter among characters and the absurdity of the gameplay, likening it to a darkly humorous take on WWII heists. While some find the humor repetitive, many appreciate the lighthearted approach and the engaging voice acting, especially from John Cleese, contributing to an overall entertaining experience.
- “The dialogue and interactions between characters are fun, and the game has a great sense of humor that came as an enjoyable surprise to me!”
- “The end of raid Hitler cutscenes are always hilarious, John Cleese is a gem to have around.”
- “It's a fun, cooperative game with dark humor that takes place in WWII where you play as wacky characters as you rob the Nazis.”
- “After every mission (and no, you can't turn it off), the game loads an incredibly cringy, terribly unfunny, horrendously 'acted' video where Adolf does something.”
grinding
68 mentions
0 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
100 % negative mentions
The reviews highlight a pervasive issue with grinding in the game, describing it as tedious and frustrating, particularly at higher difficulty levels. Players note that leveling up and unlocking weapon upgrades require excessive grinding, often leading to a repetitive gameplay experience that detracts from overall enjoyment. While some acknowledge potential improvements and the possibility of fun in cooperative play, the overwhelming sentiment is that the grinding mechanics are overly burdensome and diminish the game's appeal.
- “It's fucking absurd how grindy it is and rivals free-to-play titles in that regard.”
- “Leveling up/unlocking new gun upgrades gets tedious and boring, especially for higher tiers (like having to kill 500+ enemies via hip firing a gun to unlock a stability upgrade for example).”
- “In short, the game's system of progress has too much of a grinding formula that rewards are little with gameplay that starts becoming repetitive and functions worse than games that are older but with the same graphics and engine.”
stability
53 mentions
6 % positive mentions
-4 % neutral mentions
98 % negative mentions
The stability of the game has been a significant concern among users, with many reporting persistent bugs, crashes, and desynchronization issues, particularly in multiplayer modes. While some players note improvements since earlier updates, the game is still described as "very buggy" and "unfinished," with various glitches affecting gameplay and AI behavior. Overall, while there are signs of progress, the game's stability remains a major drawback, reminiscent of the early days of its predecessor, Payday 2.
- “For me, the game runs great on the highest settings.”
- “I haven't experienced any crashes or major bugs, which is impressive.”
- “The performance is smooth, even during intense gameplay moments.”
- “Very buggy, likes to freeze and crash on occasion, some multiplayer syncing issues, and there have been instances of player progression resetting.”
- “Broken on launch, low performance, incredibly buggy and unplayable.”
- “The game essentially takes all the bad things from both the original and sequel Payday games, mixes them together, and produces a buggy mess of a game that plays very choppy and flows as well as a dam blocked stream.”
music
53 mentions
23 % positive mentions
66 % neutral mentions
11 % negative mentions
The music in the game has received mixed reviews, with many players finding it generic, repetitive, and uninspired compared to the high-energy soundtracks of games like Payday 2. While some appreciate the orchestral elements that evoke a classic war movie atmosphere, others feel it lacks the adrenaline-pumping intensity needed for a heist game, often describing it as boring and forgettable. Overall, the soundtrack does not seem to enhance the gameplay experience significantly, leaving players wanting more variety and excitement.
- “The operations have an old-fashioned war movie atmosphere that, coupled with the orchestral soundtrack, make them feel straight out of films like The Dirty Dozen and Kelly's Heroes.”
- “This game is very fun, has a great soundtrack and very fun missions, can't wait for future updates!”
- “Killing Nazis, pissing off Hitler, stealing gold, amazing soundtrack.”
- “First mission is already boring as hell, and the music is repetitive in the worst kind of way with bad looping.”
- “It's the most bland, uninspired, and boring music ever found in a war game.”
- “The payday 2 soundtrack would hype you up for the heist, whereas this soundtrack puts you to sleep and is very repetitive.”
optimization
48 mentions
17 % positive mentions
42 % neutral mentions
42 % negative mentions
The game's optimization has seen significant improvements since its rocky launch nearly seven years ago, with recent updates addressing many performance issues and stuttering. However, numerous players still report ongoing problems, including crashes, long loading times, and poor performance on various systems, suggesting that while some progress has been made, substantial optimization challenges remain. Overall, opinions are mixed, with some praising the current performance while others criticize the game's outdated engine and persistent bugs.
- “Released almost 7 years ago, this game continues to receive updates and improvements from the devs. While it had a rocky start, the performance has vastly improved, and it runs smoothly now.”
