alright, I was going to put this is in 3 sep. threads but it would be a waste of time:
Note: Its a lot of reading, but its good reading
Ok, the first link is................
Today I got the rather unique opportunity of playing the multiplayer and single player modes in the upcoming World War II title Call of Duty 3. The event took place at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole and featured around twenty-four 360 booths with the awesome Call of Duty 3 inside them and all of them were set up ready for me and my grubby little mitts.
I arrived, chose my booth and started on the campaign mode of the game - beginning my hands-on. Now firstly we had to choose difficulty and one of the guys from Treyarch (you know, the developers of the game!) said that I shouldn’t do Veteran as it’s a lot more difficult. Of course I didn’t listen and started on Veteran. Thirty seconds later I was on Hard and then sixty seconds later I was on Normal. The Veteran on CoD2 is somewhere between Normal and Hard on CoD3. If you want to play through Call of Duty 3 on Veteran then be prepared to tear your hair out around every corner and scream with disgust as you are killed for the 348,828,983 time.
I finally ate a slice of humble pie, opted for Normal and started on ‘The Island’. Up came the loading screen and that’s when I truly realised I was about to play what is arguably one the most anticipated titles of 2006. The level starts with you behind a tank grappling a BAR. You watch on your left and right as scores of Americans charge and are quickly mown down by the enemy turrets. What’s more, you find your cover (the big tank that is) blown to little itty bitty pieces within thirty seconds of starting!
Going forward with your BAR weapon, you face a good twenty Germans coming from every angle, all of them intent on killing you. After picking off each of the Germans you then advance through a blown up bunker and on to your next checkpoint, which sees you yet again fighting against countless Germans. Luckily the team AI seems to have been given an upgrade, for one they don’t go out in the open shouting ‘If I can’t see you, you can’t see me’. Your team mates do come in handy in situations where you are outnumbered 50 to 1 as they will throw perfect grenades which can knock out German turrets or squads of charging Nazis. They will also go ahead of you which wasn’t seen in CoD2 often and they will sometimes do all the work for you - hell I'm not complaining!
Further on in the level you find yourself emptying houses that have been encamped with Germans. Now the PPSh was a great gun for situations like this but sadly you can no longer use it, but do not fret, as there is another gun which will please your blood lusting appetite - it's German and is called the FP42 (I think, I’m not one for pens and papers so I might have got it slightly wrong). The FP42 despite having quite a harsh kickback is still one hell of a powerful gun and a room of six Germans is nothing against this baby.
Once you’ve cleaned out a few more houses, dodged a few tank shells and German bullets you finish the first part of ‘The Island’ and on comes the second stage. The second part of the level starts with a Scottish general claiming that the French are good for kissing and that’s about it (that got a few chuckles around the room). You then take control of your soldier with the Scotsman whispering that ‘we must be quiet’ and around the corner we find a German taking a pee break. Now you can't just shoot him as that will alert the vast amount of bad guys waiting just yards from you. Instead you have to use your melee and smash his head open, if like me your not good at aiming then you might have to take few whacks at his head before he finally succumbs to the pain and dies in a pool of his own blood.
Now there is a new melee system implemented into the game, for example you can kind off lock horns with your guns and push people over cliffs which adds that little bit more realism to the game. Anyways on with the game, so you kill the German and you go on to face … ummmmmm ….. Oh I know this, don’t tell me, don’t tell me… ahh yes that’s right, more Germans. One by one you take down the Germans and once they’re all dead you will find a little treat round the corner, why it’s a Jeep and one which you, yes you, can drive! Now the handling feels like a McClaren F1 and has the speed of a Koenisegegsgeesgeg, okay so I may have exaggerated on that one. The Jeep of course has pretty basic handling but your first drive will see you dodging quite a few tank shells, mortars, Germans and you will also have the pleasure of running a few Nazis over (It does feel ever so sweeeet).
By the time I had finished the drive-by shooting section, one of the Treyarch guys started a nice little info speech and one bit of info really got me listening. The guy from Treyarch explained that the different uniforms were worn by real people in a field and then they were scanned by the same scanner which looks for flaws in the foam at the bottom of the space shuttle. That's solid proof that alot of hard work has gone into making this game look as good as it possibly can! He then went ahead and set up the first multiplayer server and I got to play a new multiplayer gametype in a 10 vs 10 server (which can go up to 12 vs12 online or via system link).
