IGN
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to "The Island".
by Mark Bozon
Along with the first-person madness of QuakeCon 2006, featuring multiple tournaments and a opportunity to go hands-on with Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, Activision took a few minutes from its busy gaming schedule to give us an updated look at the next level in Call of Duty 3 behind closed doors. This demo, shown on the Xbox 360 hardware, is a more expansive version of the previous build we checked out just a few short weeks ago, as well as an exclusive first look at "The Island".
As the second level of the game, The Island takes players outside of the city streets and into the more sparse cover of the countryside, as allied forces will have to storm a German-fortified area with very little cover. Under the concealment of twilight and pouring rain, players will have to progress mere feet at a time using only a few small tanks as cover.
While the demo was only a few minutes long, The Island promises to deliver an amazing experience within the world of Call of Duty. Battles that normally relied on moving from cover to cover suddenly require the allied forces to literally dive down in the mud, dash across wide-open fields under the cover of nightfall, and stick tight to their armor units.
Aside from the tactical differences The Island offers, its visual presentation is unparalleled in the Call of Duty series. The rainfall looks amazing, literally bathing the entire battlefield in a sheet of mist, and the scattered cracks of lightning in the distance provide a ton of mood to the experience. In addition, flashes of muzzle-fire are constantly going off, as unseen enemies provide cover fire for advancing troops. The overall feel is pretty surreal, and we can't wait to see how the final version is going to shape up.
Along with a few new screens, Activision gave us an opportunity to take direct-feed video of The Island in action, though at the time of publishing this feature we're waiting for final approval. We'll have video of the new level in action very soon, so be sure to check back frequently. Until then, head on over to our image gallery and take a look a few more high-res shots from The Island. We'll see you on the front lines.
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