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Wii gets its first WWII first person shooter. Call of Duty 3 on Wii has the same mission structure, story, and gameplay (kind of) as the other next-gen and current-gen consoles, with the addition of Wii controls. While it takes some time to get used to them, the Wii controls end up immersing you in the game and really allowing you relieve these battles.
Call of Duty 3 focuses on the Normandy Breakout including D-day and the liberation of Paris. The game has a comprehensive retelling of the events that occurred during this time period. It does this, in part, by allowing you to play as officers in the American, British, Polish and Canadian forces. But although the story is comprehensive and lets you see that the war involved many men and countries, it isn’t particularly interesting. One cool thing about Call of Duty 3 is that the game has minimal loading between missions which allows the game to play like one (nearly) seamless experience.
Call of Duty 3 plays a lot like PC and Xbox 360 prequel. The actual gameplay design—shooting, throwing grenades, taking cover, etc—are exactly the same as they were on Call of Duty 2 except that you’re using the Wii controls this time around. It takes about 10-15 minutes to get used to the Wii controls in the game so expect to be shooting the air a lot at first. Once you get used to the controls, though, the Wii remote lets you experience the game like you never could before. You use the Wii remote as a pointer to aim around the screen and you move the pointer to the edges to turn that way. You also shoot, throw grenades and pull off a melee attack with the Wii Remote. The nunchuk controls movement via the analog stick, lets you switch weapons by moving it to the right, or reload weapons by moving it up.
Part of the reason that the Wii version is so immersive is because many of the minigames in the other versions are fully fleshed out here. There is a part early in the game where you’re struggling in hand-to-hand combat with an enemy soldier. While other versions had you hitting buttons, the Wii version actually has you throwing punches at the guy. There is a learning curve with the game but it feels very natural once you get used to it.
Although the controls are different, this is still the very realistic depiction of war that the previous games have gotten you used to. You’re still experiencing extravagant scripted events, gunning down enemy soldiers, and taking cover to avoid getting gunned down yourself. Call of Duty 3 chooses to make the action even more intense than it was before. While the series has always been noteworthy for recreating the feeling of being in a real battlefield, Call of Duty 3 is definitely the closest it has come so far. It has a bigger than life feeling that really makes you feel like you’re part of a bigger picture.
There is never a boring a moment in Call of Duty 3. Whether you’re trying to find cover to save your life or shooting away at enemies, the game always keeps you busy. The actual mission objectives are actually fairly straightforward. Most of them have you getting from one point to another. Sometimes you’ll assist other players by manning stationary guns. There are a few missions where you’ll use vehicles to drive other players to safety while avoiding getting shot. Despite the Wii’s lack of graphical prowess compared to the Xbox 360 and PS3, you’re still getting the same missions and level structure that those versions have.
Unfortunately, the Wii version of Call of Duty 3 does not have multiplayer of any kind. Although we would have liked to see multiplayer of some kind, playing through the 8-hour or so single-player campaign with the Wii Remote is worth the price of admission.
In terms of graphics, the Wii version of Call of Duty 3 is about on par with the Xbox version of the game. Still, the character models look great, the environments are much more detailed than they were in Big Red One, the foliage looks better, and the smoke and particle effects were improved. The texture quality is also on par with the Xbox version and the game has a perfectly smooth framerate.
Treyarch did an amazing job of porting the audio. The soundtrack, performed by the Slovak Symphony Orchestra, is epic, ambitious and perfectly fitting for the game. The sound effects, particularly if played in surround sound, are equally impressive and really recreate the chaotic feeling of war. The voice acting is similarly amazing as you hear your squadmates talk and give you directions or hear enemies scrambling to save their lives.
Call of Duty 3 is a great showcase for the Wii’s unique control scheme. While the Wii controls work with other games, of the games we’ve played so far, Call of Duty 3 is the one that most benefits from the motion sensing controls. Treyarch put in a lot of work to make this version of the game comparable to the other next-gen versions in content. Because this version doesn’t have multiplayer, you may consider picking up the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions as well as this one, but even if this is your only purchase, you’re getting a great deal. -- Jose Liz, PGNx Media
---- Nov 15, 2006
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