The new gametype is simply entitled ‘War’ and I will try to explain it as best I can. In war you start with two flags each and the middle one neutral, now to take control of an enemy flag you cant simply go to their base and take it (like BF2) you have to work your way through the flags, so if you get the middle one you can then proceed to the next flag and then if you get the final flag the game is over. [There is a similiar game type in Half-Life's Day Of Defeat -Ed]
They did explain that the Sniper was a lot harder to use to compensate for sniper whores and sure enough you can’t breathe for as long and it’s a lot more twitchy and harder to use which may push a few snipers away from the new guns. Each time you die you can respawn as either a Medic (he heals people if you didn’t know), Rifleman (M1 Garand), Light Assault (Thompson, Stens), Heavy Assault (BAR etc…), Scout (Sniper), Anti-Armor (BAZOOOOOOOOOOOOKA) and finally Support which have a little trick up their sleeve in that they can call in artillery strikes. We also got to use the various vehicles including the bike and sidecar (which is terrible), Jeep (both US and German) and Tanks.
Now I was standing next to one of the guys from Treyarch and of course I’m a sniper whore so I went Scout, but the weird thing was I managed to get about 6 kills in a row, all of them from the Treyarch guy next to me. I wasn’t spawn camping as they have made spawn camping next to impossible as they have put loads of spawns on any one map. It got even better when the other Treyarch guy (I should really have got their names) made me and his colleague switch teams as I was sniping too many Nazis and the Nazis kept losing. Of course I went on to help the Germans to no wins, the Allies won every single battle but even so it was a really good laugh.
Now graphically the game looks amazing, in part due to the Space Shuttle scanner but also the fact that so much time had gone into this game when they were given such a short time to make it. Explosions look even better, you get more flying debris and one of the best aspects in my opinion is that when you zoom in with your weapon, part of the background blurs. Now you’re thinking ‘why?’ Think about it though, when you aim, your vision is more concentrated which means you will only see the clearest directly in front of you simply because you’re concentrating so hard and so the outer skirts of your vision will slightly blur. Try it with a real gun, you’ll be surprised. [But don't shoot anyone! -Ed]
Audio wise the game is more immersive than ever before. Not only do you have louder, more resounding gun shots and mortar explosions, you also have new death sounds, like when you shoot someone in the neck you’ll hear the blood gurgle in their throat (nice or what?!). One other thing I noticed which was pretty nice is that when you turn your gun (or head) the volume will change on individual speakers. So if you’ve got your left ear pointing at the fire-fight your left speaker will be blaring away and your right as quiet as a mouse. It's little things like that, that make the game feel undeniably awesome.
I only got to play one mission and two levels on the Story and two levels on the multiplayer, but from what I’ve played I think this is without doubt Gears of Wars biggest competitor. The game is more intense, more realistic and more fun - it’s simply a better game and considering how good CoD2 was you really couldn’t wish for anything more. This will be one hell of a game and you will be bonkers to miss out.
http://www.360monster.com/preview.ph...33&cat=handson
2nd....................................
We’ve recently been eating some Call of Duty 3 action on Xbox 360. It’s so intense that we needed time to convalesce.
To be honest we’ve been under a vow of silence following an exclusive Call of Duty 3 demo at Activision HQ last week. Today we can reveal our impressions of the previously unseen “Mayenne Bridge” area, plus general findings from Night Drop and Crossroads.
Before going into mission details, a few words about how the game is looking and indeed sounding. COD3 on Xbox 360 is a huge leap technically over last year’s excellent next-gen debut. Starting with your allies and enemies all freshly presented in silly detail, thanks to some new-fangled NASA scanning technology. We’d read all about this, but ‘in the flesh’ the soldiers look plenty more realistic in clothing that now hangs convincingly like heavy combat gear. In the “Night Drop” level it was pouring with rain too, so all the uniforms looked clingy and wet. You could feel the chill, adding to the misery of what lay ahead.
Speaking of rain, the atmospheric detail is massively enhanced over COD2. Overcast skies create a gloomy atmosphere, but the brighter colours of surrounding foliage or muzzle flash are picked out thanks to high dynamic range (HDR) lighting technology. This would otherwise be dull to mention, but it significantly adds to the gut-crunching reality sensation of being there – in the middle of a field, being shot at from all sides from indistinct enemies obscured by the downpour. Oops, looks like we’re heading into mission details here. Okay, here goes.
