Activision pretty much has the monopoly on Xbox 360 WWII first-person shooters, with next-gen versions of both Medal Of Honor and Brothers In Arms still waiting in the wings. With this in mind it wouldn’t be that surprising if the publisher rush-released a sub-par follow-up to the smash hit Call Of Duty 2. Thankfully the team isn’t as cynical as that and have ensured that this sequel is well worth your time.

The development reins may have been handed over to Treyarch (who, don’t forget, were behind Call Of Duty: Big Red One) but the love is most definitely still there. With this change of developer come a few changes to the game itself – some good, some not so good. It’s clear to see by looking around these pages that Treyarch has done an amazing job with the visuals. It has taken what Infinity Ward started with and upped the ante considerably. Everything from clothing to blades of grass looks stunning and runs as smoothly as, well, a very smooth thing smothered in Vaseline.

Is there any limit to level sizes with this increase in graphical prowess, though? Not one bit. Some of the missions are so long, by the time you reach the end you will have forgotten where you started, such is the wealth of locations and scenery changes. This is made more surprising by the fact that the entire game is set in France. It centres around the Normandy break-out after D-day and traces the troop movements of the American, British, Canadian and Polish armies as each closes in around the occupying Nazi forces. This is quite unusual for a World War II FPS and a bold move for Treyarch to limit itself to one country over a relatively short period of time. There is not even any time for a season change so we can perhaps experience some snowy landscapes. If you really sit back and think about it you may miss all the globetrotting that previous iterations have offered, but this new approach does almost give you a sense of actually achieving something towards the war. Many of the levels also give you options with either a choice of objectives or different routes to take. This feature certainly makes Call Of Duty 3 a slightly less linear experience and ups the replay value considerably, too.

The approach to the storyline also draws you into proceedings. Each mission is bookended by cut-scenes that reveal a little about the characters and the situation. While well done, they do feel a little superfluous and never really achieve much emotional attachment. If the storyline didn’t put you in the boots of four different soldiers during the course of the game then perhaps some form of attachment could have been formed, but as it stands they serve as little more than an annoyance. The reason for this annoyance? Well, they are absolutely impossible to skip – if you are replaying a mission you still have to sit through the same, sometimes lengthy, cut-scenes all over again. Call Of Duty 3 also lets you save your progress at the checkpoints that are littered throughout each mission. Reload that mission and you will still have to sit through the cut-scene all over again, even though you are midway through it. Whether this was a conscious decision by Treyarch, we don’t know, but it sure is an irritating one.

Something else that is a bit of a letdown is the sound. While it provides the same sort of all-encompassing surround experience that the last game did, some of the weapons seem to have lost their punch and are rather muted. The mix is a little off too, with dialogue during mid-mission cut-scenes being difficult to make out.

Speaking of cut-scenes, there are far more scripted moments than in the previous one. Close-quarters combat is the one that everyone’s talking about but not necessarily for good reason. In a handful of the missions you will suddenly be confronted by a German soldier who will try to wrestle you to the ground. You’re both holding onto his gun and you must bash away at the triggers to ensure you aren’t overpowered, then press whatever button you’re told to in order to turn the tables on him. While it’s an interesting way to involve you in what previously would have been a cut-scene, it doesn’t really manage to create any real tension, as it’s almost impossible to lose the fight. Perhaps if these occurrences were more random then it might add more excitement, but as they stand it just breaks up the level for 30 seconds. Even something as simple as planting some explosives has been made into a buttonpushing game, which is admittedly more interesting than holding down a button while a timer counts down. However, there’s no rush to press the buttons quickly, as you never seem to get attacked while placing these bombs. Once again what could have been a tense moment is rendered pointless by the lack of challenge.

Something that does give a break from the run-and-gun action is the jeep driving sections. We were initially unconvinced but once we had a go we found the controls to be pleasingly simple, which made the sections incredibly fun to play. Once again you never feel particularly under pressure to do that well, although there are a couple of hairy moments involving enemy tanks. Everything along your path is scripted, which again makes it all a little bit easy.

That isn’t to say the entire game is easy though and even on normal you’re likely to find some sections pretty tough going, simply due to the sheer number of enemies the game throws at you. Their AI is just as good as it was before too, so expect to trade shots over crates until one of you gets lucky. Why Call Of Duty still doesn’t feature the ability to lean is beyond us, as it could be incredibly handy in those situations. It’s a shame the AI of your squad mates isn’t as good as that of the enemy. They will often run in front of you blocking your view and get cut down by enemy fire – or even yours if you’re not careful. Of course, friendly fire isn’t tolerated so it’s game over if you accidentally kill one of your allies.

This dodgy AI isn’t the only problem COD 3 suffers and we did notice a few bugs while playing. Characters sometimes get stuck on objects or simply pass through them all together. It all gives the impression that the game was released just a little bit too early. Of course, the advantage of Xbox Live is that it can download patches to fix various problems but after shelling out £50 for the game, we’d expect a more polished product – what about those people who aren’t hooked up to Xbox Live?

Those of you who do have broadband have a treat in store as far as multiplayer is concerned. This is one area where Call Of Duty 3 most definitely outshines its predecessor. The modes on offer cater for up to 24 players – a whole 8 more than before! This really helps ape the grand scale battles found in the single-player and the maps have been increased in size to accommodate these extra players. The improvements to multiplayer don’t end there though, as you can now pick the class of soldier to use. More useful in team or co-op modes, there are seven different types from the standard rifleman to the medic, who can revive fallen team-mates.

This adds an even more tactical element if you want to take the game really seriously and a team that uses all different classes to their full potential will almost always triumph over one that prefers the ‘run around shooting anything that moves’ tactic. Even with a full complement of players, the game still ran amazingly smoothly and very little difference can be noticed in the quality of the visuals. Another new feature to the online modes is the addition of vehicles. Now the maps are so much bigger than before, vehicles are really handy for traversing a long distance in a short space of time. It’s not exactly as important or well implemented as Battlefield 2 for example, but it’s certainly a welcome addition all the same.

Despite a few flaws in the singleplayer, Call Of Duty 3 is still a fantastic WWII shooter that can be commended for trying a few new things, even if they don’t actually work too well. The graphical difference between the two games is huge and even outshines much of the stuff we have seen on the supposedly more powerful PS3. Whether Treyarch has done enough to elevate COD 3 above the forthcoming titles from EA and Ubisoft remains to be seen, but for now it has cemented the franchise as a leading force in the WWII genre for how ever much longer it lasts. Let’s hope we’re reviewing Call Of Duty 4 this time next year. Now that would be nice.

Simon Griffin