World at War is an excellent introductory level wargame with a ton of depth and plenty of replay value.
Gameplay: World at War consists of 4 scenarios. I primarily always did the one which started earliest, in order to have the most time with the game. This scenario starts with the Germans poised to invade France.
Essentially, World at War gives you control of the economic and military might of whatever factions you choose. The AI is intense as well, easily able to outthink a newcomer like myself (thank you for difficulty settings).
The economic dealings are what you will have to do a lot of. Managing your supplies, resources, and factories well leads to many rewards later on. It is imperative to plan ahead several turns so you know what kind of units will be available to you.
For example, if you plan on using Germany and leading a land campaign across Russia, you want to build up Tanks and Infantry as soon as possible to facilitate this occurance.
You can play as Germany, Japan, The Western Allies (USA+Britain, etc.), China, and the Soviet Union. All of these factions provide very different gameplay experiences. I actually had a ton of fun playing as China and trying to fight off Japan's superior forces.
The games can last many, many hours, especially if you take off a time limit and simply play it through to the bitter end.
I think the best thing about the game is exploring different possibilities with World War 2. What if Germany had ignored Russia and focused instead on Africa and Great Britain? What if Japan had launched an attack into Russia at the same time as Germany? What if the US had focused on the War in the Pacific instead of taking care of Germany first?
You can at least somewhat answer these questions as you duke it out with this fairly realistic AI.
The only complaint I have with the game is that it has a very simplistic dimplomacy system, that doesn't allow for any true manipulation of it. I was hoping for at least working out truces, cease fires, and such, but to no avail.
Graphics: The game has what are considered great graphics for a wargame I guess, but comparatively they are mediocre at best. I recommend completely skipping battle animations.
Sound: The sound is again average at best. While the music suits as a good background, it just really doesn't have anything worth mentioning, and the sound effects are merely there to do the job.
Value: This game will satisfy you for entire day-long gaming sessions. I highly recommend it for the money.
Tilt: This is my first wargame, and it has caused me to fall in love with the genre. I would recommend this readily to anyone who is trying to find a beginner level wargame to test out the genre. It is fun that will last for many days.