The holiday season is a time of gift giving and irrational shopping behavior. Many game developers take this opportunity to bombard our senses with new titles to match the mayhem of the season. Unfortunately, some games are left in the dust due to massive pushes and major releases of "must have" hit titles.
Call of Duty 3 is a game well worth the USD $59.99 but so few understand the value of the title due to the over-hype of other games. Yes, Gears of War was great and it boasts graphics that can rival (or beat) Sony PlayStation 3 launch titles. Gears of War is not alone in its quality release.
What makes Call of Duty 3 worth the price?
- Complete multi-player “out of the box”
- An immersive story which makes you feel like your interacting in a History Channel special
- Improved graphics and new features
- Action intense enough to make you wet your pants
Call of Duty 3 is an edge of the seat firefight leading you through some of the nastiest battles to recover France from the German invasion.
History Unleashed
This game is a must have for any history fan. One might consider this an “educational title” for gamers that want to see just what type of action and perseverance the Allied and Axis powers struggled through during World War II.You may think it is easy to wrap a first-person-shooter (FPS) around a World War II campaign. Simply take an FPS and equip the gamer with WWII style weapons and texture them in Allied and Axis uniforms, right?
You would be far from correct. Treyarch, developers of Call of Duty 3, may have been acquired by Activision but they’ve not lost touch with reality: immersive gaming. This product stands out from other FPS games by telling a historical story while allowing the gamer to interact with the story though the eyes of a first-person-shooter.
The cut scenes can occur in the middle of battle, pre-scripted to generate tension amongst your squad and round out the characters personalities. Your squad members aren’t just there to add chaos to the battle; they provide conflict and set the mood of the environment.
Each member of the squad has its own personality. Some are fearful to advance into the line of fire while others push each other around with a cocky attitude. The story unfolds much like a documentary intermingled with an HBO re-enactment of the Great War. You truly feel the pain for some of the characters in their advancement to liberate France.
Call of Duty 3 take place close to the end of Call of Duty 2. We spent hours storming the beaches of Normandy in the “Pointe du Hoc” campaign in CoD2 and you will find yourself in the cities of France battling through waves of German soldiers, sometimes room to room in CoD3.
The Graphics
Call of Duty 3 is a step up from its prior release, Call of Duty 2 in graphic power. The dynamic lighting and textures drop you into a World War II environment from the first mission and keep you feeling like a veteran of the war throughout the game.
The character models are life-like and move fluidly although a few glitches can be seen when you move into a squad member’s “space” where they may have been pre-scripted to go. A few times throughout the missions we found ourselves being pushed into enemy fire because our squad member felt the need to hide behind the same rock as us. This caused a slight shift and bouncing of our camera as we clipped a bit into the ground to “get out of the way” of our party member.
The explosions, crumbling buildings, smoke and muzzle fire were as close to reality as we’ve seen in an FPS to date. Unlike Gears of War which contains fictional weaponry the guns in Call of Duty 3 look and feel like the real thing. Reproducing the effects of such a weapon looks authentic and acts much like the real weapon should act.
Subtle effects have been added to this sequel such as the ability to shoot wine casks and watch the liquid squirt out from the holes. We spent a few minutes utilizing different weapons to validate the effects. Using a shotgun causes many holes to spring open in the cask while a single rifle shot inflicts a single hole. A battle in a wine storage room caused some confusion because we assumed to have downed a “Jerry” and find them still alive and ready to put a bullet in your heart. What we assumed was blood spatter turned out to be wine from the cask the Axis solder was hiding behind!
Toss’n Potato Mashers (Stielgranate)
For those of us that speak a bit of German, it was easy to ready for a grenade toss. While sitting in a foxhole you may hear “Achtung Granate” which is the common phrase just before a grenade (aka Potato Masher) lands by your feet.Unlike Call of Duty 2, we now can pickup the grenade and toss it back at the enemy! Many of us found it easier to run away from the grenade over picking up the “hot potato” and tossing it back at our Axis enemy. However, tossing five of these little guys back at your opponent will unlock an Xbox 360 achievement (if you are playing the game on the Xbox 360 release as we were) so practice made perfect.