- “There have been a few performance and quality of life updates recently (17/07/23), which is always a plus.”
- “[*] Optimization has been improved drastically.”
- “Ugly graphics, infinite loading screens, constant crashes, bad optimization, bag moving simulator, no Steam cloud.”
- “Literally, the game is not optimized when there are paydays. Every mechanic of this game is from Payday, but just worse with graphics and gameplay. Holy shit, the game is badly optimized; this should be free for Payday 2 owners.”
- “I will never recommend this game since it runs poorly on an old engine and there are a lot of bugs and stuttering, which I don't expect from an established game developer.”
replayability
23 mentions
26 % positive mentions
57 % neutral mentions
17 % negative mentions
Overall, the game's replayability is a mixed bag; while many players appreciate the fun objectives, engaging gunplay, and flexible skill system that encourage experimentation, others feel that certain elements, particularly the raids, lack sufficient challenge and variety to sustain long-term interest. Some users highlight the potential for replayability through randomized elements and character customization, but others express disappointment in the limited number of missions and the need for more content to enhance replay value.
- “With the revamped skill system that is flexible enough to allow for experimentation, the different classes, the solid array of guns (all of which feel unique and viable), and the amount of stuff that can be obtained with gold, the game is certainly not lacking for some replayability.”
- “All content is designed to be thoroughly replayable.”
- “Cards give a ton of replayability value to the game, and can result in some extremely fun situations.”
- “Sadly lacking in replayability, though I'd still recommend you pick this up when it's on sale.”
- “This game is really bad; there is close to no replayability to most of the missions in this, and there are like 10 of them.”
- “However, comparing to Payday, replayability is cut by half.”
monetization
18 mentions
6 % positive mentions
6 % neutral mentions
89 % negative mentions
The monetization aspect of the game has been heavily criticized, with many users labeling it a "cash grab" due to poor advertising strategies and a lack of communication during its launch. Players express frustration over misleading ads and the absence of microtransactions at release, which they feel contributed to a low player base and overall dissatisfaction. The game's marketing efforts are seen as ineffective, primarily targeting a narrow audience without successfully engaging broader potential players.
- “+ no microtransactions at time of release”
- “Raid: World War II feels like a low-effort cash grab.”
- “They want you to join their group so they can use it to spam advertisements for their next cash grab title, like they used the Payday 2 group to advertise this rubbish.”
- “Discover the origin story of a cash grab and begin to unravel the plot of the legendary Starbreeze/LGL money laundering scheme.”
atmosphere
9 mentions
44 % positive mentions
22 % neutral mentions
33 % negative mentions
The atmosphere of the game is praised for its effective blend of panic and urgency, reminiscent of classic war films, enhanced by a strong orchestral soundtrack and distinct voice acting that adds depth to character interactions. While some missions excel in creating an engaging ambiance, the overall graphics are considered outdated, leading to mixed feelings about the game's immersive qualities. Despite these criticisms, the unique personality and humor embedded in the WWII setting contribute positively to the overall experience.
- “The atmosphere of those moments in particular is really well done, creating just enough panic to get the whole team moving quickly.”
- “The operations have an old-fashioned war movie atmosphere that, coupled with the orchestral soundtrack, makes them feel straight out of films like The Dirty Dozen and Kelly's Heroes.”
- “The graphics also fit the atmosphere and time very well.”
- “The graphics feel outdated, the game lacks atmosphere and overall, I've yet to feel any sense of achievement for finishing a raid.”
- “The operations have an old-fashioned war movie atmosphere that, coupled with the orchestral soundtrack, make them feel straight out of films like The Dirty Dozen and Kelly's Heroes.”
- “The voice acting of the playable characters is consistently good, and unlike PD2, they all have distinct and consistent personalities that help maintain a self-aware, overdramatic atmosphere that, when it isn't overshadowed by something else, is well done.”
emotional
3 mentions
100 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
0 % negative mentions
Players express a mix of emotions regarding the game, with some feeling heartened by its growth in player base, while others describe it as lacking depth and evoking feelings of sadness. The emotional responses highlight a sense of nostalgia and attachment, contrasting with disappointment in the game's current state.
- “It may not be much, but seeing the game go from peaking at 5 players to holding a modest player base of 100-150 players off the update is kind of heartwarming, in a way.”
- “Incessantly, I played Payday 2, reminding myself that even a spectacular and mentally wholesome game such as Raid: World War II has to undergo production from time to time and maybe I also didn't know about it for several years.”