Few games have managed to convey the thrills, the horror and the sense of immediacy needed to portray World War II in a digital environment. But the Call of Duty series has continually managed to immerse players in this fascinating period of history.
Now, thanks to the innovative controls of the Wii Remote and Nunchuk, prepare to dig in deeper than ever before – from the safety of your comfy sofa. Producer Ken Murphy takes us to the front line…
In terms of storyline, which part of WWII does Call of Duty 3 focus on, and how does the narrative perspective impact on the gameplay?
Call of Duty 3 focuses on the Normandy Breakout, the Allied campaign that followed D-day and led to the liberation of Paris. The Normandy Breakout was an appealing story to tell, because it allowed us to tell the story of a campaign from multiple perspectives, while showing how the various forces – US, British, Canadian and Polish – all worked together.
Naturally, what sets the Wii version of Call of Duty 3 apart from other versions is the way you control the game. Can you explain how the Wii Remote and the Nunchuk are used?
Our goal was to take full advantage of the new, innovative Wii Remote and we knew the Wii consumer would demand no less. After lots of experimentation and focus tests we finally settled on a default controller configuration. The Nunchuk controls the player’s body movements (i.e. forward, backward, sidestep left, sidestep right, jump, stand up, crouch, and prone). The Wii Remote controls where the player is looking, what is being targeted and all other weapon controls.
We also took full advantage of the Wii controller when considering how to implement our ‘battle actions’. Battle actions are like mini-games where the player has to perform some type of activity to continue the mission or complete an objective. Some battle actions are combat-oriented, others are task-oriented.
Call of Duty 3 introduces more close-quarters combat into the series. Can you give us some examples of this?
Much of our close-quarters gameplay is combat-oriented and with the Wii Remote and Nunchuk you physically get into the action. In one part of the game an enemy surprises you as you go through a door. He knocks the weapon from your hands and you grab his rifle so he doesn’t shoot you. You struggle with each other, over the rifle. Your physical skill with the Wii controller corresponds with your on-screen struggle and ultimately determines the outcome of the encounter.
The task-oriented battle actions are things like rowing a boat in the heat of battle, planting charges and making targeting adjustment to a mortar launcher to save your squad and allow advancement.
What kind of vehicles do you get to control in the game, and how did you suit controlling them to the Wii’s controllers?
You can control jeeps and tanks. For Call of Duty 3’s jeep control the player just needs to hold the controllers parallel at the 3 o’clock and 9 o’clock positions, just like a car’s steering wheel. We assigned accelerate to the B Button (Wii Remote) and brake to the Z Button (Nunchuk).
In terms of control options, how did you ensure that the game is easy enough for beginners to simply dip into, but also challenging enough for the hardcore to master?
Experimentation and focus testing. We spent many, many hours thinking and experimenting with all types of movements and gestures. And we couldn’t forget hand position, button pressing, and controller sensitivity. We also conducted focus tests, both ‘official’ ones and casual ones. Another big boost came from our QA team who provided lots of good feedback based on their many hours of playing.
In addition to all the testing and feedback we created a series of on-screen ‘hint’ animations so the player knows what gestures to perform in order to survive a battle action. We also take full advantage of the controller buttons because all of the gestures have ‘backup’, redundant button presses in case the player prefers button-pressing more than gesturing.
The Call of Duty series has been praised for being very immersive. Would you say that the new control mechanism immerses players even deeper into the action?
Definitely. The hand-to-hand combat is especially immersive. In fact, all the battle actions bring you further into the environment. Cranking the wheels to adjust your cannon, the rowing action while in a boat, and steering like you’ve got your hands positioned on an actual steering wheel all contribute to the overall experience.
As you were developing Call of Duty 3 for Wii, did you come up with any ideas for a future Wii title in the Call of Duty series?
Sure. There are lots of physical challenges that take place in battle. Some of the more obvious ones are climbing/rappelling, pushing/pulling, etc. There are also other cool battle action ideas that sprung up late in development but I can’t give away all the ideas because that would spoil the fun!
Firstly, being a Call of Duty game alone provides great entertainment value and the new battle actions bring you closer to the fury of combat than ever before. To top it off, the Wii version furthers the Call of Duty experience by pulling you physically into the action.
