Call Of Duty 3 Review

The sequel to Call of Duty 2: Big Red One hits current-generation consoles. While Call of Duty 2 on the Xbox 360 was developed by Infinity Ward and based on the PC version, current-generation consoles had an exclusive game developed by Treyarch. Now that the developer is responsible for Call of Duty 3 across the board, Call of Duty 3 on current-generation consoles is similar to the next-generation outing with the expected concessions due to hardware limitations.

Call of Duty 3 focuses on the Normandy Breakout including D-day and the liberation of Paris. The game has a comprehensive retelling of the events that occurred during this time period. It does this, in part, by allowing you to play as officers in the American, British, Polish and Canadian forces. But although the story is comprehensive and lets you see that the war involved many men and countries, it isn’t particularly interesting. One cool thing about Call of Duty 3 is that the game has minimal loading between missions on the Xbox and a bit longer on PlayStation 2 but not enough to stop the game from playing like one (nearly) seamless experience.

Call of Duty 3 plays a lot like PC and Xbox 360 prequel but still similar to the last current-generation console outing. The actual gameplay mechanics—shooting, throwing grenades, taking cover, etc—are exactly the same as they were on Call of Duty 2. This is still the very realistic depiction of war that the previous games have gotten you used to. You’re still experiencing extravagant scripted events, gunning down enemy soldiers, and taking cover to avoid getting gunned down yourself. Call of Duty 3 chooses to make the action even more intense than it was before. While the series has always been noteworthy for recreating the feeling of being in a real battlefield, Call of Duty 3 is definitely the closest it has come so far. It has a bigger than life feeling that really makes you feel like you’re part of a bigger picture.

There is never a boring a moment in Call of Duty 3. Whether you’re trying to find cover to save your life or shooting away at enemies, the game always keeps you busy. The actual mission objectives are actually fairly straightforward. Most of them have you getting from one point to another. Sometimes you’ll assist other players by manning stationary guns. There are a few missions where you’ll use vehicles to drive other players to safety while avoiding getting shot. Fortunately, Treyarch was able to recreate this experience on the current-generation consoles since the actual mission structure is the same across the board.

Call of Duty 3 has an improved multiplayer component. On the Xbox, the most obvious difference is that the game now supports multiplayer for up to 16 players (compared to 8 last year and 24 on the Xbox 360). The game includes many multiplayer maps and six match types including capture the flag and team battles. The multiplayer mode now uses classes for your characters so you’ll have options including antitank (armed with heavy machinery), medic (can revive players), support (have tons of ammo at your disposal), light infantry, heavy infantry and others. A few of those classes (notably support and medic) will probably go underused but they’re nice to have nonetheless. The different classes have a few special skills but mostly differ in their initial weapons load. Another noticeable change is that the game now includes vehicles. Many vehicles allow for a driver, passenger, and third person manning the weapon.

Call of Duty 3 is one of the best-looking Xbox 360 games available. Understandably, some of this was sacrificed so the game could run on PlayStation 2 and Xbox. The character models look great, the environments are much more detailed than they were in Big Red One, the foliage looks better, and the smoke and particle effects were improved. Expectedly, the Xbox version looks better than the PS2 version in the form of better looking textures, quicker loading, and a more stable framerate.

Treyarch did an amazing job of porting the audio. The soundtrack, performed by the Slovak Symphony Orchestra, is epic, ambitious and perfectly fitting for the game. The sound effects, particularly if played in surround sound, are equally impressive and really recreate the chaotic feeling of war. The voice acting is similarly amazing as you hear your squadmates talk and give you directions or hear enemies scrambling to save their lives. The Xbox version sounds just a touch better thanks to the Dolby Digital use but the PlayStation 2’s Pro Logic II isn’t far behind.

Call of Duty 3 on current-generation is an amazing port of the Xbox 360 game. Treyarch put in a lot of work to make this one of the most technically impressive games on both the Xbox and PlayStation 2. The Xbox 360 version still has larger levels, more characters onscreen, and significantly better graphics but the current-generation versions are no slouch. This is a markedly better game than Call of Duty 2: Big Red One and the finest World War II gameplay on the current-generation consoles.

Score

9/10

Sono Dhillon

Avplay review.