Call of Duty 3

Call of Duty 3 is the third installment in the Call of Duty video game series. It has been released for all three seventh generation video game systems: the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii. It has also been released on the PlayStation 2 and Xbox. It's the only major game in the Call of Duty series that has not released on PC. Call of Duty 3 is the only numerical sequel to date to have been a console-exclusive game alongside its side-story games like Call of Duty: Big Red One and Call of Duty: Finest Hour before it. It was released on 9 November 2006. A handheld version, dubbed Call of Duty: Roads to Victory has been released on the PSP.

Single Player
The single player is modeled after the Normandy breakout, where the British, Canadian, Polish, and American forces pushed into the city of Chambois, France, also known as the Falaise Gap. Unlike most other games in the Call of Duty series, the events in Call of Duty 3 are based on a single combined campaign, with the player being switched between the four nations and their respective characters for each leg of the story. There are 14 playable campaign missions.

In the American missions, the player assumes control of Private Nichols, recently arrived in France and eventually attached to the 29th Infantry Division. Nichols and his squad participate in the capture of Saint Lo. After that the squad is transferred to the 90th Infantry Division and sent to secure the wooded area of Saint Germain-Sur-Seves, where intense hedgerow fighting took place. Later, the unit is transferred to the town of Mayenne, where team mate Pvt. Huxley is tasked with defusing bombs planted on several bridges. Huxley is wounded before he can carry out the order, and Sergeant McCullin, the unit leader and also a former combat engineer, volunteers to defuse the bombs. McCullin successfully defuses the bombs, but is mortally wounded; Dixon assumes command of the unit. The squad is later tasked with clearing out a forest and finding the engineers sent in before that have not been heard from. The squad participates in going to a nearby town to clear it out, Dixon is wounded here, but recovers. The unit is then sent to defend the town of Chambois in a brutal battle. Private First Class Guzzo, another member of the unit, performs the suicidal task of laying colored smoke grenades on German positions while under heavy fire in order to direct air support. He is wounded, but is carried to safety by Dixon. While treating Guzzo, Dixon is shot. He passes on the final words of McCullin, as well as his own, to Guzzo, who is in charge of the unit and its replacements by the end of the game.

In the British set of missions, the player controls Sergeant Doyle, a returning character from Call of Duty: United Offensive and member of the British Special Air Service. Doyle participates in a night landing in France led by Major Ingram, also of COD:UO fame, and meets up with members of the French Resistance] Doyle and members of the Resistance search for Major Ingram, after which they proceed with eliminating several German positions. Later, when they perform a combined assault on a fuel plant, but Major Ingram is lost and tensions flare as Corporal Keith accuses one of the Resistance members, Marcel, of collaborating with the Germans. Against the advice of the Resistance, Keith and Doyle perform a dangerous rescue operation, later assisted by the Resistance. However, after rescuing and escaping with Ingram, they discover the Maquis are being rounded up and executed. They rush to save as many as they can, but in the process the Maquis lose one of their significant members, Isabelle DuFontaine, who is killed after planting an explosive charge on an armored car. Marcel is distraught by her death, and is comforted by Corporal Keith.

The Canadian aspect of the campaign is centered on Pte. Cole, led by First World War veteran Lieutenant Robichauld, who demonstrates a proud and often haphazard style of leadership, often making assaults and completing objectives beyond his assigned mission at the risk of his own men. Robichauld commands a Canadian infantry unit, capturing an industrial area and successfully defending it from superior numbers of German infantry and armor. In further missions, the unit clears a forest near the Laison River, during which Robichauld berates the young radioman Pte. Baron over his lack of combat participation. Tension builds between the two, and Baron insists that he is not a coward. Robichauld dismisses him and assigns him to act as radio contact for a Polish unit. Robichauld proceeds to clear a town to rescue some Canadian prisoners, but rather than withdraw with the rescued servicemen he decides to assist in capturing the whole town. The unit plants demolition charges in a German ammunition dump, but when Callard checks to see if the charges were defective, the squad is decimated. Robichauld and Cole are wounded, and Sgt. Callard is killed. Robichauld decides to award Callard the Victoria Cross and promote Cole to corporal.

The Polish campaign revolves around Bohater, a tank commander (incidentally, Bohater translates as 'hero' in Polish). Bohater participates in a Polish sweep across the French countryside, engaging German armor and defeating the Black Baron, an infamous German tank commander, after a furious duel in a small town. The Polish later move into position at the base of Mount Ormel, which is assaulted by the Germans on all sides. Bohater and his crew eliminate many German tanks, but eventually their tank is damaged and the crew abandons it. They join in the battle alongside the Polish infantry units and other tank crews, holding off the ferocious German attack while waiting desperately for the Canadian reinforcements. The Canadian radio operator, Baron, arrives to call in artillery, but is overwhelmed with personal grief over his cowardice and is killed when he exposed himself. Several members of Bohater's crew are killed while holding off a German assault. Retreating to the top of Mount Ormel, the Poles fight desperately until they are finally relieved by the Canadians.

Multiplayer
In addition to the single-player campaign, Call of Duty 3 features a wide range of multiplayer modes for players to participate in - each allowing up to 24 Players in a single match, three times the limit that impeded Call of Duty 2 on console platforms, but three times smaller than that allowed on the PC version of Call of Duty 2.This is only in the online mode. All team game modes feature the soldiers of the Allied nations (Specifically the US forces only. Canadians, British SAS, and Polish forces are not featured in MP) versus those of the Axis (Germany). The Wii version of Call of Duty 3 does not feature a multiplayer option.

As with many other Xbox 360 games, Call of Duty 3 divides its multiplayer aspect into Player and Ranked matches. Player matches allow players to invite other players into their games, but do not contribute points toward the leader board or unlock achievements. Ranked matches pit the player with and against teams of random players, and contribute towards player points and allow players to unlock achievements.

Game Modes
The game features six game modes, five of which are team based, and one individual:

Classes
Moving away from the game-play style of previous Call of Duty games, where players would simply select a team and weapon, Call of Duty 3 multiplayer bears closer similarity to that of Battlefield 1942, in that players select a class of soldier and a team, the chosen class defining both the player's weaponry and the unique abilities that he or she will hold over the other classes. There are seven classes of soldier to choose from, with different weapons (although of similar specifications) depending on which side the player fights. Every class has a sprinting action used instead of the normal binoculars used when the usual binocular button (during single player mode) is pressed.

Classes include riflemen, light and heavy assault, medic, scout, support and anti-armor. Players select a class when entering a match, but can change classes after they have been killed. Each class has a primary weapon, a pistol, and a unique ability, such as reviving team mates as a medic, calling in artillery as a scout, laying mines as light or heavy assault, giving ammunition as anti-armor or support, or firing rifle grenades as a rifleman. Players cannot change classes until they have died, but they can pick up dropped weapons to replace their starting pistol.

Reviews

 * GamesMaster &mdash; 82% (PS3)
 * Nintendo Power &mdash; 6.5/10 (Wii)
 * GameTrailers &mdash; 7.8/10 (Wii)
 * Eurogamer &mdash; 5/10 (Wii)
 * Official Nintendo Magazine - 86% (Wii)
 * Electronic Gaming Monthly- 7.5/10 (PS3)

Awards

 * Nominated for GameSpot's Best Original Music award
 * Top Ten Best Selling Games (PS3 and Xbox 360)