Call of Duty 3

Call of Duty 3 took the series into the final months of World War II – the player fights through the liberation of France, the Battle of the Falaise Pocket, and other key operations from the perspective of American, Canadian, British, and Polish soldiers. Studio Treyarch, which has since held the role of the series' second main developer alongside Infinity Ward, built the game on a familiar recipe: scripted, cinematically directed battles that guide the player down a narrow corridor of action. The campaign also introduced, for the first time in the series, man-to-man duels controlled by quick button sequences and simple squad commands, letting the player signal comrades to advance or take cover with a gesture, intended to give the battles more dynamism and cinematic flair. Throughout the campaign the player takes turns as a soldier from four different Allied armies, meant to underscore the multinational character of the Western European campaign, and alongside the infantry action there are occasional vehicle-handling sections.

The PlayStation 3 version was among the console's launch titles in both North America and Europe, and was one of the very first PS3 games to support online multiplayer, quite a calling card for what was then Sony's brand-new platform. The visuals match the parallel Xbox 360 version, with a similar resolution and level of environment and model detail, but period reviews pointed to technical issues tied to the rushed release alongside the new console, such as less fluid animation and occasional frame-rate drops compared to the competing platform.

Call of Duty 3 is also the only main-series entry that never came out on PC – Activision decided at the time to leave that platform to the previous installment and focus fully on the launch of the new consoles. The PlayStation 3 version is therefore among the technically most ambitious, if not flawless, ports of that release, and also one of the historic pioneers of online play on this console.

Why play it: Thanks to its historical role as the first online Call of Duty on PlayStation 3, it's worth a look mainly for collectors and series fans rather than players seeking a flawless port.