Call of Duty 3 plays it safe, but it proves victorious in the uphill battle to best its predecessor.

User Rating: 9.3 | Call of Duty 3 X360
By gogokun | Review Date:
When the Xbox 360 launched in November of 2005, the flagship title was undoubtedly Call of Duty 2. At the time, it was difficult, extremely difficult in fact, to find a 360 owner that did not have the game. I was no wonder; the graphics were top notch and boasted an incredibly smooth framerate, the gameplay was superb, and it had great online legs to go along with the excellent single player campaign. Needless to say, Call of Duty 3 has alot to live up to. Thankfully, the sequel builds upon its predecessor by adding a much deeper and enjoyable online game as well as vastly improving the visuals. While the core gameplay remains largely the same, there are little tweaks and touches that make it a more enjoyable experience. You are still shooting Nazis by the shipload, you are still in the middle of WWII. This worked so well, though, that there is no logic in messing with it. Activision has ingeniously added the ability to pick up enemy grenades and cook them, which is a ton of fun and adds depth to the gameplay without changing the formula altogether. A cover system would be nice, but as it stands the gameplay is as excellent as ever, even more so. The single player experience is what you'd expect. It is every bit as intense and enjoyable as the last one, made better by the occasional inclusion of a vehicle driving sequence and the new grenade mechanics. Call of Duty 3 does pay a little too much attention to the story, which isn't very enticing, by forcing you to watch long, boring cutscenes that you can't skip and you have to watch every time you boot up the game. This would normally not be mentioned in a review but the cutscenes really do, well, suck, and the wierd descision to not let you skip them does make the campaign a bit tedious. The game also drags a bit in the beginning, but once you get a couple of hours in things start picking up. Despite these discrepencies, the campaign is still good enough to warrant a second playthrough on Veteran difficulty. Acheivments are as fun as ever, and the offline experience can easily last 20-25 hours if you play it thouroughly and enjoy a challenge.
Online, however, is a whole different story. Where Call of Duty 3's single player sucseeds, the multiplayer soars to a whole new level. The variety of game modes and maps, plus the addition of a class system can make this game be considered one the best online games of all time. 24 players can play at once, and it the servers are very busy, making it very likely that you will see this many players in a game. There is minimal lagging, and the online feels as smooth as the single player campaign. There are tanks, jeeps, motorcycles, and other vehicles all waiting for you to drive, and these add a ton of depth. Motorcycles are great for getting where you want to go, fast. Jeeps have turrets, perfect for making it a multiple-occupancy nightmare for the other team. Tanks are, of course, perfect for all-out assaults on the enemy base. All of the vehicles are multiple occupancy, making for some fun teamwork moments. The maps are excellent, featuring a right balance of wide open spaces and close quarters, making the class system come into effect rather nicely. There are several classes, ranging from medic to sniper, and they all have different abilities. Medics can revive fallen teammates, for expample. Great buy for any shooter fan.

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