The story for Call of Duty 3 revolves around a region of France called Chamois and portrays one of the big turning points of World War II. You play through the story, flipping from one army to the other and watch as the events play out in front of you. From the time we spent with Call of Duty 3's single player campaign it seemed to be rather meaty. We had an opportunity to play through two levels and it's hard not to be impressed by the variety on offer. The first level required us to hack our way through the German forces. Along the way, many points were captured as we cleaned out houses and structures of enemy forces. The second level actually gives the option of tackling the game in a stealthy manner. Take the right path and you can quietly knock off soldiers from behind. The more you take care of now, the less you have to worry about when the alarm does go off.
One team is in trouble
As has been the case in previous games, Call of Duty 3 relies on scripted phases of play. At least it was done reasonably well, with certain events always happening, but the way that the AI behaves during these events tended to differ. Despite the game being a near final build, there were a few instances where the game demonstrated a need for final touch-ups. They were mainly scripted events and possibly the fine-tuning of some dull AI, amongst others. Whilst the single player campaign is relatively similar to it's predecessor, it's still enjoyable. The controls were quite comfortable and the general atmosphere kept to the series’ standards.
Call of Duty 3 is one the most heavily played games on Xbox Live. We had a chance to play through a couple of the multiplayer levels but we were only able to do so in split-screen. There have been a few additions to the multiplayer side of things. Apart from the standard multiplayer modes, there is a new mode known as War. The primary objective for one team is to capture numerous strategic points on the map and essentially win through domination. This time around it seems like Call of Duty 3 will put a greater emphasis on teamwork.
Now that's teamwork
Furthermore, the game now has a more sophisticated class system with roughly eight different classes. These range from scouts to medics to anti-armour soldiers. Each class has their strengths and weaknesses and the game now has you “ranking up”. For example, as you play as a scout, your rank increases. At lower ranks, the scout can call artillery strikes that will disrupt the field but at higher ranks you can take out entire teams. Cars, tanks and motorbikes have also been added to the game. They handle pretty well and several players can hop on one vehicle. The only issue is that the maps felt like they were a bit too small for the vehicles.
Visually, the game isn’t a significant upgrade from last year’s effort. Things have mainly been tweaked and improved, as well as loosing a bit of the “plastic shine” that plagued early 360 titles. It is noticeable that the game has been built for consoles, rather than being ported off a PC. Call of Duty 3 is still a damn good looking game and continues the unique presentation that sets Call of Duty apart from other WWII shooters. From a sound perspective, it was clear that the game was still a work in progress.
Call of Duty 3 is shaping up to be another good entry into this burgeoning series. While the PC versions have always been a yardstick that the console version couldn’t quite measure up to, this time round, it’s the consoles that take the lead. The single player is shaping up nicely and as long as the multiplayer ships without a few of the bugs that the last one game had, it looks like the multiplayer will once again by the main drawcard.
Looks friggin brilliant. Ignore the screens, when you actually get it you'll be very pleased.
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