Call of Duty 2 was one of the more popular launch titles on Microsoft’s Xbox 360 when it launched late last year. Despite problems with its online mode which were later patched – it became the 2005 Game of the Year and was easily the most intense first person shooter on any console. Call of Duty 3 is not developed by Infinity Ward, for whatever reason; but is instead developed by Treyarch – who brought us Call of Duty 2: Big Red One on the original Xbox console. Call of Duty 3 is similar to that of its Xbox 360 predecessor in more than just a few ways, the single player campaign has a similar structure in that you get to control different soldiers, such as a British, American, Canadian and a Polish soldier as you and your squad battle your way through the Normandy Breakout campaign of World War II. Each soldier has their own story as can be seen through the game’s cinematic videos; there is a sort of tug of war throughout the whole campaign as you may defeat the dirty Jerry-rotters in one mission and push them back as you control the area but then this will force the enemy in the direction of either of the American, Canadian or Polish troops and so then you take control as you represent one of those forces and the fight continues. The stories are not of much interest as they are more like mini segments, but they do help give the game more of a cinematic experience as you get to see the emotions of the troops through the game’s cinematic sequences.

Gameplay

Call of Duty 3 appears to be running on the same engine as Infinity Ward’s Call of Duty 2, which was a treat to play in its own right. Treyarch have added some new gameplay features and so called tweaks that should help make the gaming experience much more interactive. New gameplay features and enhancements include directed scenes: which means as you are on a predetermined path an event will trigger like an enemy soldier grabbing you as you move through a doorway or around a corner. You then must wrestle for your rifle which means alternately pressing the left and right triggers until you get the option to attack with one of the face buttons and knock the enemy out with your rifle butt. There aren’t too many of these moments in the game, which is fine as they become very repetitive and are not at all challenging – just a surprise. Another interactive scene is placing explosives, when approaching the area where you must place the explosive controls will appear on screen indicating what to press – which typically involves rotating the right analogue stick to set the timer and press an indicated face button to pull the pin; these are nice touches and do feel like you have more control, but they don’t add anything to the experience as all most people want to do is shoot stuff. One of the new enhancements to the gameplay is auto-aim or sticky aim as it is called in the game, to perform auto aim you must first get the on-screen reticule of your weapon near an enemy target when scoped out; then with a pull of the left trigger you will scope-in and auto target the enemy. The auto-aim will likely annoy Call of Duty veterans who like the challenge of picking off multiple enemies with out any help from the game – the sticky aim feature can be disabled in the options menu of the game. Call of Duty 3 is far too easy on the Normal difficulty setting, especially with the assistance of the sticky aim feature. However, the harder difficulty settings are much more challenging than those from Call of Duty 2, so sticky aim here is much more needed, even more so if you’re taking on Call of Duty 3’s Veteran difficulty setting. Another new enhancement is the grenades; these include hot potato and cooking. Hot potato essentially means returning an enemy grenade before it explodes; when an enemy throws a grenade at you and if you are near it before it explodes you can press X to pick it up and pull the right bumper to throw it back, be quick about it though. Cooking basically means pulling the pin out of a grenade and not throwing it straight away, when you want to cook a grenade, press and hold down the right bumper; there will be an icon on the centre of the screen indicating when the grenade will explode. Cooking is great because if it’s done correctly then it gives the enemy or enemies no time to react to it – normally they would either run away or throw it back to you. The most effective way to play Call of Duty 3 is quite simply finding ‘good’ cover then picking off all the enemies ahead and moving forward to the next area of cover; if you stay out in the open for too long you will be dead within seconds if enemy threats are nearby – the Normal difficulty select is much more forgiving, so when you take damage you know to quickly find cover. The health in Call of Duty 3 is auto regenerative, so you don’t have to worry about being low on health and finding medical packs to replenish it.