Mayenne Bridge is the new level Activision presented for the sake of our demo. It begins with quite a long cinematic sequence of you and your allied buddies taking a ride in a jeep to HQ. Apparently these scenes cannot be skipped; they’re in place of a loading screen so you’re kept entertained by plot developments more thrilling than ‘Now Loading’. Not a bad idea.
The early stages of the Mayenne Bridge level take place in a war torn village, among ruins of small houses with overgrown gardens, occupied by the enemy. Apart from the dense, would-take-forever to describe detail all around, the initial impact comes largely from the sound – next-generation sound, which is far more complex than even the best you’ll have heard on Xbox 360 until now. Everything is more refined: the thunder of aircraft passing overhead and the shouts of your foes preparing for the confrontation, the outbreak of gunfire, close by or rattling away in the distance. It grabs you by the neck with a clammy hand, and makes you feel involuntarily tense. Visually, one of the cool subtle effects added is the swaying grass, which stays flat after being trodden down. You can look back at your trail, and track enemies using this feature too so it’s not just a fancy extra.
Mayenne Bridge eventually ushers you and the boys toward an abandoned castle. There is a very clear route to follow as you near the objective and the challenge level increases. However the experience doesn’t feel ‘on rails’ – rather you’re pursuing the mission without pointless distraction. The castle requires the use of at least one smoke grenade to flush out some careless types, while providing more wily adversaries to take up posts … beware the guy hugging the floor with his machine gun trained on the entrance!
As you break cover to sprint up the stone staircase, smoke billowing behind, enemies darting out from behind pillars, you’re aware that COD3 is a much more theatrical take on the whole WWII theme. It’s a ‘guts and glory’ war movie rather than a harrowing documentary, staged to provide drama layer upon layer. And this is probably favourable to a gory recreation of events – when you shoot a guy in the head, for example, his skull doesn’t explode. In fact, we don’t recall seeing much blood at all apart from stains on jackets.
Certainly COD3 sets out on a different trail to COD2, keeping you focused on the mission with more thrilling set pieces such as a ride in a JEEP to make your escape, smashing through gates along bumpy trail. Another ‘crowd pleaser’ is the Sten Gun, featured in the Crossroads level – you’ll recognise it instantly as the machine gun with the cartridge poking out from the side like a handle (although it was actually held by the muzzle). Anyway, the Sten looks cool and is both dramatically and practically very effective, making shoot-outs in the small confines of yet another abandoned building all the more spectacular and Hollywood-tastic.
Needless to say we greatly enjoyed our time with Call of Duty 3 for Xbox 360. You don’t easily forget being fired upon as your comrades stumble and fall while taking cover behind a deafening tank in a boggy field. If you thought COD2 was special you ain’t seen nothing.
http://uk.videogames.games.yahoo.com...ce-755201.html EDIT: Fuck it I'm giving you all I have, WE HAVE LEVELS!!!!!!!! AND PICS
Like our other members I also played on the 2nd & 3rd levels. Both are quite intense levels with The Island starting off in a rain soaked field following your tank for cover as you then fight your way past the Germans and on into the countryside. The Night Drop level opens with a cinematic of you being dropped via parachute and meeting up with members of the French Resistance. An entertaining level particularly when you are tasked with meleeing the urinating Jerry!
Both these levels are predominantly night levels. The Island is a very intense struggle and sees much house to house fighting taking place in the latter stages. Some linearity and predictability of movement is evident in the same way it is in Call of Duty 2 but you do have a more varied choice of route through to your objective. At one point in The Island you are offered a choice of fighting across the bridge or going around and fighting your way up the river bed. Upon reaching the bridge you can see your fellow troops who are actually fighting their way along the route you declined and this does add to the feel of an actual campaign taking place as opposed to an 'on-rails' mission.
Destructible cover plays an important part in the British SAS Night Drop level. When fighting your way out of some of the buildings you are forced to push forward and the only available cover is shaky wooden fencing or crates which soon succumb to the German MG42 fire. This puts a lot more demand on the player to actually fight. You really feel you have to knock out that MG42 gunner as he ceaselessly puts rounds into your rapidly breaking up cover!
