Gamermall.com rating: 7.6

Games like Red Steel have been in the works for well over a year now and Ubisoft is still tweaking the final controls to maximize the Wii's potential, while Metroid Prime 3: Corruption - a first party Nintendo title, mind you - is also seeing control revisions by developer Retro Studios. FPS titles may be the most entertaining form of entertainment on the Wii, but I think we can all say with confidence that we'll be seeing our fair share of the good, the bad, and the ugly throughout the Wii's lifespan.

Like any good FPS fanatic though, I found salvation in the announcement that Call of Duty 3 would be making its way over to the Wii, and amazingly enough, launching with the system. Call of Duty 2 helped the 360 get off its feet, scoring amazing marks across nearly every press outlet worldwide, so naturally Nintendo fans are hoping for the same for their newest system. Activision brought us into its offices recently to give the game an "eyes-on" demo (with members of Treyarch playing the game and outlining the specifics of the everything on the fly), and while I wouldn't say it's time to run to your local retailer to go pay this one off in full, Call of Duty 3 is definitely showing some serious promise, already mixing a solid blend of motion control to the classic Call of Duty 3 design.

Let's Get the Story Straight:
For anyone not entirely up on their word history (or, if you're like me and played Advance Wars during class...), here's a brief overview of the background behind Call of Duty 3. First of all, you won't find yourself storming the beaches of Normandy this time. While that scene is definitely etched into our minds, the average gamer out there has already done that battle over 3,000 times, so Activision got wise to the generic opening and took Call of Duty 3 in a different direction. No beach landings, no boats, and no "Germans on the hill! Look out! .50 Cal!" Thank you Activision. Thank you very, very much.

Instead, Call of Duty 3 centers around one very specific instance in World War II. The game has players following Polish, Canadian, American, and British troops in the battle for Chambois, one of the most successful (and most needed, quite frankly) pincer attacks in WWIII. As the player, you'll be commanding each of the armies from mission to mission, switching between each of the groups in a massive swooping maneuver to pinch off the German Panzer forces - the most elite German forces at the time - in an attempt to choke out the Axis blitzkrieg that, until then, was devastating to allied forces. For the very first time, Call of Duty 3 is putting players in multiple view-points from the same main battle, as each group (and mission) will be working to one ultimate goal. This means you'll be commanding the American front, moving then to the Polish armored division, jumping over to the Canadians for the 4th Armored Division and Grenediers, and over to the British to close the gate. Its multiple campaigns, each running simultaneously, serving to complete one overall objective.

Moving Out:
So why get the Wii version of Call of Duty 3 over the other options you've got this holiday season? As always, it's all about the controller. Players will use the Wii-mote and nunchuk attachment to aim rifles, row boats, throw grenades, reload, wrestle weapons away from enemy troops, plant charges, and drive vehicles. Each of the actions in the game have been taken from the original Call of Duty 3 mechanic and fitted for motion control, so instead of merely hitting the "reload" button, players will quickly lift the nunchuk. When doing melee attacks, simply shove forward with the Wii-mote and your player will lay out the enemy with the butt of the rifle. Other actions are also mapped appropriately, having players throw grenades by holding the D-Pad left or right (for smoke or frag), and then gesturing with the nunchuk to throw it. Holding the A button will bring the gun's sights up to your eye for more precise aiming as well, and gesturing left or right it the nunchuk switches weapons. Certain moves such as ducking or going prone have been kept on the buttons, however, as players will manage their position with the C and Z buttons.

All in all the control seems to work fine, and there's something very satisfying about watching the player deliver a smashing melee attack by actually shoving forward, but there are a few areas I would have liked to see more motion involvement. For starters, both enemy and allied AI will use hand motions to communicate with each other, giving the game a more realistic feel as you see the groups actually act as a single unit. This would have been awesome to participate in, using the Wii-mote to gesture commands silently to your platoon, but since it isn't in the other Call of Duty 3 versions, you won't be seeing it for Wii. Additionally, grenade throwing is essentially the same as it is on other consoles, as the throw motion is the trigger for throwing, but doesn't determine how far you throw.

Much like previous versions of Call of Duty, the angle your character is looking will determine how far you chuck the nade, not the amount of power you physically put into it. Aside from a few oddities (you throw the grenade with the nunchuk, but your on-screen counterpart is right-handed), the overall control scheme is a decent adaptation to an already-established design, though it's certainly not straying from the formula of other consoles. Anyone hoping for fully intuitive melee attacks or the opportunity to toss ammo to pinned down troops isn't going to find it in this version of Call of Duty, though with it being a launch title using an all-new control scheme it's understandable. In addition, the game's "battle actions" work around that same type of adaptation, so rather than button mashing to wrestle a gun away, you put your hands up to hold an invisible gun and jab forward and backward with both hands to wrestle it away. There are other actions added as well, such as striking the grappled enemy with a huge melee attack or physically pushing him away, though I'm sure the basic motions used in Call of Duty 3 are just the beginning for motion interaction in future versions of the series.

