The greatest conflict in the history of civilisation. The fate of millions across the U.S.A., Japan, and Europe hangs in the balance. Battle lines have been drawn, and a bitter war of attrition lies ahead. Yes, PS3 vs X-Box 360 really is shaping up to be the mother of all battles.

But whatever platform you choose, one thing’s for sure; Activision’s hugely successful World War II first-person shooter franchise ‘Call Of Duty’ has been conquering hearts and minds for some time now, and the latest instalment available for the Xbox 360 doesn’t disappoint.

Like its brilliant predecessor ‘Call of Duty 2’, COD 3 shifts perspective between different Allied forces; in COD 2, levels were shared out between the U.S infantry, British desert forces and in the gruelling Stalingrad section, the Russian Army.

COD 3, though, focuses on a much smaller geographical area, Northern France in the days shortly after the Normandy landings. Here, the U.S army push from the West, while Canadians, an early form of the British S.A.S. and Polish tanks are all up against the Nazi war machine in the North East.

First up, you are Private Nicholls, a U.S marine joining his platoon just outside the devastated town of St. Lo. As is common in this type of game, you start off with a spot of basic training; the wise-cracking Private Huxley challenges you to hit four (handily glowing) helmets which have been set up as target practise. At this stage, controls will be familiar enough for most veterans of the genre; Right Trigger fires your gun, Left Trigger raises the gun for more accurate sighting; Left Button lobs a smoke grenade, while Right Button unleashes the frag version. This is where things are a little different from the previous games in the series; holding the right button starts off a little countdown, enabling you to time a throw to perfection. This is vital, as you’ll soon discover when you throw a grenade only for a fearless Nazi to pick it up and throw it right back atcha! This cuts both ways though; a mis-timed German ‘potato masher’ can be used against them in the same way; tap ‘B’ to pick it up and Right Button sends it right back towards the dirty fascists. Brilliant.

These combat skills are soon put to use in the first mission, a bloody shootout around the church of St. Lo, where you and your team (including the tough Sgt. McCullin and radio operator Guzzo) have to battle through the Nazi hordes to the relative safety of a bombed-out café.

Fighting is as fierce and as familiar as you’d expect, but as usual in ‘C.O.D’, when you’ve taken a few hits and the edges of the screen turn red, a few seconds out of the line of fire cures the damage. Continue to sustain damage though, and you’ll hit the deck for one last time, and the screen fills with one of those anti-war aphorisms the makers are so fond of.

In fact, despite so much being made of ‘C.O.D. 3’ being built using an entirely new engine, in terms of gameplay there’s little to separate this game from the last chapter; your S.A.S character, Doyle, gets to drive a jeep in a third-person GTA stylee, but that’s about it; get from one place to another following the gold stars on your compass, maybe set a few explosive charges and kill as many Nazis as possible on the way. But in addition to the grenade ‘cooking’ there are a few other new touches that will make even veterans of the games stand to attention.

Get too close to a Nazi soldier and every now and then you’ll find yourself being wrestled to the floor for a spot of hand to hand combat. This is great, hammer Left and Right triggers as fast as you can, and tap the ‘Y’ when prompted; this brings the butt of your gun up to crack the swine across the face. Game over, Jerry!

Other new moves include rotating the Right Stick to screw a fuse into explosive charges, and in a semi-circular motion to paddle a boat across a river. These more ‘fiddly’ controls may seem a bit odd to some, but the final smash to the face of a wrestling Nazi is particularly satisfying after what feels like a genuinely physical challenge.

There’s also an attempt to bring more emotional depth to the game; your team have distinct, clashing personalities; Sgt. McCullin loathes Guzzo, who he perceives to be a coward; the Scottish S.A.S. leader squabbles with your French resistance allies in a voice seemingly borrowed from Groundskeeper Willie from The Simpsons. These little sub-plots are only partially successful; the cinematics - which blend seamlessly into the gamplay - although technically impressive, cannot be skipped, which can be a little tedious when re-attempting a level for the umpteenth time.

The graphics are an improvement on COD2, albeit a subtle one; a sniper level set in a forest teeming with Nazis is particularly well done; as good as anything available on the console, and the new physics engine does mean that the environment is also now more destructible. Hide in a wooden sentry hut, for example, and find it splintering around you when the bullets hit. Again this cuts both ways, your Polish tank can now knock fences and walls down as it trundles along in pursuit of the dreaded German Panzer commander, The Black Baron.

The sound, as is usual in the franchise, is top-notch. Stirring, orchestral music plays as bullets whistle past your head with alarming authenticity, and an explosion nearby will set off a bout of woolly partial deafness.

Overall, this is a great continuation of the series. If you don’t like FPS, then it won’t win you over; but for fans of the genre, the new moves bring a touch of spice to proceedings, and the gritty realism of the graphics does impress. This is one war you’ll be sorry to see end.