How Does It Play?

The first real show off title on the Xbox 360 turned out to be Call of Duty 2. It had some excellent first generation graphics, decent multiplayer modes and a pretty good single player game to boot. Call of Duty 2 even worn a number of “Game of the year” awards which in turn brought us a recent game of the year edition of the title.

With Call of Duty 3, Activision have taken the game even further than before with more detail, more modes and an improved multiplayer side of the game, but with competition from games such as Rainbow 6, it won’t be in for such an easy ride this time round.

The follow-up to the #1 next-generation game, Call of Duty 3 delivers the intensity of being closer than ever to the fury of combat during the Normandy Breakout, the historic campaign that made the liberation of Paris possible and brought the Allies a step closer to Berlin. Through a seamless narrative that delivers the rush of unrelenting battle and breathtaking action, players assume the roles of four ordinary Allied soldiers—American, British, Canadian and Polish—and are thrust onto an authentic, living battlefield for an unprecedented variety of combat, with advanced high-definition graphics, detailed character animations and explosive on-screen action, delivering the most immersive and cinematically intense war experience ever.

Features:

·         The Power of Next-Gen – Built from the ground-up for next-gen consoles, Call of Duty 3 brings the battle to life with advanced graphics, a new physics engine, a procedural environment and detailed ensemble animations that deliver the most cinematic war experience ever.

·         Battle Actions – An all-new close-quarters battle mechanic allows players to fight hand-to-hand, improvise explosive devices, disarm traps and execute a host of other battlefield situations that require cunning and rapid reflexes to survive.

·         Branching Mission Paths – Next-generation level design provides multiple attack routes that let players decide how to confront the enemy – flank an opponent, or hit him head-on. Each unique mission path requires special tactics, from sniping and demolition to all-out head-on clashes.

·         Nowhere to Hide – Environmental physics allow players to destroy enemy soft cover hideouts, forcing foes out in the open. But be wary, opponents can eliminate your protective cover as well.

·         Team-based Multiplayer with Vehicles – Combined arms and team-based combat provides unprecedented depth and variety by allowing up to 24-players to battle it out online with the option of single or split-screen Internet play. Gamers have the choice to play as infantry or commandeer multiple-occupancy vehicles, including tanks, jeeps, and motorcycles with side-cars, leading to unique mobile combat roles for all-out, multiplayer mayhem. Call of Duty 3 also offers soldier classes, each with class specific abilities, and a ranking system for truly diversified squad combat.

Call of Duty 3 takes place in 1944 during the Normandy Breakout. Once you have landed on the beaches of France the focus was to get the Germans out of France where parts were under Nazi control. Once again like the last game, you take part in various roles in campaigns for America, Britain, Canada and Poland.  Each campaign has different settings and differing storylines, unfortunately I can’t say the story was that great and you didn’t really feel for your fellow troops like you did in the previous game.

The game begins with the usual training mission, though this time it is extremely short and not really work being part of the game, it felt as if it was only there to give a player his first achievement in the game. Mission objectives in Call of Duty 3 are not really any different from most other games, sometimes you are required to get to certain places, sometimes rescue hostages or plant bombs. There was quite a cool addition though where you use your binoculars to mark targets for an air strike; it was a fun feature that really added to the feeling of the war taking place.

Once again I am pleased to say that they have done a great job with the single player side of the game. It is a lot of fun to play, although it does show itself off to be very linear most of the time. The action is still very cool though, especially with some of the set pieces in the game. The game has hyped up how the environment can be damaged, the problem here is that this only seems to happen in set pieces and it’s always damaged in the same way over and over again. It looks great once, but it’s nothing that hasn’t been done in other games already.

The game is, as I have mentioned, full of action, right from the start. The controls are basically the same as before although you will be called into close combat action sequences now and again in which you must do certain moves while fighting a Nazi or rowing a boat. These break up some of the fighting, but they can also be annoying, especially the boat scene which requires you to spin the right thumbstick half way around again and again, this not only causes hand pain, it also doesn’t work as well as it should do. They have also added the ability to drive jeeps, boats and motorcycles, but there isn’t a great deal to say about these as driving full speed will on a set route will get you past any problems on the roads.

Another niggle I have is that while the cutscenes are great to watch the first time (although sadly not in-engine) , if you die and start from the beginning of a level, you HAVE to sit through them again as you can’t skip them, whoever thought this was a good idea should have been included in the game so I could have shot them.

The biggest let down in Call of Duty 3 is on the multiplayer side, why? Well for a start its very buggy and probably should have had an extra month or so of testing and developing. Even now, a month after the official release I still can’t get into or see any of the ranked games. This is something that should never have slipped through Q&A. We are assured that a patch to fix most of the problems is very near to being released, but the damage has already been done to those who got the game early and may well have given up on it by now.

In saying that I have managed to play a few non-ranked games.  There are 9 maps,  most of the games I played in had around 22-24 people in them and it was just running around shooting each other, nothing that advanced in the basic multiplayer game, It was like Halo 2 except it was set it WWII. Some of the maps had good areas for sniping and a slower flow to the game instead of all out shooting.

There are six different match types to take part in, they include Team Battles, Capture the Flag, Headquarters and more. There are also different options for soldiers who want to be a bit more than just a killing machine, you could be a medic who keeps people alive if you wanted to be or a support soldier keeping everyone filled up with ammo. You also have the chance to use the vehicles from the single player game in the multiplayer side too, so you can drive around in Jeeps and Tanks if you want to.

Graphically the game looks good, it’s a slight step up from Call of Duty 2, but not by much, this time round you get to see more detail on troops and enemies thanks to the NASA scanning technology that has been used, this is really where the main update has taken place. There are also extras such as falling leaves from trees, moving grass and flowers too, but overall this isn’t a great step up from before. Sound though is excellent throughout the game, the 5.1 sound is great, especially when you can hear the bullets flying around behind you and explosions vibrating your house! The only bad thing is that once again the accents are not too hot, especially the British ones.

Final Comments

Overall it is once again a game that has some fantastic production values and some great action sequences, but the buggy multiplayer side has been a real let down. Single player mode is good and a slight improvement over Call of Duty 2, but it does have the needless niggles that should never have surfaces. So it is really a great action game, let down by poor multiplayer.

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