Aiming Specifics:
Since we're seeing a good mix of FPS games at the Wii launch, it's going to become abundantly clear to everyone out there what works and what doesn't for FPS control. So far we've had the controversy of "bounding box vs. fixed reticule", and I'm sure that's only the beginning. Much like Red Steel and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Call of Duty 3 is using a bounding box that takes up about one third of the center of your screen. What this means is that you have the ability to move the cursor within that area (the center of your vision) in a pixel-perfect manor. When you near the edge of that invisible box, however, the cursor will begin to move the entire screen as if your player is rotating his head.

The choice in player movement is obviously inspired by the Metroid Prime 3 mechanic, as it works nearly identically to the game, though I'm still curious why companies won't give the fixed reticule movement a chance. Call of Duty 3 seems easy to control overall, but as with any "bounding box" game, the pinpoint controls are hurt a bit by the slower turning speed. There will be an option for sensitivity tweaking, however, so the ability to fine-tune the controls to your liking is definitely there just like Prime 3.

As another interesting note, the on-screen cursor that is included on the current demo will be removed for the final version, which could definitely give the game a more natural feel. In previous Call of Duty games, the most effective strategy is to spot an enemy, sight up, and fire, rather than just aiming in the general direction and spraying like crazy. Since the Wii version will have players intuitively moving the character's head with the Wii-mote control, sighting up to actually aim the gun may prove to be a great way of separating "looking" and "aiming" with the remote, something that both Metroid and Red Steel try to factor in simultaneously.

Visual Design:
Moving away from the general gameplay specifics and into the visual design, Call of Duty 3 is again a bit of a mixed bag at this point. We were surprised to see that the game was actually making Wii launch, as the team has already been shortchanged this time around in the amount of development time Call of Duty 3 is getting in comparison to its predecessor. While the final look isn't exactly on par with the other versions its releasing next to, the Wii version still has a ton of action going on at all times. Though the models and textures are a definite downgrade from the 360 version I saw running at QuakeCon a few months back, the amount of pure action and effects that are happening around the playfield are nearly identical, as there are tons of troops fulfilling secondary objectives, smoke pillars rising everywhere, muzzle flashes sparking from all angles, and debris being blown everywhere.

Call of Duty 3 prides itself on the destructible environments, and that aspect of the game doesn't seem to be missing a beat when compared to other versions. If you see a German hiding behind some rubble, try to flush him out by demolishing his hiding place. The game doesn't have the same polish and shine that it does on other systems, but the overall amount of action happening around you seems to be directly on part with the sister versions.

In addition, Call of Duty 3 is running in 480p and widescreen, and uses Dolby Pro Logic II for simulated surround sound. The overall experience is definitely on par with other Wii titles, and the amount of immersion found in all the action (with use of both graphics and sound) is pretty impressive. I'd stack the overall presentation of Call of Duty 3 around a mid-generation Xbox game, as it doesn't have the same amount of graphical clarity as other titles, but it definitely showcases a ton of action without skipping a beat on the framerate.

Finishing Touches:
While that pretty much sizes up the eyes-on demo Activision was showing off, I also had a chance to pick the team's brain on a few aspects of the game that weren't being shown off. For starters, vehicle control is a mix between motion and classic control, as players will be physically driving the jeeps with both hands at ten and two, though the tank control is done with an analog stick and uses the Wii-mote to aim the main guns. As far as being a linear vs. open-ended experience, Call of Duty 3 allows players to choose different paths of play during key moments of nearly ever mission. When choosing a path, however, an AI team will branch off and fill in the gaps, so if you pass up a sniper mission to help infiltrate an enemy camp, AI members of your squad will still be sniping over your shoulder during the battle. There are constantly multiple tasks being carried out, but it's up to you which one you're a part of.

As for additional Wii functionality, Activision informed us that there will be no WiiConnect24 support for Call of Duty 3. In addition, the experience is one player only, offering no split-screen or multiplayer gaming this time around. The Wii-mote speaker isn't being used (due to time constraints), but the Wii-mote rumble is used in nearly every situation for incoming and outgoing fire. As a final note on the game's engine, Call of Duty 3 is essentially running an adaptation of the 360 engine (when looking at physics and visual effects), and features tons of destructible objects, motion/firing blurring which gives the experience a very solid feel, and the same smoke and dust effects found in the sister versions of Call of Duty 3. The game has a very promising feel and a few great ways to use the Wii-mote. We'll have more gameplay impressions (hands-on this time), as well as new assets direct from the Wii version very shortly. Call of Duty 3 is slated for the Wii launch window with no official date yet released.

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