Review: Call of Duty 3 (360)

After the excellent Call of Duty 2 by Infinity Ward, Gamestyle was really looking forward to the sequel; but when publisher Activision announced Call of Duty 3 was going to be developed by Treyarch instead, many people feared it would become another 'Big Red One' (also developed by Treyarch, and considered to be appalling). Let's see how it turned out in the end...

Call of Duty 3 picks up after the landing at Normandy and focuses on various allied forces as they attempt to run the vile Nazis out of Paris. The game jumps around from army to army, without committing too much time to any specific military force. One minute you're playing a Canadian solider, and the next you're bumping elbows with Scottish infantry (with suspect accents). Along the way you'll get the typical wartime stereotypes: the soldier who doesn't want to fight, the guy who hates working with other countries, and so forth. While it's great to get four different perspectives of the war from Call of Duty 3, you never spend enough time in the standard issue boots of any one soldier to build a bond with them. So what you end up with is a mix of convoluted missions and people that rarely have anything to do with each other. It makes it difficult to care.

Just like in Call of Duty 2, the levels are completely linear. Events are triggered as you advance, which means you're basically fighting wave after wave of Nazis. The main difference between CoD2 and 3's single player campaign are the introduction of mid-game cut scenes which, in our opinion, interrupt the pace of the action too much and can't be skipped either. Another niggle is the omission of the ability to jump over low obstacles; this is a crime, as it was one of the best aspects of its predecessor.

After a few hours of play, it becomes apparent that the single player campaign mode was rushed. You'll face some awkward bugs where your soldier can't walk over wood splinters scattered on the ground, where you get hit by Germans shooting through solid objects like walls and when your AI comrades suddenly drop dead in front of you. The campaign does offer some excellent missions which makes up for the bugs... somewhat; but there's no denying this mode could have done with some more proper play-testing and fixing. Perhaps a delay could have sorted those.

New to the series are the Quick-Time Events (QTE). These are scripted happenings that occur at several determined spots on the maps. One example is when you walk around a corner inside a house - a German soldier will suddenly jump at you, causing a man-to-man struggle where you have to hit the right buttons (indicated on-screen). In other occasions, you have to set up a plastic explosive on an anti-air gun - a nice addition, which won't occur that often, so they don't detract too much from the flow of the game.

Call of Duty 3 is a history lesson on World War II weapons. This is one aspect of playing as four different countries that actually helps the game, as you'll get your hands on all the guns that they used during the conflict. Firing without looking down the barrel can be effective at close range with the right weapon but, more times than not, you're going to have to look down the sights to line up a shot. This is where you really appreciate the different armaments, as each has a different peep sight, range, and accuracy. It's incredibly realistic and you'll undoubtedly fall in love with a few of them, just in time for them to be taken away as you assume control of a new country. However, when compared to CoD2, some of the weapons may not sound and/or feel right. It's not obvious if it's due to the sound effect or the lack of rumble feedback, but they definitely feel 'lighter' than before.

In all, the single-player quest will take you around 10 hours to complete, and on the default difficulty setting, the Nazis offer up little resistance. Most will just stand at their posts, waiting to be killed or toss a grenade or two. Then there's the radar, which constantly shows you where you're supposed to go. The plentiful checkpoints only make the game easier, so we recommend playing it on the harder difficulty settings to get the most out of your purchase.

Call of Duty 2 was a great game, but its multiplayer options were extremely limited, especially for a series that began its life on the PC. Call of Duty 3 certainly fixes that, as it's the closest thing to EA's Battlefield series on any console. Up to 24 players can war it out at once in any of the game's traditional modes like capture the flag, war, (team) deathmatch, headquarters, etc. There are no new earth-shattering modes here, but just getting that many players on a map at once without any lag is an accomplishment. In addition to the traditional on-foot infantry play, you can hop into tanks, jeeps, and motorcycles and speed up the conflict.

There's also a variety of character classes to choose from to ensure that there's a role to play for every type of person. Some of the weapons, especially the rifleman's, may feel a bit imbalanced in multiplayer. Each class has a special ability: Scouts can call for an artillery strike whilst Medics can heal fallen team mates, and Support can drop ammo crates for everyone. It brings extra depth and excitement to the game, and makes it worth buying the game on the multiplayer mode alone.

And with that said, to sum up Call of Duty 3 would be to say it's a mixed bag. The single player game, on the one hand, feels rushed, with bugs all over the place, ropey AI and cut scenes that can't be skipped; on the other hand, it offers some lovely missions and action. Multiplayer is Call of Duty 3's saving grace. Lag-free (24 player) online games, classes and some good (although large) maps with vehicles makes Call of Duty 3 a worthy purchase after all.

Rating: 8 / 10

Words by Richard Meerman