Still The Best World War II Game

By Thomas Machuca

There are a handful of games that I can vividly remember wasting away loads of my time in front of the dull glowing screen that is my computer, one of which was Call of Duty. 

The original game raised the bar on World War II games and once again with the third installation to the Call of Duty series, Call of Duty 3, I can see it happening all over again with one slight difference – now it’s the dull glowing screen of my television.

Treyarch, the creators of Call of Duty: Big Red One, have taken over the reigns for Call of Duty 3 (CoD3), and those who played Big Red One on the Playstation 2 should know that this can only mean an experience that won’t disappoint.

Call of Duty 3 is a first-person shoot 'em up in the vein of Quake or Unreal, only instead of a sci-fi setting the backdrop is a war-gripped Europe, complete with crumbling buildings, burning fields and lots of other rather dour scenes. 

The game centres on the combat during the Normandy Breakout, the historic campaign that made the liberation of Paris possible and brought the allies one step closer to Berlin. Although the storyline might not be completely engaging it still delivers the rush of unrelenting battle and breathtaking action that make these games so addictive. 

Players assume the roles of four ordinary Allied soldiers: American, British, Canadian and Polish. This brings variety to the table as we have yet to play as the Canadian or Polish forces in the Call of Duty games, and also because each country has their own unique fighting tactics, weapons, and objectives. For example the Polish have their armored division which you have the honour to join as they roll across enemy lines.

There are a total of 14 single player missions which you can go back and play on any difficulty from the main menu, once you have completed them of course. 

The first mission starts off with your run-of-the-mill tutorial and gets you through the basics of the game. If you played Big Red One you already know the controls, but even if you haven’t you’ll get the hang of them in no time. 

There are some neat new features in CoD3, like the ability to ‘cook’ your grenade, so as to make it explode almost on impact, and the ability to throw them back at your screaming enemies watching them scuttle back in disbelief… Don’t get cocky though, as they can also throw back yours.

Following you through the single-player missions are your squad of CPU-controlled soldiers and although at certain times you are able to just run-and-gun through a level, most of the time you will be finding cover and remaining there while picking off enemies until you can advance to more cover to do the same. 

Like the previous Call of Duty games, this one is again dripping with atmosphere. From having a platoon of soldiers calling out enemy positions, to the immense sound effects that add oomph to the shaking ground, it's a very involving game. 

The phone could be ringing, your meat pie could be burning in the oven, but it's hard to stop playing when in the midst of battle.

Just like the previous titles you cannot go crazy with your shotgun on your teammates (no matter how annoying they may be), except this time around you are given a bit of leeway -the level won’t automatically end if one of your bullets find a comrade in the heat of battle.

On the default difficulty setting the game is pretty easy, especially for people who are quite familiar with FPSs; clocking the game in around 8 hours or less is what you would be looking at when playing at this difficulty. 

For those who want a challenge, it’s a must to play the game on either hard or veteran. The action becomes unrelenting, and all the more addictive. On the veteran difficulty your enemies do a better job of taking cover, varying attack patterns, and acting aggressively with grenades. They are still competent on lower difficulties but just not as smart and not as quick to react.

Mission objectives are like any other World War II game; sometimes you'll simply need to get from point A to point B, while other times you’ll need to defend an area from attack, or plant explosives. It rarely gets boring and the developers should be given praise for keeping things fresh right the way through.

You’ll also have to use your binoculars to mark targets for air strikes which is very cool, plus you'll to man stationary guns, and even ride in the back of a jeep and pick off bad guys with the jeep’s machine gun. 

Rather than a single path to success, there are multiple ways to approach missions, which isn't novel, but it is very welcome. Sometimes the game presents you with clear-cut options, while other times you’ll have to find them on your own (each objective is shown as a star on your radar, making them easy to find even in the heat of battle).

Does the idea of regularly collecting a little white box with a red cross slapped on it that miraculously heals your character in every game, no questions asked, irritate you? If so, then you will prefer the way the health system works in Call of Duty 3. There is no health bar in sight; you must watch your screen. If you get shot, the screen shakes and blurs and most visually prominent is the reddening around the sides of the screen. The more you get shot, the more the effects worsen and eventually you succumb to the fire. Death by red border!

But if you can find cover and hide away for a few moments you will usually come to, and this is one of the best features of the game, one which adds a painful level realism to the gameplay that a white box with a red cross slapped on it never could.

Another cool aspect of the game - and entirely new in the Call of Duty franchise - are the close combat parts of the gameplay. They are obviously scripted but they are fun to play and visually appealing. The way it works is that an enemy will surprise you, for instance, by smacking you with the butt of his gun when you turn a corner or by suddenly chocking you with it after you have just sneaked into a house, and you must then respond by alternating button pushes and pressing certain buttons at specific times to escape. 

