"Germans!"

War shouldn't be fun. It really shouldn't. Carnage, chaos, death, destruction - these are the things of nightmares, not exhilarating evening-and-weekend leisure pursuits. In the games industry, however, war means big business, while for gamers it offers an unparalleled level of epic entertainment. And war titles don't get much bigger or better than Call of Duty.

This won't be Call of Duty quite how PC and Xbox 360 owners remember it, though. Indeed, keyboard-based players will have to wait until next year for a new CoD game altogether - for the latest in the series, Call of Duty 3, has been entrusted not to the brand's PC team Infinity Ward, but to console specialists Treyarch, makers of last year's PS2 and Xbox release Big Red One

Controversial? Perhaps - CoD originated on PC, so to have no home computer version this Christmas will be a blow to the franchise's loyal followers. We find it difficult to feel disappointed though; While Infinity work tirelessly into 2007 on an impending future classic, Treyarch have served up a scintillating WWII shooter that goes far beyond being just a festive-season appetiser, giving their eager fanbase the best of both worlds.

And from an audiovisual point of view, this really is the series' current high point - especially on Xbox 360, where the game engine excels. From the moment proceedings kick off proper - boosting you over a wall and into the most hectic, frantic and at-times downright frightening low-tech battlefield you'll find on any console - you'll be awed by the sheer amount that's happening before your eyes. Smoke plumes, bullets ricochet, brick walls crumble, grenades erupt in a shower of sparks, and fellow soldiers fly across the landscape with some of the finest ragdoll animation we've experienced in an FPS; It's an altogether powerful presentation - atmospheric, explosive and above-all immersive.

Even with so much going on on-screen, Call of Duty 3 is, much like its predecessors, an unmistakably linear experience - though you'll often be hard pushed to care in the midst of such a frenetic battlefield fiction. Despite moving directly from one objective to another, progression retains the previous game's habit of opening out from narrow pathways into expansive bullet-torn environs, with every major conflict really giving that feeling of being a part of a full-scale war.

In fact, compared to CoD2 it's significantly less arcadey; the gritty nature of the game's aesthetic and panic-inducing action lending COD3 a significantly edgier feel - this, even in a year packed full of high-quality balls-to-the-wall gun games, will have you feeling positively drained after a long play session in the best possible way.

If there's one drawback, it's that such firearm-focused gameplay can sometimes start to get a little repetitive; most objectives in CoD3 tend to involve obliterating every enemy in the area, moving to the objective point on the HUD map, and...well, that's about it. Granted though, Treyarch have done their best to break up play with a few selectively interspersed set pieces - some of which feel like novelties, while others enhance the war-like feel.

Up close and personal

Thankfully, the novelties are easily overlooked. Battling an enemy soldier up-close and personal with some rhythm-action style mashing of the trigger buttons, for instance, will often surprise without ever really leaving you on the edge of your seat. On the other hand, instances where you sit atop a tank and direct its shells towards enemy gun emplacements, or face a barrage of enemy fire to lay explosive charges, break up proceedings, adding a variety which proves welcome. Controlling vehicles themselves isn't one of the game's strong points, sadly, but again adds an extra element to the campaign, while the ability to pick up an enemy's grenade and throw it back is one of the game's more ingenious, though incredibly nerve-wracking improvements, adding diversity and depth to CoD's basic gunplay.

Treyarch's refinements with CoD3 also extend to the multiplayer mode, which benefits from an especially well-produced online option - one of CoD2's weaker elements, fans will remember. The 24 player limit is impressive, trumping Xbox Live's current number one online title Halo 2 by a good eight people, and tripling the eight-player games pumped out by Gears of War.

The lag issue too, we're pleased to report, is less prevalent this time - even on the biggest of the game's nine initial maps, while the class system for characters is also intuitive; lending multiplayer matches a real element of teamwork, with medics, for instance, rushing around to revive downed comrades. On top of that, the game also supports four players online in splitscreen fashion through a single system, and for 360 gamers there's also the all-important Achievements to consider, dotted about through both the single and multiplayer modes, ensuring you'll want to spend time enjoying both equally.

With so much going for it, there's a lot to recommend CoD3 - though it's by no means a flawless FPS. As far as telling a story goes, the singleplayer campaign is somewhat lacking - throughout the game you'll control a single soldier in the American, British, Canadian and Polish armies, which can't help but dilute the overall narrative value; this certainly is no Halo 2 or Half Life. In fact, Halo players will likely also find fault with the game's somewhat flimsy jump controls, and the occasional invisible wall around certain areas which sometimes prevent you from flanking enemy positions the way you'd wish.

But that's only a big issue due to how very immersive the rest of the game proves. Sure, when you reach a waist-high wall your character is incapable of climbing over, it will grate - but purely because you'll desperately want to join your comrades in the distance kicking Nazi ass. The script may be far from engaging, then, and you may even feel a little disjointed from the overall objective of liberating Paris - but the setting, set pieces and unrelenting sensory assault are never anything less than exceptional.

Sadly, at 8-10 hours, it's all over far too quickly, and the lack of a co-op option is somewhat disappointing. However, for hardcore players the Veteran difficulty setting will double the length of the singelplayer mode, while the much-improved online play rounds off the package with a pleasing sense of longevity, making this amongst the year's finest FPS offerings, and a truly worthy sequel to the series' superb second outing. We still maintain that war really shouldn't be fun, of course - but Treyarch's endeavours with Call of Duty 3 have proven so downright satisfying, that this is one guilty pleasure we're happy to indulge in.

GAME's Verdict

• Intense, immersive and physically draining depiction of war.
• Improved multiplayer options with 24-player online play.
• Set pieces and vehicle sections add variety.

• Somewhat diluted storytelling.
• It's over all too quickly, and the lack of a co-op option disappoints.
• Sometimes frustratingly on-rails, and flimsy jump controls.

Review by: Mark Scott
Version Tested: Xbox 360
Review Published: 15.11.06