Call of Duty® 3 Review. On The Move with More Tactics and Aggression

Call of Duty 3 can be described as a battle-inundated, loud, puritan, and almost refreshing addition to the World War 2 game genre, and is a worthy addition and noble predecessor to the modern COD franchise.

Graphics: 3.5

The biggest issue I have with the graphics is the constant dipping of framerate. Your movement will be quick and then awkwardly slow in a second. The character moves like a bopping rhino regardless of whether the terrain is flat or rocky. The action scenes and environment are good enough though, and you’ll get a little sentimental about war when you see yourself being tossed up like a ragdoll when a grenade detonates.

Gameplay: 4.0

COD 3 is based on the 1944 Normandy Breakout, with American, French, Polish and Canadian forces fighting to get axis forces led by Germany out of France and liberate Paris. The game is based on a single campaign mode, with the player alternating between these various country ranks in different legs of the campaign. The story is divided into 14 different chapters, with cinematic cut-scenes linking each leg. Some missions may offer alternative routes to achieving objectives which breaks the linear monotony of the game.

As you take the heat, the screen around you turns crimson, and there isn’t any health bar provided, so you have to know when to take cover to get back to max. The game begins with a training session where you are taught how to fire weapons and throw grenades. The end of your training sees you driving a truck into an intense cemetery battle.

AI enemies in COD 3 are quite tactical and attack in numbers, so you always need to be on the move.

Controls: 4.0

In COD 3, there are new action events where you have to input combinations on the screen. This isn’t particularly difficult but also gives a fresh kind of play in contrast with its predecessors. Rotating the right analog stick performs a melee attack, although the response time is terrible. You can press the RT button which lets you cook the grenade as close as possible to detonation before launching it. Overall, I’d say the controls are quite fluid.

Replay Value 3.5

Due to the ingenuity of its time, the angles of WW2 from different Allied perspectives, the various difficulty modes and some of the cut-throat battle sequences, I’d certainly replay this game. The single player campaign occasionally gets a bit boring, and the multiplayer isn’t all that riveting. I have some issues with the lackluster storyline which is supposed to be the focal point of the campaign too.

Conclusion

With COD 3, victory in Paris is assured. In fact, for experienced players, the campaign shouldn’t take anything more than 7 hours. The goal is to move and clear out of a battle as quickly as possible. Newer CODs have upped the ante in terms of both graphics and mechanics, and the first two instalments had memorable gameplay. COD 3 might have lost the battle for a place in gameplay memory.