Call of Duty 3
Year: 2006
Developer: Treyarch
Publisher: Activision
Platform: PC, PS2, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360
BBFC: 15
Published: 05/05/23
Developer: Treyarch
Publisher: Activision
Platform: PC, PS2, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360
BBFC: 15
Published: 05/05/23
Following the monumental success of Call of Duty 2, series creator Infinity Ward were finally given the opportunity to take some risks with the series by moving it to a modern-day setting. However, the undertaking for what would become the first Modern Warfare game far exceeded anything Infinity Ward could turn around in less than a year. So whilst the team cracked on with developing Modern Warfare, publishers Activision brought in another development studio, Treyarch, to develop a third mainline Call of Duty game to ensure the series maintained a yearly release schedule and remained in the public consciousness.
Set in 1944 in the lead up to the Battle of Normandy, Call of Duty 3 sees you control members of various factions in the Allied forces including the Americans, British, Polish, and Canadians. Where Call of Duty 1&2 provided no real narrative to the games, Call of Duty 3 attempts to give each campaign its own little tale by giving your squad mates some actual character development this time around. Whilst it’s threadbare in comparison to what the series would shortly see in terms of story, it does at least provide more for you to connect to emotionally than the previous two entries. The four campaigns are all told within the same timespan too, meaning that the effects of the one faction’s success can be felt from another faction, and all four campaigns are working towards the same conclusion by attacking German forces from all sides.
Set in 1944 in the lead up to the Battle of Normandy, Call of Duty 3 sees you control members of various factions in the Allied forces including the Americans, British, Polish, and Canadians. Where Call of Duty 1&2 provided no real narrative to the games, Call of Duty 3 attempts to give each campaign its own little tale by giving your squad mates some actual character development this time around. Whilst it’s threadbare in comparison to what the series would shortly see in terms of story, it does at least provide more for you to connect to emotionally than the previous two entries. The four campaigns are all told within the same timespan too, meaning that the effects of the one faction’s success can be felt from another faction, and all four campaigns are working towards the same conclusion by attacking German forces from all sides.
Call of Duty 2 was revolutionary in its gameplay design by introducing a number of mechanics that are industry standards today. It seems as though Treyarch took the “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it” approach when developing Call of Duty 3 as the two play almost identically. Call of Duty 3 does feel somewhat smoother to handle in comparison to Call of Duty 2, with movement feeling less rigid than before, and inputs slightly more responsive. That being said, Call of Duty 3 is hindered by some bad level design. There’s much more on screen in Call of Duty 3 than there ever was in Call of Duty 2, and levels now have much more in them to make them feel more crowded. Unfortunately, with the lack of an effective jump and still no sprinting, you’ll often find yourself getting stuck on the scenery in Call of Duty 3.
You’ll also find that missions have a bad habit of trapping you in one place and have you just mow down endlessly spawning enemies until the game decides you’re good to move on. As well as this the game introduces multiple quick-time events, whether it’s placing an explosive charge or surviving a struggle against an enemy soldier, Call of Duty 3 makes a frequent effort to take you away from shooting things to give you some extremely simple timed button prompts. Frankly, these are awful, I hated all of them and they happened way too frequently.
Technically Call of Duty 3 is an improvement over Call of Duty 2 with more detailed character models and environment textures, plus as previously stated the environments are now also populated with considerably more objects and often more enemy soldiers than were present in Call of Duty 2. The frame rate does take the occasional hit, but for the most part it maintains that ever illustrious 60FPS the series was always famous for.
Aside from that it looks the same. I mean, it’s another WWII shooter running on the same engine and using a lot of the same assets…it’s kind of difficult to distinguish the two games at times.
I am being generally quite harsh to Call of Duty 3 and it must be stated that the entire game was turned around in eight months. However, considering that it’s basically just a suped-up Call of Duty 2 with a tiny bit of a story then it didn’t need an overly long development period. The changes it does make are largely unwelcome and the irritating level design is enough to make you want to pull your hair out at times whilst you just stand still and pick off endlessly spawning Nazi’s. This is the start of a trend you’ll start seeing from me wherein I find that Treyarch Call of Duty games are half-baked imitations of what Infinity Ward have already done, but with some gimmick introduced that is usually unbearable.
Call of Duty 3 isn’t bad, but it is disappointing in comparison to the previous two titles.
You’ll also find that missions have a bad habit of trapping you in one place and have you just mow down endlessly spawning enemies until the game decides you’re good to move on. As well as this the game introduces multiple quick-time events, whether it’s placing an explosive charge or surviving a struggle against an enemy soldier, Call of Duty 3 makes a frequent effort to take you away from shooting things to give you some extremely simple timed button prompts. Frankly, these are awful, I hated all of them and they happened way too frequently.
Technically Call of Duty 3 is an improvement over Call of Duty 2 with more detailed character models and environment textures, plus as previously stated the environments are now also populated with considerably more objects and often more enemy soldiers than were present in Call of Duty 2. The frame rate does take the occasional hit, but for the most part it maintains that ever illustrious 60FPS the series was always famous for.
Aside from that it looks the same. I mean, it’s another WWII shooter running on the same engine and using a lot of the same assets…it’s kind of difficult to distinguish the two games at times.
I am being generally quite harsh to Call of Duty 3 and it must be stated that the entire game was turned around in eight months. However, considering that it’s basically just a suped-up Call of Duty 2 with a tiny bit of a story then it didn’t need an overly long development period. The changes it does make are largely unwelcome and the irritating level design is enough to make you want to pull your hair out at times whilst you just stand still and pick off endlessly spawning Nazi’s. This is the start of a trend you’ll start seeing from me wherein I find that Treyarch Call of Duty games are half-baked imitations of what Infinity Ward have already done, but with some gimmick introduced that is usually unbearable.
Call of Duty 3 isn’t bad, but it is disappointing in comparison to the previous two titles.