Call of Duty 3 is a historic first-person shooter that takes place during World War II. Call of Duty 3 was released on November 7, 2006 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, and Xbox, and was released on November 14, 2006 for PlayStation 3 and Wii. It was developed by Treyarch (and Pi Studios) and published by Activision, and is the third installment in the Call of Duty series. Two map packs have been released for this game, that are only available on the Xbox Live Marketplace: the Bravo Map Pack and Valor Map Pack, with a free bonus map called Champs. It was re-released in the Call of Duty: The War Collection as part of a bundle. On October 6, 2009, it was released on Xbox Live Marketplace and is available for $19.99. It was the last Call of Duty game released on the original Xbox. On September 22, 2016, it was made available for backwards compatibility on Xbox One.
Campaign[]
The single player campaign is modeled after the Normandy breakout, where the British, Canadian, American, Polish, and French Resistance forces pushed into the village of Chambois, France, also known as the . 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.
American Campaign[]
In the American missions, the player takes control of Private Nichols, who recently arrived in France and was eventually moved to the 29th Infantry Division. He meets fellow squad members Sgt. Frank McCullin, Cpl. Mike Dixon, and Pvt. Leroy Huxley. Nichols and his squad take part in the capture of Saint-Lô where they meet Pfc. Salvatore Guzzo, a radio operator who becomes a part of the squad. After that, the squad is folded into the 90th Infantry Division, and they are sent to secure the wooded area of Saint Germain-Sur-Seves, where intense hedgerow fighting took place. Soon after, the 90th assaults the town of Mayenne, where Huxley is tasked with defusing bombs planted on a bridge, which is heavily guarded by German infantry. Huxley is wounded in the leg before he can carry out the order and Sergeant McCullin successfully defuses the bombs, but is killed in the process. His last words (to Dixon) are "Tell.... tell.... Guzzo... tell him... tell him to go to Hell. Hahahaha...." Dixon then assumes command of the squad and is promoted to sergeant. The squad is later tasked with clearing out Forêt d'Ecouves, so the 2nd Battalion can move through. In Forêt d'Ecouves, Nichols plants explosives on two German supply caches. In the end, Nichols clears the last roadblock with a mortar. The squad then takes part in clearing out a nearby town with a vital crossroads. Towards the end of the assault, Dixon is wounded but survives. After taking a shortcut through the sewers, they find the crossroads and take it successfully, with the help of Sherman tanks. The unit is then sent to defend the town of Chambois from Axis forces trying to escape out of the Falaise Gap. The squad ends up firefighting with Germans on one of the roads, and Huxley is ordered to get a bazooka to fend off enemy tanks. Eventually, the squad falls back from the position to a rallying point. Later they arrive at a large area with many Germans and tanks on the other side. After Guzzo's radio gets shot, he marks German positions with flares for air support while Nichols covers him and is tasked to take out an MG42 position that has Guzzo zeroed. Afterward, Guzzo is wounded in the leg. Dixon then tells Nichols to cover him as he goes down there to get Guzzo away from the flares before air support arrives. When Dixon and Nichols come to his aid, Dixon carries him back up the hill and extracts him to relative safety. While treating Guzzo, Dixon is shot in the back, and dies a few moments later giving his last words to Guzzo: "...McCullin...McCullin told me to tell you...you should go to Hell." Guzzo says, "Oh, forget him, Dix. You're not dying like him!" Dixon then says, "... but you're OK, Guzzo, you're OK....." After that a U.S. soldier comes up to the squad telling them that they are needed on the other side of town. Guzzo takes command of the squad afterward. A U.S. soldier then needs help getting to a tank so he can destroy it, with that the squad covers him and he takes out the tank. After fighting through the rest of the town, the squad then holds off the Germans until reinforcements arrive. The Falaise Pocket is finally closed. Guzzo is then promoted to sergeant and is also shown as the new leader of the squad, giving McCullin's "pep talk" to some fresh soldiers. Four days later, on the 25th of August, Paris is liberated, bringing an end to the Battle of Normandy.
