More of the same, but with less variety in level design.
Call of Duty 3 though, is, well, I don't know, it just feels more of the same, but less inspired. I can't help but think that the developers were getting tired of the series. I must say that I was a bit disappointed. There are however, two new gameplay features that I did notice... one of which isn't even that great.
First is the ability to throw grenades back. I've always wanted to be able to do that since the first time I saw an enemy soldier in a game throw my grenade back at me.
The second (only available in single player mode) are sections of the game where you need to do a set of button sequences. Placing bombs now require you to activate them by pressing a button, turning your right analog stick around to simulate screwing in some kind of fuse, and then pressing another button to activate it. Other parts have you battling a Nazi soldier hand-to-hand by pressing the L and R triggers repeatedly, then pressing a button to inflict damage on the enemy soldier. The process repeats until you kill him. These sequences don't happen a lot, and aren't really interesting to begin with. It was exciting the first time an enemy soldier popped out to fight me hand-to-hand, but as you are doing the button sequence, you realize how easy it is. Too easy, to be exact. The bomb activation sequence wasn't exciting at all at any time during the game. Sure it was novel at first, but when you find out that pushing the wrong button has no consequences, and that there is absolutely no pressure at all because doing nothing doesn't affect you in anyway, it becomes completely meaningless. There are other instances of these "button pressing sequences" that allow you to make crucial actions to the game, like moving a huge object with a crane to block a path, but it suffers from the same problem of bomb activations: it's too easy and there are no consequences for wrong button input.
As a single player game, I found the levels boring. One reason could be because they're all set in France; you'll more or less have the same kinds of terrain and backgrounds in every level. The storyline is probably the most uninteresting among all three Call of Duty games. I don't even bother to listen to the cutscenes. I wish there was a way for me to skip them, but the game doesn't allow you to do so. Whenever I play Call of Duty, I always play on the hardest difficulty setting possible. I find the game too easy on normal/medium mode considering it takes so many shots to get wasted, and you can heal simply by taking cover for a few seconds. Call of Duty 3 though, at hard mode, was extremely frustrating at times. Maybe it's the analog stick controls. I'm used to playing this on the PC. Then again, maybe I just suck. One aspect that made it difficult for me was the color scheme. It was very difficult to distinguish between Nazi soldiers and the background, and therefore very hard to aim properly. Yes, that's what camouflage is supposed to do, but not at ranges of 50 yards. I know this because I play airsoft, and at that distance, it is already easy to see if something is human or plant life (unless they're wearing a very well made ghillie suit).
Whatever further frustrated me was how the controls were mapped. Gamespot complained about the mapping of the binoculars to the left analog stick button. For me, it was the controls for grenades. You had to press the left directional pad (right for smoke) to throw a grenade. To cook it, you'd have to hold on to the left (or right) pad until you want to throw the grenade. The problem with this set up is that you'd have to let go of the left analog stick to press the directional pad, therefore not allowing you to move from your position while cooking/throwing the grenade. This meant that you can't cook the grenade from behind cover, and then sidestep to throw it out. You'd have to be standing out in the open to do so, which on hard mode would get you killed almost instantly. They should have added the option to remap your controls. Such a simple thing I believe should be standard in ANY game, and I'm quite surprised they didn't do so for Call of Duty 3.
Multiplayer, I expect, is where this game would be much appreciated. I assume those who are tired of the playing Call of Duty 2 maps would find the new levels a breath of fresh air. Can't say much about it though because we don't have Xbox Live where I'm from.
If you plan to buy this game for its single player value, I suggest you just rent it instead. But as a multiplayer game, it might be a good purchase.