Videogame publishers catch a lot of flak from the enthusiast press for milking World War II and for good reason. Many of these games share similar styles of play and design, and cookie cutter products don't necessarily advance respective genres unless the game in question is Call of Duty 3. Armed with the Xbox 360 and scores of very talented programmers, Activision and developer Treyarch created the most intense first person shooter of 2006, a shocking campaign that highlights one of the most vicious conflicts in WWII, the liberation of Paris. In doing this, both parties have breathed life into a stale genre. Most importantly, the game's tightly wound and impressively polished presentation honors the brave men that risked their lives for freedom

Although it doesn't chronicle the battles fought in Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan, Call of Duty 3 almost perfectly captures the anarchy in the film's opening scene. Scores of soldiers run up and down hills, explosions rip things to shreds, and thousands of bullets scream through the air. Nazis shout in German, grenades clink down stairs, and fighter planes roar overhead. This extremely visceral and adrenaline-charged experience never lets up and always keeps players guessing. One moment they'll be on their bellies wading through nasty brown water, and the next, they'll be riding the back of a tank and using binoculars to spot machine gunners, all the while enemies flank and attack them from all sides. These hellish moments are both disturbing for their sheer terror as well as fun because of the adrenaline rush they provide, thanks in large part to the enemy's artificial intelligence. Call of Duty 3's Nazi soldiers never cease fire, never give up on a target, and fire upon their foes with pinpoint accuracy. Characters will peak out from behind a corner and immediately come face to face with at least fifteen bullets, all of which have been fired towards their heads.

When not unloading countless rounds of ammo, Germans leap from hiding spots and attempt to strangle the game's main characters. These encounters, called Battle Actions, require rapid button pressing in order to shake off attackers. Once this is achieved, the player presses a button to finish them off. A sharpened knife to the throat would have been great, but Activision settles for a simple rifle butt to the face.

Battle Action's don't occur too often and that's definitely a good thing. By limiting them, Activision keeps the action at a frenzied pace even when there's nothing going on. An empty looking house will more often than not be very empty, but the threat of combat never disappears.