Title: Call of Duty 3

Date: 12.04.2006

Genre: FPS

Platform: Wii

Developer: Treyarch Invention

Publisher: Activision

If I had to choose one word to describe my feelings on “Call of Duty 3” for the Wii, it would be "mixed”. While it is certainly an enjoyable game in the end, it has a number of faults that keep it from really taking off.

To prepare you for the barrage of negative criticisms that you will soon be reading, let me first say that I have thoroughly enjoyed my time playing CoD3, and really, that is all that matters. The game has a good story, an amazingly cinematic feel, and a broad array of locales, characters, and vehicles. I have no doubt that any fan of WWII shooters would walk away from this game fairly content.

But I would be lying if I said this game didn't have a number of serious flaws. While they don't completely ruin the game, they definitely keep it from being a “must-have”.

The most publicized problem with CoD3 on the Wii is the poor graphics when compared to the PS3 and XBox 360 versions. Well, that is obvious; the Wii is not about being the most powerful console out there, we all knew that when we bought it. But even still, I feel that the criticism this game has received about its graphics is a bit much. While it doesn't look half as good as the “true” next-gen versions, it is definitely very solid.

Character and weapon models are very detailed, and the smoke and particle effects are really amazing. Watching the smoke realistically cover objects is impressive, no matter how you feel about the rest of the game. In addition, the framerate was always rock solid during my time with the game, even when the on-screen action was simply insane. That said, details were clearly cut to get the game running on the Wii's hardware. Things like the textures on tanks are really bad; any detail that was not critical to the enjoyment of the game was harshly scaled back.

Personally, I feel that the level of action and the detail on the objects that are actually important to the game make up for the rest of the visuals. I had a few of my non-gaming friends over while I was playing (the Wii seems to attract them in hordes), and nobody had harsh words about it. The game looks well enough to be immersive, and that is really all that you need to be worried about.

Of course, the question on everyone's mind is how well the game actually plays with the Wii controls. I have to be honest here, when I first picked up the controller, I was appalled. I could barely move my character accurately, let alone hit something with my weapon. But as I played, my motions became much more fluid and accurate, eventually getting to the point that I can play this game nearly as well as I would be able to with a keyboard and mouse. The key is to realize that the exaggerated movements we have all seen in the Wii promotional images and videos are nothing like how you really play. You need to make small movements, tight and accurate, not large swings and fast turns. There is no doubt that the controls take getting used to, but once you have gotten accustomed to the way the Remote reacts, it will become second nature.

In fact, that is not the aspect of the controls that bother me. The problem I have is with the various events that require you to do some crazy action with the controllers in an effort to make the player feel more immersed in the game. Some of these are decent, and at best could be considered a distraction from the otherwise monotonous gameplay. After shooting the 100th identical German in the face, arming a bomb by having to mimic screwing in a fuse with my hand was kind of fun.

What isn't fun is turning a corner and being forced into a hand-to-hand battle with a German soldier. The movements demanded in these sort of events are just absurd, it feels like you are playing WarioWare. The worst part is that if you fail this little mini-game, you die. You don't just get drained of health for a few seconds, or walk slower from the injury, you just fall over and die; forcing you to restart from the last checkpoint. Therein lies the biggest problem of these events, they are all 100% scripted. You will always have to fight that same soldier around that same corner.

This is really infuriating, since you know the guy who killed you last time is right around the corner, and there is a good shot that he is going to get you again.

This leads to the most diabolical aspect of the whole concept. After you launched into the 3 minute controller-pumping combat segment and failed...you have to do it all over again! On the third time, I was considering just taking a break. My arms were so tired after trying over and over again to shake off the enemy that each time I attempted to fight him my chances of winning were lower and lower. This is not any fun at all. In fact, it almost borders on torture. Never before have I so badly wanted to just put the controller down and walk away, and never before was the feeling actually physical.

The scripting takes it's toll in other aspects of the game as well, almost nothing is left up to chance or the game's AI. If a building explodes, then that building was planned to explode, and the next time you play this level is it is going to do the exact same thing at the exact same time. Because of this, the first time through a level is an absolute roller-coaster ride, but there is almost zero replay value after that. Once you have gone through the level a few times, you will have memorized everything that is going to happen to you.

The subject of replay value brings us to the final and most egregious fault in “Call of Duty 3”; the complete lack of any multiplayer mode. Now, I know this is a launch game, and you can't expect it to have an online multiplayer component so early; but there isn't even split-screen, let alone LAN. While the other versions of the game feature an excellent multiplayer experience, owners of the Wii version are left with only the single-player component of the game. If this is a preview of things to come for the Wii, I am genuinely concerned.

Overall, “Call of Duty 3” on the Wii is a solid shooter to debut with the Nintendo Wii. While it is in no way a system-seller, it does at least prove the merit of the Wii's control system in the FPS genre. If developers treat the Wii with the respect it deserves, creating unique and competent shooters for it rather than just doing cheap ports of the XBox 360 and PS3 versions, the Wii could someday match the PC in terms of quality FPS games.

Game Score

B-

Reviewed By: TJ Nardi