Call Of Duty 3: Review

wii box art

When the Wii controller concept was first revealed I was excited at the idea of how much it could improve the FPS game experience. Traditionally first person shooters have always seemed better with a mouse and keyboard over the analog stick gamepad. In the past this left home console gamers out of luck but now the Wii can change all of that.

At first glance the graphics of COD 3 only appear to be on par with those of all the last generation systems. I realize that some 52,345,323 people before me have already commented on the fact that Wii doesn’t match up with PS3 and XBOX 360 graphically and that is was never meant to but an earlier post on Wiinintendo: (WiiNintendo’s Metroid Prime 3 impressions) makes me think that they could have been better. Regardless of that the game is still very attractive. Stages are fairly detailed filled with everything you would expect to see in a war ravished town or country side. There are plenty of trees, walls and blown up buildings to hide behind. Another high point of the game is the detail given to sound. Through a Dolby Pro-logic home theater system it sounded stellar. During heavy combat the sounds of bullets whizzing by my head and my fellow soldiers yelling for me to “TAKE COVERâ€? from all directions really added to the experience. I can only image how great it would sound if I had a pro-logic 2 system.

Now on to what is most important: gameplay. The game starts off with an extremely brief training session. You learn how to fire your weapon and throw grenades. Given that the Wii has created a paradigm shift in the way we play games, I wish the developers would have gone into a bit more detail here. Later you are essentially forced to learn on the fly which caused a lot of unneeded frustration. At times the position of the buttons on the wiimote made it difficult to perform tasks that needed to be done quickly. For example, when a live grenade lands at your feet you’re required to hit the directional pad to pick it up and volley it. This forced me to reposition my hands effectively killing my aim or causing me to look in a different direction in the process. Often times I found myself wishing the directional pad was just a little bit closer to the A button so I could reach it easier. Unfortunately the designers of the game have no control over this so there is nothing you can do but adapt and get used to it.

The Wii controls really did add to the overall excitement and enjoyment of the game. I found aiming to be more precise, quicker and much more fun over an analog stick based controller. But at the same time the sensitive controls can hurt you since the movement of your arms in real life translates into game movement. More than once I got over excited with all the Nazis I was killing and accidentally turned away from them. The Wii version of the game also has a few cool twists that take advantage of the motion sensing controllers. Being caught in hand to hand combat requires you to turn the controllers on their side and actually push to and fro to fight off your enemy and planting bombs requires you to plant a fuse with the remote and rotate the nunchuck to twist the fuse. The only downside is that there are so few of these situations and all seem to be scripted meaning these situations never really happen randomly though out the levels.

In conclusion, this game doesn’t offer too much new when compared to its predecessor or even the Metal of Honor franchise but the Wii controls definitely make it worth trying. I am a little curious about why no online gameplay was included since it exists in the XBOX 360 version but even with out it the game is enjoyable. For this being one of the first full fledged FPS games on the Wii it does a good job of showing us what can be done with the new controls. I haven’t played Red Steele but most of what I read says the controls in this game are far better. So if faced with choosing between that game and COD 3, I would definitely go with Call of Duty!

Using The_Ferret’s awesome game ratings system, I would give it 3.5 out of 5 tacos (about 7 out or 10).

3.5 tacos



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  • vegemite

    To the original writer of this review:

    Man, your high school grammar teacher SUCKED.

    Nobody buys the Wii for the graphics. You are about the 52,345,324th person to make the statement which implies that you think the Wii’s graphics aren’t as good as those of the 360 or the PS3. You and the other 52,345,323 people who feel that you are telling us something new need to get past it. The reason the Wii’s graphics are last-gen-esque is because THE Wii IS A LAST GEN SYSTEM WITH DIFFERENT CONTROLS!!!!

    As for the review of the game? It would be a good idea for you to go somewhere and actually read a well-written one. Take some cues on how to write in a fashion that doesn’t sound like it was penned by a 15 year old who hopes to have a “career in the gaming industry” someday.

  • vegemite

    To the original writer of this review:

    Man, your high school grammar teacher SUCKED.

    Nobody buys the Wii for the graphics. You are about the 52,345,324th person to make the statement which implies that you think the Wii’s graphics aren’t as good as those of the 360 or the PS3. You and the other 52,345,323 people who feel that you are telling us something new need to get past it. The reason the Wii’s graphics are last-gen-esque is because THE Wii IS A LAST GEN SYSTEM WITH DIFFERENT CONTROLS!!!!

    As for the review of the game? It would be a good idea for you to go somewhere and actually read a well-written one. Take some cues on how to write in a fashion that doesn’t sound like it was penned by a 15 year old who hopes to have a “career in the gaming industry” someday.

  • The_Ferret

    Hey,
    Your grammar isn’t all that bad. I only see one error (of course im no grammar teacher). I find a lot of grammar tends to be more of a style thing anyways. Though you could use some help with your writing. Reading around might not be a bad idea. You’ll see reviews differ a lot and you will want to develop your own style. I try and make mine short and sweet with lots of dumb-ass humor. Personaly I think you should have given more. I saw you touched on the controls, how they work and how much you were looking forward to using them for a FPS. This isn’t bad but it’s not why people read reviews. They want to know more about the gameplay. You said its a lot like anyo ther WWII shooter, and I agree with you. Rag on that for a little bit, tell them what parts are the same and whats new. Tell people why thats good, tell them why its bad. Also talking about the controls isn’t bad per-se because the Wii is ALL about the controler interface but they don’t need to know what buttons do what. They can read the user manual for that, let them know what yuo think about the controls. Are the button well picked out? Would you have chosen a different default setup? Is the motion sencing what you thought it would be? Are yuo disapointed by anything? Impressed? Anyways im going to shut up, im no proffesional at this ither, just trying to give some constructive critisism. Oh and Im flattered that you used my tacos. Thanks.

