As for new features, there are plenty - they just weren't on offer in the demo we saw, though Iremonger did burble about them a bit. Battle Actions are designed to put you into the game on a more visceral level - for example, a German soldier might knock your gun out of your hands, and you're forced to wrestle him or get shot. What WWII game hasn't had a dramatic landing scene, with bullets raining down as soldiers row to shore? The difference in Call of Duty 3 is that you're going to be forced to row this time.
While these will all be accomplished with simple button presses and joystick waggles, so is dodging enemy fire and shooting Nazis in the face - it's the way the Call of Duty series communicates the drama of war through dialogue and artistry that has always been the draw. We have some hopes that these - though sounding drab on paper - do add to the overall experience.
More likely a sure bet for adding something are COD3's 24-player online modes, a big step up from the 8-per-game of Call of Duty 2. Taking a cue from the Battlefield games, Classes are also being added in - so you'll be able to play with different loadouts, and in the case of the medic, different abilities. Vehicles, including tanks, are being ramped up, as well. To combat that, a new ability called Tank Mantling, where you can hop on an enemy's tank and drop a grenade in the hatch - so fair's fair, in the end.
The conclusion we drew? It's much, much more of the same you've already played before. Whether the polish gets slathered on time for release will mark whether it's worth the dive back behind enemy lines one more time.