One of the major advancements comes in the form of Call of Duty 3’s online multiplayer modes, which now includes vehicles so you can jump on one of the tanks controlled by your buddy and control the turret on top or vice versa. There are a few vehicles in the game which include a jeep with turret – similar to that of the warthog from Halo as you can fill it up with people and have someone firing on the turret; it sure will come in handy for those Capture the Flag game modes. There are currently 9 multiplayer maps in Call of Duty 3 but I’m sure more will be made available through the Xbox Live Marketplace in the near future, some of these maps are quite large so having vehicles to get around on is a must, but you won’t be driving or running around for long before you find someone as online multiplayer supports up to 24 players and there is no major lag issues similar to that which plagued Call of Duty 2’s online experience for many weeks before it eventually got fixed. There are currently 6 modes of play including War, CTF, Single CTF, Headquarters, Battle and Team Battle. The online multiplayer is really a blast to play online and is certainly the best online multiplayer game available currently on the Xbox 360. There are some issues with the single player campaign and online multiplayer. In campaign there are times when enemies can shoot through cover items or even walls, which will become more frustrating if playing on the harder difficulty settings. There are also times when your squad will get too close and often locking you in a position where you can’t move, which may require a restart if they don’t move. One of the other new features in Call of Duty 3 is destructible environments, so grenades will often blow holes in specific walls and items etc but the flying debris at times has a tendency to hit you causing instant death and there are more than a few occasions when I got stuck just walking out in the open with bits of debris on the floor, normally you would just expect to walk over them, this is more of a nuisance than anything though but doesn’t really detract from the gameplay too much.

Graphics

The visual presentation in Call of Duty 3 is simply amazing; there is no frame rate or V-sync problems to report, which seems to be a common problem plaguing Xbox 360 games as of late. While it is identical to Call of Duty 2 in almost every way, it has gone through a major overhaul in the graphics, resulting in the game looking much better than Call of Duty 2, textures are much smoother with less rigged edges and there is certainly more attention to detail in many areas including wrinkles in clothing and much more detailed single player levels and multiplayer maps. One of the other things noticeable is a blur effect when you scope in with your weapon by pressing the left trigger; the centre of the area where your aiming is still sharp and clear but around the edges it’s all blurred/out of focus, which is a good example of the extra attention to detail. Call of Duty 3 is certainly one of the better visually pleasing games on the Xbox 360, perhaps rivalled only by Gears of War; though Call of Duty 3 has a lot going on in the background with enemy and team A.I. all doing their own independent things and seeing all out chaos on the battle fields with explosions going off everywhere and planes flying over head during gameplay; it is truly a sight to see and looks all the more better in high definition. Call of Duty 3 looks very good on any sort of set-up including your old 14” portable television. If you have not experienced gaming in hi-def yet, then there has never been a better time to upgrade. Playing on a HDTV or even a Projector is a much more complete and immersive experience over all.

Sound

Call of Duty 3’s sound effects is much like Call of Duty 2’s which was, excellent. Video game war should not be able to sound this good. Things sound good enough in stereo but if you’re playing the game in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound then you are literally in the middle of war, well at least it will sound like you are. Listen to the groans from behind as you’re fallen comrades are wounded, hear the bullets from the side whizzing past your head as you duck to find your nearest place of cover and listen to the dirty Jerry’s ahead as they talk tactics, not that it’ll give you an advantage though as they’re talking in German, of course. Everything sounds superb from the gunfire to explosions, to the occasional few planes flying over head. Another important thing worth pointing out is the game’s soundtrack, which will kick in at high octane key moments during the course of gameplay. The menu music is not too shabby either. Perhaps one of the more important things worth noting is the general chatter in the game, which will be your squad trying to point you in the right direction or shouting an objective at you. What really adds to the realism of Call of Duty 3 is all of these things combined; hearing the groans and advice from your squad and hearing the enemies shouting and communicating with each other all at the same time during a fire fight with explosions while there are grenades being thrown and planes flying up above. It all sounds chaotic, which is what we imagine battles from World War II would sound like.

Longevity

Call of Duty 3 will be in your Xbox 360 for many more months to come. The game’s achievements are well paced out – you will earn the usual plethora of achievements during single player for the basics like completing campaign and completing campaign on Veteran difficulty and others. A good number of the achievements are also tied into the multiplayer games which range from being on the winning team and getting the most kills on your team in a ranked match to supplying your team mates with ammunition or even reviving fallen online comrades.

Overall

Call of Duty 3 is an immersive game, perhaps the single player is not quite as intense and well thought out as Call of Duty 2’s was, but it is an excellent game in its own right – combine that with the fantastic multiplayer offering then Call of Duty 3 is a must buy for anyone who likes the World War II setting and first person shooter combat. If you have an Xbox Live Gold membership then the online multiplayer alone will keep you hooked for many more months to come.