  • The_Ferret

    Hey,
    Your grammar isn’t all that bad. I only see one error (of course im no grammar teacher). I find a lot of grammar tends to be more of a style thing anyways. Though you could use some help with your writing. Reading around might not be a bad idea. You’ll see reviews differ a lot and you will want to develop your own style. I try and make mine short and sweet with lots of dumb-ass humor. Personaly I think you should have given more. I saw you touched on the controls, how they work and how much you were looking forward to using them for a FPS. This isn’t bad but it’s not why people read reviews. They want to know more about the gameplay. You said its a lot like anyo ther WWII shooter, and I agree with you. Rag on that for a little bit, tell them what parts are the same and whats new. Tell people why thats good, tell them why its bad. Also talking about the controls isn’t bad per-se because the Wii is ALL about the controler interface but they don’t need to know what buttons do what. They can read the user manual for that, let them know what yuo think about the controls. Are the button well picked out? Would you have chosen a different default setup? Is the motion sencing what you thought it would be? Are yuo disapointed by anything? Impressed? Anyways im going to shut up, im no proffesional at this ither, just trying to give some constructive critisism. Oh and Im flattered that you used my tacos. Thanks.

  • http://myspace.com/zeppelin_forever rockefellow

    Vegimite–All the points you made were true. Additionally, even if any review you read is an opinion, it helps to read one that doesn’t match the skills of a third-grade, remedial class kids’ homework. Just a tip for any aspiring writer.

  • http://myspace.com/zeppelin_forever rockefellow

    Vegimite–All the points you made were true. Additionally, even if any review you read is an opinion, it helps to read one that doesn’t match the skills of a third-grade, remedial class kids’ homework. Just a tip for any aspiring writer.

  • http://www.shanoboy.com/ shanoboy

    Hey, thanks for all the feedback. I’ll try to be more in-depth next time. Oh and vegimite, you are right about the wii not having as good of graphics as the ps3 and xbox 360 but according to the comments wrote on the next Metroid Prime game, the wii actually is capable of a lot better graphics than we’ve seen so far. And you have to admit that quite a few of the games available on the wii now really are just rehashes of games out on the last gen systems.

  • http://www.shanoboy.com shanoboy

    Hey, thanks for all the feedback. I’ll try to be more in-depth next time. Oh and vegimite, you are right about the wii not having as good of graphics as the ps3 and xbox 360 but according to the comments wrote on the next Metroid Prime game, the wii actually is capable of a lot better graphics than we’ve seen so far. And you have to admit that quite a few of the games available on the wii now really are just rehashes of games out on the last gen systems.

  • http://www.shanoboy.com/ shanoboy

    Alright, I went through the post, rewrote it and tried making it not look like it was wrote by someone in third grade. If anyone else can offer any good feedback send it may way.

    If everyone still thinks it sucks, I’ll refrain from posting reviews ever again! :)

  • http://www.shanoboy.com/ shanoboy

    Alright, I went through the post, rewrote it and tried making it not look like it was wrote by someone in third grade. If anyone else can offer any good feedback send it may way.

    If everyone still thinks it sucks, I’ll refrain from posting reviews ever again! :)

  • http://www.shanoboy.com shanoboy

    Alright, I went through the post, rewrote it and tried making it not look like it was wrote by someone in third grade. If anyone else can offer any good feedback send it may way.

    If everyone still thinks it sucks, I’ll refrain from posting reviews ever again! :)

  • Rustynutts

    Keep it up m8 it’s still fun to read.
    buy the way i notice that when the gameplay in COD got a bit hectic the wii mote would freek out and be all unresponsive and lagg. it only happens when thers alot on screen??

    ps,
    keep up the good work, you should be encouraged and not FLAMMED at the first mistake.
    keep it up.

    Leon, UK.

  • Rustynutts

    Keep it up m8 it’s still fun to read.
    buy the way i notice that when the gameplay in COD got a bit hectic the wii mote would freek out and be all unresponsive and lagg. it only happens when thers alot on screen??

    ps,
    keep up the good work, you should be encouraged and not FLAMMED at the first mistake.
    keep it up.

    Leon, UK.

  • Rustynutts

    Keep it up m8 it’s still fun to read.
    buy the way i notice that when the gameplay in COD got a bit hectic the wii mote would freek out and be all unresponsive and lagg. it only happens when thers alot on screen??

    ps,
    keep up the good work, you should be encouraged and not FLAMMED at the first mistake.
    keep it up.

    Leon, UK.

  • http://wiinintendo.net/ Sir Venom

    You wasted good tacos on a SINGLE PLAYER shooter… shame….

  • http://wiinintendo.net Sir Venom

    You wasted good tacos on a SINGLE PLAYER shooter… shame….

  • http://www.boomside.com/ Wii News Reviews and Games Net

    Decent game but they could have done much better.

  • http://www.boomside.com Wii News Reviews and Games Network

    Decent game but they could have done much better.