While these scenes are a rare occurrence throughout the entire game, I feel as though they brought a nice dynamic to the game and kept it fresh by breaking it up from its usual run-and-gun, find-cover, lob-grenade gameplay.

These scripted scenes are also evident when you are doing such mundane tasks such as planting explosives and working machinery. It makes them a bit more exciting with the loud thumping of your heart, yet simultaneously, these 'button mashing' moments are way too easy and after awhile they just become tedious as they start to feel like a waste of your time.

Not all of the game’s action takes place on foot either. There are a few missions that take place with you commanding a tank or driving a jeep or manning a gun on a number of different vehicles, and they are some of the highlights of the game as there's always a lot of carnage and destruction. So, the single player game is better than it's ever been, with new features, new campaigns, and plenty of frenetic gunplay - but what about the multiplayer side of the game? Any shooter worth its salt these days must have a multiplayer option to increase its long term play.

I wasn't expecting much, because I thought something was missing from its predecessor. Call of Duty 2's multiplayer experience was average. 

In Call of Duty 3 this has been addressed. It is now somewhat like the Battlefield series, where unlike previous installments where you would select a team and weapon, you now choose a class of character thus defining both the weaponry and the abilities that he or she will be allowed to execute. There are seven character classes: 

• Rifleman

• Light Assault

• Heavy Assault

• Medic

• Scout

• Support

• Anti-Armour

All of these character classes which have special abilities, for example, the Medic has the ability to heal, the Support has the ability to deliver ammo, and the Anti-Armour fellows have dirty great big rocket launchers, perfect for taking out tanks driven by your human foes.

It is possible to change your character class after each death during a multiplayer game, and success with a certain class will lead to upgrades with that character during a single game as well, so it pays off playing wisely (and consistently).

The Playstation 2 version of the game can accommodate up to 16 players at once and there are seven multiplayer maps that you can play on. Some of these levels even have vehicles which brings a completely different strategy to the game - facing down a tank with a machine gun and a huge cannon with just a shotgun can be very intimidating. 

Six different match types are available for play, including Battle (your standard deathmatch), Team Battle, Capture the Flag, Team Capture the Flag, Headquarters, and a War mode that designates a random zone that each team must capture and protect for as long as possible.

The only downside with the online aspect is that the frame rate becomes slow and choppy at certain times, but it is still quite playable. And these things do depend on bandwidth and location, so your experience might vary from mine.

Call of Duty 3’s graphics are an improvement from Call of Duty 2, although for us Sony Playstation gamers it pays to not to look at the next-gen versions of this title as you will be disappointed that you are playing such a bland and washed out game in comparison. For a Playstation 2 game it looks really nice; explosions and the smoke grenades look awesome and the levels are comprised of semi-destructible environments which are always fun to blow up and watch. It could be said that everything is dull, browns and grays, but we are talking about WWII in Western Europe. Go play Mario if you want colourful. And I have to say that occasionally the game had some frame rate issues, but nothing that greatly detracted from my overall gaming experience.

Music and sound effects? Superb. I’m too poor to have a 5.1 surround sound setup but I know people who do have top shelf audio systems, and if you play with 5.1 surround sound your head will explode… Literally. My source is actually a mortician. 

Though the graphics are not second rate, it's the audio that gives the game its atmospheric feel. From explosions that crack too close and war planes flying overhead, toyour fellow soldiers yelling at you from all directions and bullets whizzing past your head and embedding in trees, all of it adds a level of involvement that must be experienced fist hand. 

And the music just tops the load. Joel Goldsmith (Star Trek: First Contact, Stargate SG-1) has written a gorgeous orchestral soundtrack that elevates the presentation to another level. And how's this for top notch-ality - the sound track is performed by the Slovak Symphony Orchestra, and is on par with that of any major motion picture. It’s a shame there’s no option to just listen to the music from the game – it’s that good.

In conclusion, this game is very worthy. I'd say it would be a good buy, but at least hire it if you like games of this genre. And if you are one of the lucky ones, get it on a next-gen console (except Wii, it sucks!). It builds upon the knowledge gained from previous Call of Duty games to deliver an experience well worth your time and effort. 

With great gameplay, graphics, and sound, what more could you ask for?... I guess ‘Call of Duty 4’ but that was supposed to be rhetorical. Go play!

Game: Call of Duty 3
System: PS2
Players: 1-16
Online: Yes
Developer: Treyarch
Distributor: Activision

Rating: 85%

(Ratings Key/Explanation)