This was one of the major features for this single player release. Allowing the gamer to remove the threat of grenade explosions from their position can change the tide of a battle. We spent a great deal of time running from cover in Call of Duty 2 and being shot in the face simply because our AI squad ran from a grenade instead of throwing it back. Now, we can take the responsibility to remove the threat from our area.
The Sound
The World War II environment is best described by the sound. The world’s largest battle was anything but silent and Call of Duty 3 never allows you to forget. You may be crawling through a dark tunnel under a ruined house, but you will know what is taking place outside. Tank treads squeaking across a bridge next door, the constant muzzle fire of an M1A1 Thompson or the German commands shouted by Axis forces one floor above. The sound is intense and immersive.Veterans of Call of Duty 2 will note similar sounds from the prior release. The guns sound as authentic as they did in the past release and Germans shout similar phrases as they advance (“los los los!”).
The GamePlay
Call of Duty 3 was not designed by the same development team as the Call of Duty 2 title. This is apparent in a few areas of the game. Treyarch developed Call of Duty 2: Big Red One so this is not unfamiliar terrain for them – just a bit different from CoD2.Unlike the Xbox 360 version of Call of Duty 2, you cannot “push” your squad out of your way to get through doors. The original title had the ability to click a button to assist in forcing a teammate out of the doorway or foxhole so you could slide through. Unfortunately, this wasn’t added to this title and the result can be devastating.
During an enemy advance it may be vital to move through a doorway to grab cover. When your squad feels the need to block the door to take shots at incoming Axis forces you might find yourself in the middle of a gunfight which is inescapable.
Gameplay is often interrupted by cut scenes to describe the feeling and emotion of your squad and often give direction to your next advancement. Mission cut scenes describe the trials of the Allied forces in their advancement through France, however, you cannot escape the scene and must watch it.
At first, watching a cut scene is not a problem. When you load a previously saved game you must watch the intro mission cut scene again – and we’ve not found a way to escape it regardless to how many buttons we mash. Many of us have seen the scene a dozen times and we just want to load a saved game not watch it another time.
Most of the gameplay works as previous titles and the controller scheme is the same. Old veterans of CoD2 will find the controls easy to grasp (even after days playing Gears of War).
Multi-player
The multi-player aspect rounds out Call of Duty 3. There are seven player classes: Rifleman, Heavy Assault, Light Assault, Scout, Support and Anti-Armor. Each class has traits only they can perform such as shelling a target area with mortar fire or firing a rocket launcher.This release allows for 24 players to take part in a war reenactment on many levels of terrain and game types. Each multi-player game contains three ranks that you can obtain by capturing bases or killing enemies. As your rank increases you will be granted special abilities or additional ammunition to assist in your conquest of domination. The ranks clear after each match.
Of course, you can obtain TrueSkill ranking using true “ranked matches” and unlock achievements by becoming a true master of multi-player.
The multi-player maps contain a number of drivable vehicles (similar to BattleField 2) such as the tanks, jeeps and motorcycles. Most are equipped with at least one high powered weapon and some allow for multiple squad mates.
Multi-player is addictive and fun right out of the box, unlike many games released today. Call of Duty 2 is well known for its “patch” to the multi-player environment to make the system usable. However, there is one blocking bug which causes heartburn for many games, the “no game sessions are available” error which has burned us many times. You may see this error when you join a game after receiving an invitation to then be told the game doesn’t exist. Frustrating.
Along with a few other glitches or balance issues the multi-player aspect is top notch compared to many FPS titles. Hopefully a patch arrives soon to address the current list of issues.
Overall
The game is a solid winner with hours of play, multiple levels of difficulty and achievements that are actually challenging. The achievements are split between single player and multiplayer which require a gamer to master all facets of the game to complete 100% of the available achievements.
The graphics are beautiful and not “drab dark and dreary” like the Gears of War alternative and the storytelling and historical aspects are impressive and in-depth. This isn’t yet another FPS game - but a game which makes you feel as if you’re experiencing a History Channel documentary first hand.
Despite the hype and rise of Gears of War… Call of Duty 3 – You are not forgotten.
Rating: BUY.
