Call of Duty 3

As a veteran of the Call Of Duty series I was happy to hear about Call Of Duty 3 earlier this year.� Things became even more interesting when Call Of Duty 3 was announced for the Wii console.� As the title suggests there have now been multiple entries into the Call Of Duty series over the years.� Last year’s Call Of Duty 2 was one of the games selected as “Game Of The Year”.� However this year’s iteration of Call Of Duty was changed up a bit to try and put a fresh spin on things.�

For starters, another studio was given the project.� Infinity Ward was the group that made Call of Duty 2 while Treyarch is the studio that developed Call Of Duty 3.� Call of Duty veterans will remember Treyarch as the studio that also made Call Of Duty: Big Red One.� Now, theoretically, first person shooters are ideal with Nintendo’s new console as the “Wiimote” works just like a mouse would.� After spending quite a bit of time with the game I discovered that wasn’t the case at all.� In fact the “Wiimote” would immerse you into the game a lot more than a simple mouse ever could.� As is going to be the case with most Wii games(especially the launch titles) there will be a little bit of a learning curve, especially if you are an experienced gamer.� To play a game on the Wii you basically have to reinvent the way you think when playing.� As I progressed through the campaign mode I became more and more comfortable with the controls.� You use the “Wiimote” as the gun as well as camera control.� If you move your hand right, the camera will move right.� If you move your hand left the camera will go left.� In your other hand the nunchuk controls your actual movement.� You can also throw grenades by equipping them and then making a throwing motion with the nunchuk.

In Call Of Duty 3 you go through the campaign mode and experience everything through the eyes of four Allied soldiers.� You will get put in the shoes of an American, British, Canadian and Polish solider throughout the game.� The game takes place during the Normandy breakout where you help in the liberation of Paris getting ever closer to Berlin.� The action is all around you in this game with action even more chaotic than what was in Call Of Duty 2.� During one section you would use a pair of binoculars to spot enemies who had your units pinned down.� Once you spotted the enemy you would relay the coordinates of the enemy location and within seconds an explosion would rock that location and allow your units to continue their progress unchallenged.� It is really an awesome sight.�

There were also some really creative uses of Nintendo’s new controller.� For the close quarter combat segments you would move the “Wiimote” and the nunchuk back and forth quickly as you were trying to stop an enemy from stealing your gun and killing you.� Once you get the better of him you combine the two controllers with the “wiimote” on top and the nunchuk on bottom and then make a quick stabbing motion with your hands to knock the enemy down for good.� Another example of how the controller is used is when you have to row a boat across a river.� You need to get across to help out your men so a bunch of guys pile in a row boat and you actually have to row across the river.� To accomplish this you would once again combine the two controllers and this time make rowing motions with your arm.� The faster you make the rowing motion, the faster you get across the river.� You also have explosions going off all around you at the same time making for another amazing chaotic scene.

With all of that the game still does have its issues.� As I stated there is a bit of a learning curve for you to be successful with this game.� People who don’t have the patience might not enjoy it too much but gamers who take the time to learn the controls will be rewarded with an amazing experience.� The tutorial in the beginning does a great job of getting the gamer used to the control scheme.� The game is also customizable from a control standpoint.� If the default sensitivity is too high for you, simply go into the options menu and change both the horizontal and vertical sensitivity to your liking.� I found the default sensitivity to be way too sensitive for my tastes however once I changed the options I was good to go.� There also appears to be some collision issues in some of the close quarter situations.� During the fourth segment of the campaign whenever I was searching a house and there was a wall by me it really wouldn’t let me turn right.� If I tried it would always spin me around so I turned left instead.� This can be a big issue if there is an enemy standing there ready to take you out and you are fiddling with the controls.� However that only happened on rare occasions.� All of the other levels didn’t seem to have that issue, and within that level itself it seemed to be only in houses.� If you were in the open field then that issue doesn’t appear.� It is almost like that part of the level wasn’t fully tested.

The storyline in this game also has better pacing.� In Call Of Duty 2 you would do all of the British campaign and then all of the American campaign and things of that nature.� In Call Of Duty 3 you might do one mission for the Canadians, then be thrown into a Polish mission the next time, only to be thrown into an American mission the time after that.� By doing it that it makes it seem like you are helping everyone at once rather than concentrate solely on one army.� Vehicle use is also introduced to the Call Of Duty series in this entry and it can get pretty intense with you trying to drive a jeep through the countryside while you have enemies right behind you trying to take you out.� Graphically speaking this game is obviously not up to par with the Xbox360 or PS3 versions.� However it is not supposed to be and for being a launch game the graphics are pretty good.� It is by no means a perfect game and Treyarch could have spent more time polishing certain areas.� With that being said however it is encouraging to see that companies are trying to come up with new and innovative ways to use Nintendo’s new controller and as companies get more experience developing for the hardware, games can only get better.

Our rating

7/10