I know there have been a lot of World War II games. To some people all these games may seem to blend together and all the reviews may sound the same. With this in mind, I've decided to approach this review a little differently. I'm not going to lament about the amount of WWII games that are currently in the market. I'm not going to make fun of Nazis, and I'm not going to talk about how we'd like developers to start working on new settings. What you want to know about Call of Duty 3 is whether or not it's fun to play, and I'm going to answer that question. To that end, I could just say, "Yes, Call of Duty 3 is a fun game," and be done with it, but we both know that's not going to happen. You came here for a real review, so let's get on with it.

The original Call of Duty for the PC was a fantastic shooter that kept a nearly perfect balance between realism and fun while providing a solid multiplayer experience at the same time. Its sequel, Call of Duty 2, made its way to the Xbox 360 and gave the PC version a run for its money in every department, and some would argue that the Xbox 360 version was superior. Now, about a year later, Call of Duty 3 is here, and it has decided to skip the PC altogether.

Being MIA for the PC isn't the only big change. The developer of this title is Treyarch, the same guys behind Call of Duty 2: Big Red One and Ultimate Spider-Man. Infinity Ward, who did the original CoD and CoD 2, is tied up in another project. This may be why I found CoD 3 to be the weakest out of all the CoD games. That doesn't mean this is a bad game; it's still better than the majority of first-person shooters on the market, but it lacks the polish of the previous games and has a few unique flaws that are all its own.


CoD 3 stays true to the Call of Duty formula. You get to play as a variety of Allied soldiers from different countries as they fight to bring an end to the Nazi menace during World War II. You start out as an American and will eventually play as a Polish tanker, a Scottish member of the SAS, and a Canadian soldier. The game takes place during the crucial Normandy Breakout Campaign. You'll be tasked with taking villas, rescuing POWs with the French Resistance, attacking German strongholds, and even chasing down a German tank ace.

As before, the game finds a comfortable balance between realism and playability. Authentic WWII weaponry is once again carefully recreated, so you'll get the usual collection of M1 Garands, Thompson submachine guns, BARs and more. Each weapon feels right, looks right, and sounds right, no matter what end of it you're at. There is no life bar, as is the style nowadays. Instead, you have a set amount of damage you can take before dropping. When you near this limit a warning will appear onscreen advising you to take cover. Once you find cover, you'll recover and continue the fight. The system is just like the one used in Call of Duty 2. On higher difficulty settings, you'll drop fast, so you'll have to learn the value of cover and know when to expose yourself.