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CALL OF DUTY 3 XBOX 360 REVIEW |
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Only a year
after its predecessor comes the sequel to one of
the hottest (and for good reason) Xbox 360
launch titles: Call of Duty 3. This time around,
though, Treyarch, developer of the Big Red One
takes the developer’s seat, pushing out Infinity
Ward. There are several changes to the way the
game is played but Treyarch manages to keep it a
Call of Duty at its core. Call of Duty 3 depicts
the acts of “Normandy Breakout,” the operation
planned after the beach landings (Utah Beach,
Omaha Beach, etc.) to scramble out of the
Normandy area. You start the game as an American
soldier deployed at St. Lo, and move on to play
as other soldiers from Britain, Canada, and
Poland. That being said, there’s not much of a
story. Your allies don’t have any depth to them,
but, this is a game about war, not people, so
it’s acceptable.
It's really good to know that Treyarch
successfully preserves the basics of the Call of
Duty formula: Find an enemy, aim down your
weapon’s sight, and shoot them wherever you can.
It’s extremely simple, but somehow, you won’t
get tired of it. The ability to cook grenades,
missing from Call of Duty 2, is now available.
The damage system from Call of Duty 2 is brought
back into use, where the amount of damage you’ve
taken makes the screen tint red, and suffering
too much damage kills you. However, if you
manage to stay undercover for a period of time,
you’re healed of all your wounds. This concept
may sound as if it makes the game easy, but it
really doesn’t. If you really want a good idea
of how Call of Duty 3 plays, just pop in COD 2
into your 360 and play away. It’s almost exactly
the same, besides the new grenade features.
The single-player mode is challenging but a lot
of fun. Call of Duty 3 is reminiscent of old
side-scrolling and top-down shooting games of
the past, where memorizing a level is important
after dying many times. While getting killed can
be annoying at times, (especially on harder
difficulties), you’ll be satisfied once you get
your vengeance. The AI is very smart, and
extremely aggressive. You’ll be mowed down
quickly if you don’t observe your surroundings
closely, crying “CHEAP,” even though it’s really
your fault for not slowing down to take a look
and see what’s ahead. Thankfully, melee damage
from enemies has been toned down a bit, whereas
in Call of Duty 2, if an enemy manages to get
within pointblank range, you’re good as dead.
The levels themselves are filled with historic
details, but it’s hard to enjoy the scenery when
you’re mostly focused on constant shooting with
no break. The game should have allowed more
strategic use of the smoke grenade so that
shooting doesn’t become monotonous. |
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PRODUCT
OVERALL RATING: 8.5 OUT OF 10 |
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The scripted
sequences lend a very nice touch to the
theatrics of war, producing a realistic tone;
they can be found throughout the game such in
the areas of in-squad conflicts and sudden
ambushes. Needless to say, the game doesn’t
allow you to save anywhere you want, but the
auto-save points are well-placed, which is a big
plus. Sometimes, the experience suffers from
terribly noticeable bugs, such as your
squadmates running into a wall, being invincible
to the spray of bullets, or just not responding
to enemies at all. There are even lock-up
problems with the game at various situations,
sometimes during a good progress between
auto-save points. If you want more of what Call
of Duty 2 offered, this is perfect for you. Call
of Duty 3’s multiplayer can be much more
enjoyable than the single-player aspect if you
really get into it. Your choices range from 4
player split-screen, 24 players on a LAN, or 24
players over Xbox Live. The game types are the
same as usual, offering you 6 modes, 9 maps, and
7 player classes to play as.
The graphics are amazing. The animations (except
for a few) are incredibly smooth and lifelike,
especially the reloading and the camera movement
during that transition. The environment provides
a natural representation of the WWII era that
makes you feel you are truly there. The special
effects used in this game—such as beams of light
scattering through a broken down buildings and
ghastly air permeating the distant horizon—are
overly generous, delivering a sense of fresh
bombings from a recent battle. The rain, the
fire, the grass, the water, everything looks
amazing and realistic to look at. Trees and
shrubs react to wind, dirt kicks up off the
ground when explosions make a ruckus, and the
remains of wine bottles fly across the room when
shot. It’s simply amazing! Call of Duty 3 is
easily one of the best-looking and most detailed
games available for the Xbox 360 to date. It
screams of realism.
Treyarch has managed to work out some great
qualities into the sound effects of Call of Duty
3. You’ll feel every rumble from grenades, the
shock from surprise melee attacks, and the
impact from a bullet to the shoulder. The
comrades you fight alongside will still react
perfectly to enemy positions and attacks.
They’ll call out compass directions hinting at
where the threat’s coming from while the epic
music immerses you, making you feel like a hero
of sorts. Everything sounds like it should, with
melee jabs sounding deep, powerful attacks that
take a lot of strength, and MP40s going off
rapidly keep you tense and focused. That said,
Call of Duty 3 is one impressive game, and it
shows what Treyarch can really do with the
hardware given. Shooter veterans should check it
out, and Call of Duty fans have no excuse to
miss this gem. A few dull, not-so-exciting
moments and a little bit of severe glitches keep
it from being the ultimate pick, though, but the
experience is immersive and worth your wallet’s
attention. |
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