I'm not saying that's a bad thing, but the final stand at Chambois should have been for Call of Duty 3 what the Battle for Hill 400 was in Call of Duty 2, the defining moment of the game. No one battle stood out to me and that's largely due to the fact that Call of Duty 3 always has its foot on the gas.
Oddly enough, I can't recall any memorable sequences in Call of Duty 3. With Call of Duty 2, Infinity Ward did a tremendous job creating memorable moments, opening with the Battle of Pointe Du Hoc during the D-Day invasion and culminating with the Battle for Hill 400, easily the most intense firefight in the game. Call of Duty 2 was a lot more calculating in its battles whereas Call of Duty 3 is all about non-stop action. For example, rather than simply pressing a button to turn a valve, you'll have to rotate the right trigger in a motion that resembles the action your character is performing onscreen.While the grenade and battle action mechanics are subtle yet important additions, the biggest difference I found between Call of Duty 2 and Call of Duty 3 was the pace of the game. The same type of mechanic is used in some of the game's other objectives. The entire process takes time, adding tension to the moment as you race to complete the job before any enemies approach. As opposed to simply pushing a button to apply a charge, you'll have to press a button to attach the device, rotate the right trigger to arm it, and then press another button to remove the pin. The battle action mechanic plays a much better roll when it comes to setting explosive devices. During the game you'll run into a few choice encounters with an enemy that will result in a melee, but these are little more than button-mashing sequences as you pull the right and left triggers in an attempt to gain the upper hand on your opponent. The hand-to-hand combat sounds better than it actually is. Just make sure you act quickly.New to the Call of Duty franchise is a battle action mechanic that allows players to fight hand-to-hand, apply explosive devices and execute other battlefield objectives. The grenade indicator makes a return appearance in Call of Duty 3 but instead of running away, you can choose to pick up live grenades and throw them back at the enemy. In Call of Duty 2, Infinity Ward introduced the grenade indicator, an icon that popped up when an enemy grenade landed near you, affording you time to run away from the explosion. It's basically a timing mechanism that allows your grenade to explode mid-air. A bar will appear in the center of the screen counting down how much time you have left to throw the grenade before it explodes. Now, when you hold down the right bumper, you can ‘cook' a frag grenade. That's the first difference you'll notice between the two titles, and as opposed to Call of Duty 2, which let you flip flop between its three campaigns, the mission set in Call of Duty 3 is straightforward.Treyarch has implemented a few new gameplay features in Call of Duty 3, most noticeably with respect to grenades. The environments aren't quite as diverse as Call of Duty 2, which featured missions in the scorching deserts of North Africa and the frozen tundra of the U.S.S.R., alongside the historical D-Day invasion. You'll still get to experience the all-out assault to liberate Paris from numerous Allied perspectives, assuming the roles of American, British, Canadian and Polish soldiers, but the campaign itself will take place entirely in the French countryside. Call of Duty 3, on the other hand, focuses on one campaign: the Normandy Breakout.
Treyarch isn't exactly a new recruit, having previously worked on Call of Duty: Big Red One, but with such a quick turnaround, is Call of Duty 3 any different than Call of Duty 2? The answer might surprise you.Call of Duty 2 let you experience World War II from several Allied perspectives, with distinct Russian, British and American campaigns. With developer Infinity Ward on leave until the next Call of Duty title, Activision enlisted Treyarch to handle this latest installment in the WWII shooter franchise. Here we are a year later and Call of Duty 3 is already hitting store shelves. Not only did Call of Duty 2 help kickoff the Xbox 360 in November of 2005, it was hands-down the system's best launch title.