British/French Campaign[]
During the British and French campaign, the player controls Sgt. James Doyle, a returning character from Call of Duty: United Offensive and member of the British Special Air Service. Doyle rides in a jeep driven by Cpl. Duncan Keith. They arrive at the base where the Sergeant is reunited with Maj. Gerald Tiberius Ingram, also returning from Call of Duty: United Offensive, where he explains to Doyle about their meeting with the French Maquis resistance and about the cargo of the Handley Page Halifax they are riding in: Vera and Lynn, two SAS jeeps.
Due to fire from an 88 mm gun, their plane is shot down and drops the squad and the two jeeps. Soon after the landing of Doyle, another soldier of the SAS, Pvt. Wilkins, is killed by a German soldier. Doyle is saved by the Maquis contact, Pierre LaRoche, before he shares the same fate. Shortly afterwards, Doyle, Keith and LaRoche find Vera, which was lost in the drop, and they drive her to a rendezvous point where they meet up with Isabelle DuFontaine, who informs them of a Maquis soldier who went missing, Marcel. While LaRoche stays behind to meet Ingram, Doyle, Keith and DuFontaine find Marcel in a nearby mansion. Doyle, Keith, DuFontaine, and some Maquis soldiers then attack the Flak 88s, with Doyle destroying all three. Later, the remaining soldiers escape on the jeeps. The Maquis and SAS then try to destroy a German-held fuel plant. Doyle, Keith and Pierre LaRoche are sent on first to open the main gate to the fuel plant. They meet up with heavy German resistance, and LaRoche provides covering fire from above as a sniper. Doyle and Cpl. Keith open the main gate allowing SAS troops and the French Resistance to attack the fuel plant, Doyle and Keith proceeding to join them afterwards. The SAS jeeps are attacked by a German half track and it crashes, while their occupants are forced to get out. After eliminating the German resistance with the help of LaRoche, they split up three different ways. Keith leads some of the men through the bottom part, Ingram goes through the office section and the remaining Maquis go through the catwalks. Doyle chooses to follow one of the paths and gets to his target. While Doyle is planting the charges he is attacked by a German. Doyle defends himself and throws the German soldier over the edge of the railing. Ingram then comes with the others and finds a way out of there after Doyle and Keith planted the rest of the charges. While escaping the fuel plant in a German vehicle, Ingram's truck is blown away by a nearby explosion and is believed dead. Tensions rise as Corporal Keith accuses Marcel of collaborating with the Germans. Against the advice of the French Resistance, Keith and Doyle attempt to locate Ingram, with Marcel, LaRoche, DuFontaine, and other members of the Maquis soon following. After Doyle, Keith, and Marcel rescue Ingram, the Maquis and SAS fighters rescue three Maquis prisoners. Later in a fierce firefight on the rally point, a German armored car comes into the battle making Doyle and Isabelle flank it around and allowing her to set the charges from behind. Unfortunately, Isabelle is killed in the explosion. After the fight is over, Keith is then seen comforting Marcel over his loss and praising the bravery of the Maquis, showing that he does have some respect for the French Resistance.
Canadian Campaign[]
The Canadian aspect of the campaign involves members of the 4th Canadian (Armored) Division. It is centered on Pvt. Cole, led by World War I veteran Lt. Jean-Guy Robichaud, 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 which consists of Sgt. Jonathan Callard, Pvt. Leslie Baron the radio operator, and Pvt. Kyle Peterson. Robichaud commands a platoon of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada. The platoon captures an industrial area and successfully defends it from a larger German force. While they do so, tensions start to rise between Robichaud and Baron over the latter's hesitance to go into combat. While the Polish 1st Armored Division guards their western flank, the unit clears a forest near the Laison River, during which Robichaud continues to berate Baron over his lack of getting into combat. Tension continues to build between the two, and Baron insists that he is not a coward. Robichaud dismisses him and eventually assigns him to act as radio operator for a Polish unit where he then dies. Robichaud proceeds to clear a town to rescue a captured Canadian tank crew, but rather than withdraw with the rescued servicemen he decides to assist in capturing the whole town. The group manages to defend from a German counter attack after capturing the town however a King Tiger tank appears, the men flank around it and plant demolition charges in a German ammunition dump to destroy the tank. But it is discovered that the fuse is a dud. Sergeant Callard suddenly sacrifices himself in bravery by detonating the charges manually, destroying the tank and the ammunition dump. A saddened Robichaud decides to nominate Callard posthumously for the Victoria Cross and has Cole promoted to the rank of Corporal. They then start moving reinforcements through the town to help the 1st Polish Armored Division who were now defending Hill 262.
