Introduction

The Call of Duty franchise has captivated our hearts here at FiringSquad through two major games and an expansion. Of course, this doesn’t count console efforts, since… well… when do console efforts count, really? Sadly, Call of Duty 3 is going to be on consoles only – Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, Xbox, and PS2. Activision and developer Treyarch claim that the engine is quite flexible and can handle the variety of hardware quite well. Based on what we saw on the Xbox 360, we can at least say that it runs smoothly and looks good on the 360. How it will scale down to current-generation hardware is something we’ll have to see later on.

Players will take control of four Allied soldiers over the course of the campaign, British, American, Canadian, and Polish. Yes, Polish. Being a proud Pole, I’ll be happy to let you know that Polish troops continued to fight well after Poland itself surrendered after its 4-week battle against Germany and the Soviet Union. After diversions in Siberia, Palestine, or Romania, Polish troops eventually found their way to all fronts of the war – eastern, Mediterranean, and western. After the fall of France in 6 weeks, they went to North Africa and Britain to regroup for the invasions of Italy and Normandy. Oh, and on an unrelated note, Polish pilots accounted for 15% of all Luftwaffe losses during the Battle of Britain, despite starting the battle late and flying the outdated Hurricane fighters.

Call of Duty 3 looks better than Call of Duty 2, naturally. The engine makes more use of shaders and has cool effects like depth-of-field, which simulates your ability to focus only at a certain distance. If you’re targeting something far away, the objects near you will be blurred, and vice-versa. It definitely adds to the atmosphere, as do the new weather effects and improved ground cover.

Missions now boast various paths to get through them. Though we didn’t spend much time with the singleplayer game, the developers assure us that the ability to flank the opponent or attack him head-on is now more common, and each favors certain weapons and play styles.

Battle actions spice up gameplay a bit. They’re most noticeable in melee combat, which is more involved and chaotic now, but the actions are also present in planting explosives, for example. You no longer hold a key down for a certain period of time to place the charge. Now you hold one button, then flip another, then rotate your thumbstick – all of these simulate the various steps involved in setting a charge.


A pleasant surprise is the addition of vehicles to multiplayer. Tanks, jeeps and motorcycles are available in certain maps. They control in a fashion similar to United Offensive, with 1st- or 3rd-person view available. Tanks are armed with their main cannons, co-axial machine guns and a top-mounted machine gun that can be fired by a second crewer. Anti-tank weapons are available to the proper classes, but as long as you have a grenade, you can actually take a tank out by sneaking up behind it and dropping a grenade down the hatch.

The multiplayer action was quite fast and frantic, surprisingly so for a console game. Vehicles served a purpose even when they weren’t tanks; Jeeps are useful at providing suppressive fire thanks to their mounted machine guns. One map we played on even had a jump across a broken bridge for the jeeps and kubelwagons. Much fun was had by all as I died mid-air to a sniper shot and my jeep still managed to take out two infantry trying to cross the bridge. A good combination of classes is vital for success. A team needs medics to revive fallen soldiers, machine gunners for suppressive fire, soldiers for assault work, snipers to call in artillery and pick off cappers or flag runners.

Call of Duty 3 is expected in stores later this year.