Activision puts the Wii into WWii.
Spider-Man developers extraordinaire Treyarch have traded in their red and blue tights for army boots and helmets to craft the next installment of Call of Duty, imaginatively titled Call of Duty 3. Taking over where developers Infinity Ward left off, CoD3 focuses on one major military operation, The Normandy Breakout. Expanding on the global sensibility of the franchise, Treyarch has altered the formula for the better by providing campaigns for the US, Canada, Britain and Poland in this follow up. Sorry Russia you didn’t make the cut and if you think you’ve been slighted, think about how France feels since it was the French 2nd Armored Division which liberated Paris during WWII.
Even though I’ve played my fair share of CoD3 on the consoles, both next and current gen, it’s the Wii version I’ve found myself dodging bullets and shrapnel in for the last few days. CoD3’s familiar FPS mechanics have been completely customized to take advantage of the Wii-mote control while at the same time taking a substantial hit in visual spice when compared to the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions.
Co-Developers EXAKT Entertainment was at the helm of the Wii console port of CoD3 and while the game is identical in regards to story and campaign, EXAKT’s mission was to weave the Wii’s innovative control system into the mix. Any gamer worth their weight in Doritos (let’s just be honest already…gamers love junk food) will recognize that while console FPS’ have come a long way, playing with a keyboard and a mouse on a PC will always feel natural. That’s just the way it goes and it will be a sad day when there are no longer any gamers around to remember this. The Wii version of CoD3 comes as close to the feel of a mouse and keyboard as you’re going to get on a console. The Wii-mote acts as your cursor (targeting reticule), just as a mouse would, while the nunchuck moves your character. The added benefit to this configuration is that your aim is incredibly fast, enabling you to whip around and put an enemy in your sight in milliseconds, instead of wasting precious seconds moving the R analog stick into position. Those playing CoD3 on the Wii for the first time will require a learning curve of about 20 – 30 minutes. Not surprisingly those who have played CoD3 extensively on the other consoles might require more time to come to grips with the control scheme due to the inherent differences.
While EXAKT did an admirable job implementing the Wii controls, it’s not quite perfect. The newly introduced hand-to-hand combat moves (scripted events) in CoD3 require moving the Wii-mote and nunchuck back and forth and I found this to be hit and miss. If anything it provided me with some exercise, but rarely did it knock out the German solidier I was fighting with. I also found the button layout not the most intuitive for FPS, because all the buttons are utilized in some fashion which requires the players hands to switch positions too often. If you’re playing comfortably with your fingers on the B and A buttons, you will have to change your hand position entirely to press a direction on the d-pad. Since the movement of your Wii-mote can alter your view, any movement that requires moving your hands, might leave you with a less than desirable position.