Polish Campaign[]
The Polish campaign revolves around Cpl. "Bohater" Wojciech, a member of a tank crew in the Polish 1st Armored Division, led by Maj. Stan "Papa Jack" Jackowicz, and consisting of Cpl. Joakim "Lucky Ruud" Rudinski, Sgt. Łukasz "Bang Boom" Kolwalski, Pte. Marek "Beksa" Ulan, and himself. The crew take part in a sweep across the French countryside, engaging German armor, and helping to destroy the tank of German General Richter.
The Poles later move into position at the base of Mount Ormel, or Hill 262 where they are assaulted by the remnants of the German 7th army desperate to escape the Falaise Pocket. Bohater and his crew defend the hill against German tanks, but eventually their Sherman Firefly is destroyed and the crew abandons it. They join in the battle alongside the Polish infantry units and other tank crews, holding off the German attack. When they get to Maj. Jackowicz he is with Kowalski defending against a wave of Germans assaulting the hill. Kolwalski is then killed by a tank shell as well as many other Polish soldiers. The remainder of the crew and Polish soldiers start to retreat up the Mace through pockets of German-infested trenches. Baron arrives to call in artillery but is killed by a stray shot after refusing to retreat from an overrun position. Ulan scavenges his radio, which is used again to call in artillery strikes. In the final minutes of the level, while Rudinski is running up hill, a German tank fires and it kills Rudinski leaving the 3 remaining Polish to fight off the Germans. Papa Jack commands Bohater and Ulan to defend the hill against the advancing German troops. As the three fall back up hill, they see that they are the only ones left. As they look up, Ulan says he sees green flares, but Jackowicz then says its not the Canadians. The Germans all charge up the hill. The only three Polish soldiers left try to hold off the charge even with Germans coming over the walls. Then Green flares light the sky as the Canadian air force attack the Germans making them retreat towards Chambois. The Canadian infantry arrive that day for the Poles on Hill 262. After the level, Lieutenant Robichaurd is seen talking with Major Jachowicz, saying that him and his men have done an excellent job at defending the hill, and also telling him that the Germans still have an escape route, that being Chambois.
Campaign Levels[]
Close Quarter Battles (CQB)[]
Call of Duty 3 has special gameplay parts, in which the player gets ambushed by enemy soldiers and the player then gets involved in a hand to hand fight. During these events, certain buttons need to be pressed, depending on the commands. If the player fails to do so, they will be killed by the enemy soldier.
On the Wii version, the button pressing is replaced with remote gestures. The Player has to shake the Wii Remote and the Nunchuck back and forth alternately.
The player gets into hand-to-hand battles in the levels: Saint-Lô, Night Drop, Fuel Plant, The Crossroads, and The Corridor of Death.
The first German, at St. Lo (pictured) was hit by the butt of his Kar-98k. The one at Night Drop was kicked down a staircase, the one at Fuel Plant was kicked off of a railing, the one at the Crossroads was killed by grenade detonation on his pocket protector, and the last one was hit by his rifle as well.
Multiplayer[]
The Call of Duty 3 multiplayer mode allows 24 players on the PlayStation 3 & Xbox 360 consoles, which is three times larger than the Call of Duty 2 multiplayer mode, The Wii version has no multiplayer at all. All team game modes feature American soldiers versus the Germans; the British SAS, Canadians, and Polish are not playable multiplayer factions. The PS2 version allows up to 16 players per game (although performance may limit it to as few as 10 players) and includes fewer maps.
A new option in Call of Duty 3 multiplayer is that instead of choosing a weapon, the player is put in special classes. Players select a class of soldier and a team, the chosen class defining both the player's weaponry and the unique abilities that they will hold over the other classes. There are seven classes of soldiers 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 respawned, but they can pick up dropped weapons to replace their secondary weapons. Players cannot change their primary weapon that goes with their chosen class.
During multiplayer, many new players often choose the allies mostly because the weapons are quite easy to use. Though more veteran players often prefer the Axis. This is because the Axis weapons are generally more powerful, but they are more difficult to use.