Surviving Call of Duty 3

Surviving the massive and deadly Nazi forces that oppose you in Call of Duty® 3 is no easy task, no matter what the difficulty setting. The following tips will help you push back the enemy forces as you liberate France.

Using cover: Good idea.

Aiming Down the Sight
Call of Duty 3 is definitely not a shoot from the hip kind of game. The default targeting reticule isn't much use while you're running around the battlefield, so use the sniper mode. Pull the left trigger to aim directly down the barrel of your gun for essential accuracy. Practice entering this mode, snapping off a quick, well-aimed shot, and then exiting again to keep moving.

Grenade Throwback
In Call of Duty® 2, an icon used to pop up to let you know a live grenade was nearby. This was to give you time to retreat to cover. Now, however, you can grab live grenades and throw them back at the enemy. This is a great surprise tactic, and can eliminate enemy clusters easily.

Compass Consultant
With rubble, mud, walls, and who knows what all else in your way, it can sometimes be hard to find a sneaky enemy. Consult your compass for little red dots to get a fix on that hidden opponent. It won't reveal enemies that you haven't spotted yet, but it's a great tool for tracking down the ones that ran away.

Standing out in the open: Bad idea.

A.I. Buddies
Your fellow soldiers are controlled by sophisticated artificial intelligence, and if you give them the chance, they can be quite helpful. You may not be giving them orders as you do in some games, but if you take note of their actions, you can use them to your advantage.

One good tactic is to let your comrades get noticed by the enemy first and use them as a distraction while you flank the enemy and fire on them from behind.

Breathe and Heal
While Call of Duty 3 largely relies on realism, it utilizes a less than authentic health system. Instead of offering any kind of health bar, your vision will become progressively more "bloody" the more damage you take. If you back off and rest up for just a moment, however, your health will replenish itself. So don't be scared to take a breather and heal up.

Cover Up
Run and gun is not a valid strategy in COD 3. You must pick your way carefully from cover to cover across every level. Leave yourself exposed for even a few seconds and you will be gunned down. Whether you find a tank, a blown out piece of wall, a parcel of crates, or a hedge, anything that comes between you and a hail of angry gunfire should be used and used often.

Hope those boxes don't contain ammo.

Crouch
If using cover is essential, crouching is equally so. You should always offer as small a target to your opponents as possible, and crouching will help you accomplish this. As a rule, you should only be standing up when you need to sprint to another location.

Weapon Dichotomy
It makes no sense to hold two weapons that serve the same purpose. If you are carrying two submachine guns, drop one in favor of a weapon with a different advantage, like a rifle.

Smoke in the Open
It's amazing how quickly players forget that smoke grenades are a vital part of their arsenal. Even COD vets often let this essential tool go unused. If you're about to cross an open area, a well-timed smoke grenade can be your best friend. This can be especially true when dealing with machine gun nests or enemy vehicles.

Article by Ryan Treit