Call of Duty 3 Review - Xbox 360

8.5

Gameplay: 9
Graphics: 7
Audio: 9
Multiplayer: 8
Innovation: 8

Explosions, violence, tanks and Germans: Call of Duty 3 is all about action. Liberate Paris while you hunt down the Nazi regime, playing out the roles of four soldiers from different nations, America, Britain, Canada and Poland. With a massive arsenal of weapons including most of the guns used in World War II, you find yourself in the midst of battle after battle after battle as you work your way closer to Berlin. Is Call of Duty 3 just another World War II game to join the already inflated list, or does it provide fresh new gameplay?

Gameplay

Call of Duty 3 attempts to redefine World War II combat by incorporating new ways to kill the enemy. In the first mission as you burst through a house, you’re confronted with a German that grabs onto your gun, trying to steal it from you. This is where you learn about the new melee system in place. After a quick button combination, you can kill the soldier by whacking him with your gun, which we found new and refreshing as opposed to the average historical war video game.

The actual field combat is quite similar to the past Call of Duty games. Throwing grenades, shooting your guns, reloading and switching between weapons are still the same as fans will remember. What’s new though, is the way the missions practically play out like a movie, especially when you jump in a vehicle. From the first moment you get to drive a vehicle, Call of Duty 3 really sets on fire. Driving through buildings, Germans, over jumps, and through war camps create massive excitement and a situation that you’ll never want to end. However, when you do end up getting off the vehicle, craving to go further, you’re hit with another epic battle on foot which is probably a lot more entertaining than the real life soldiers found it back in the 1940’s.

Just like Call of Duty 2, there is no health bar. If you get hit too many times at once then you will die and have to resume from the most recent checkpoint, but if you take cover after the corners of the screen get a bit red you can totally rejuvenate your health and jump back in the action. This is very similar to Gears of War, but we feel it worked better in Gears as the enemies take ten or so bullets to die, and they also rejuvenate their health just like you do, which provides more of a challenge when you’re ducking for cover. In Call of Duty 3 you can basically 1-shot all the Germans as long as you hit them where it hurts.

Taking the same path as most games these days, Call of Duty 3 attempts to have the (continued next page)