Once you battle your way through and reach your beloved Jeep Vera you then start the first of the 'driving' missions. This was a very simple mission driving your Jeep through some German defences across a jump and through a barn to reach your lady resistance contact. The driving section was quite fun as trees come crashing down and Germans set-up roadblocks but it was in no way difficult to complete.
The graphics overall have certainly received a polish and the uniforms of the soldiers are incredibly detailed however some of the building textures were not really much different to COD 2 it is more the effect of improved lighting and weather that make up the increase in graphical feel and intensity. The movement of trees and grass as you pass by all adds up to a much increased sense of realism.
The controls were as expected but I found a problem on a few occasions when rapidly switching weapons. There was a definite delay when you switched before you could use the next weapon and at times you were literally pulling the trigger with a full clip loaded and nothing coming out of the muzzle! I was constantly checking to see if I had run out of ammo on more than one occasion.
One big control improvement is that you now have sliders to control sensitivity in both axes for your aiming instead of the old low, medium, high, very-high settings. As these are independently controlled you can now fine tune your aiming speed to suit your preferred style of playing and weaponry choices.
The auto-aiming function is still available as an option and made some of the rifle work pretty easy. You only had to be pointing near an enemy and as soon as you pulled the left-trigger to sight him the gun 'locked-on' to the target. Grenades were interesting as you can now 'cook' them before throwing to shorten the delay time. It was not a simple proposition to launch a long grenade toss and more effort was needed to ensure it went in the right direction. I only managed to throw one grenade back at the enemy but later discovered a button shortcut which apparently makes this easier to achieve. Instead of having to push a button to pick up the grenade and then another to throw it you can actually just press the 'throw' (RB) button when the indicator shows that a live grenade can be picked up.
In summary I was sold on the single player alone and it certainly offered up an improved look and feel to the game whilst remaining true to Infinity Ward's previous instalment. The constant taunts from the Germans and the battle chatter of your comrades was ever present and the sound of gunfire and artillery was spot-on. The MG42 though just has to be fired to appreciate its upgrade, the noise was hugely satisfying and the sound of the spent cases rattling to the floor was superbly handled.
Multiplayer.
An entirely different game altogether. It's not Battlefield, but it's not quite Call of Duty 2 either. To be honest after trying it out I would rather have been playing either of the other two titles. Now I think this is largely down to the lack of familiarity for the game. Once you have played through some different levels and game types it may well grow on you but my initial reactions was one of disappointment.
The game speed has been increased to at times an almost arcade like frenzy, if I hear one more shout of 'Medic' I'll scream! At times I almost felt I was playing The Outfit but in first person. Graphically the game holds up well although I did follow a few 'static' sprite team mates around the place which would have been animated as running in COD 2. I think some of the animation has been lost to keep the game speed high for 24 players. We were only playing with about 16 and the battles felt like near chaos. The lack of headset communications and everyone just 'going for it' made the experience disconcerting.
I believe it will come into its own once you have organised friends matches with team work and communication but playing ranked/public matches will just turn into anarchy. It appears that everyone’s favourite weapon (apart from the sniper still) will be the .30 cal machine gun. Although it takes a while to get used to, the ability to set up and provide massive covering fire simply made some points unassailable on the games I played. The addition of vehicles makes the whole game faster but already some people had discovered the spawn points for the enemy and were just raping us all as we spawned with Panzerschrek and tank fire.
I played both single player & multiplayer in the first session then stayed over for the next session however once it was time to play more multiplayer games I packed up and headed for the train station an hour and a half early. I think that summed up my multiplayer feelings after my earlier games.
Call of Duty 2 will still be played this time next year, without a doubt. The more measured pace and opportunities for tactical play and teamwork just seem so much better. I await the November 10th release date and a thorough session with friends to really get to grips with the new multiplayer in Call of Duty 3 then my view may well be changed for the better.
The disc would appear to have some 'extra' content included on it as shown:-
Sections of the in-game cinematics can be viewed independently of the game:-
A brief report on some of the games characters can be accessed:-
Weapons and vehicle guides give a run-down on their respective specifications & range:-
http://www.xbox360leagues.co.uk/foru...showtopic=1537 ^ very important link, look!
Call OF DUTY 3 EXPLOSION! trust me its good 
Linear Mode
