We’ve recently been eating some Call of Duty 3 action on Xbox 360. It’s so intense that we needed time to convalesce.

To be honest we’ve been under a vow of silence following an exclusive Call of Duty 3 demo at Activision HQ last week. Today we can reveal our impressions of the previously unseen “Mayenne Bridge” area, plus general findings from Night Drop and Crossroads.

Before going into mission details, a few words about how the game is looking and indeed sounding. COD3 on Xbox 360 is a huge leap technically over last year’s excellent next-gen debut. Starting with your allies and enemies all freshly presented in silly detail, thanks to some new-fangled NASA scanning technology. We’d read all about this, but ‘in the flesh’ the soldiers look plenty more realistic in clothing that now hangs convincingly like heavy combat gear. In the “Night Drop” level it was pouring with rain too, so all the uniforms looked clingy and wet. You could feel the chill, adding to the misery of what lay ahead.

Speaking of rain, the atmospheric detail is massively enhanced over COD2. Overcast skies create a gloomy atmosphere, but the brighter colours of surrounding foliage or muzzle flash are picked out thanks to high dynamic range (HDR) lighting technology. This would otherwise be dull to mention, but it significantly adds to the gut-crunching reality sensation of being there – in the middle of a field, being shot at from all sides from indistinct enemies obscured by the downpour. Oops, looks like we’re heading into mission details here. Okay, here goes.

Mayenne Bridge is the new level Activision presented for the sake of our demo. It begins with quite a long cinematic sequence of you and your allied buddies taking a ride in a jeep to HQ. Apparently these scenes cannot be skipped; they’re in place of a loading screen so you’re kept entertained by plot developments more thrilling than ‘Now Loading’. Not a bad idea.

The early stages of the Mayenne Bridge level take place in a war torn village, among ruins of small houses with overgrown gardens, occupied by the enemy. Apart from the dense, would-take-forever to describe detail all around, the initial impact comes largely from the sound – next-generation sound, which is far more complex than even the best you’ll have heard on Xbox 360 until now. Everything is more refined: the thunder of aircraft passing overhead and the shouts of your foes preparing for the confrontation, the outbreak of gunfire, close by or rattling away in the distance. It grabs you by the neck with a clammy hand, and makes you feel involuntarily tense. Visually, one of the cool subtle effects added is the swaying grass, which stays flat after being trodden down. You can look back at your trail, and track enemies using this feature too so it’s not just a fancy extra.

Mayenne Bridge eventually ushers you and the boys toward an abandoned castle. There is a very clear route to follow as you near the objective and the challenge level increases. However the experience doesn’t feel ‘on rails’ – rather you’re pursuing the mission without pointless distraction. The castle requires the use of at least one smoke grenade to flush out some careless types, while providing more wily adversaries to take up posts … beware the guy hugging the floor with his machine gun trained on the entrance!

As you break cover to sprint up the stone staircase, smoke billowing behind, enemies darting out from behind pillars, you’re aware that COD3 is a much more theatrical take on the whole WWII theme. It’s a ‘guts and glory’ war movie rather than a harrowing documentary, staged to provide drama layer upon layer. And this is probably favourable to a gory recreation of events – when you shoot a guy in the head, for example, his skull doesn’t explode. In fact, we don’t recall seeing much blood at all apart from stains on jackets.

Certainly COD3 sets out on a different trail to COD2, keeping you focused on the mission with more thrilling set pieces such as a ride in a JEEP to make your escape, smashing through gates along bumpy trail. Another ‘crowd pleaser’ is the Sten Gun, featured in the Crossroads level – you’ll recognise it instantly as the machine gun with the cartridge poking out from the side like a handle (although it was actually held by the muzzle). Anyway, the Sten looks cool and is both dramatically and practically very effective, making shoot-outs in the small confines of yet another abandoned building all the more spectacular and Hollywood-tastic.

Needless to say we greatly enjoyed our time with Call of Duty 3 for Xbox 360. You don’t easily forget being fired upon as your comrades stumble and fall while taking cover behind a deafening tank in a boggy field. If you thought COD2 was special you ain’t seen nothing.

Call of Duty 3 is released for Xbox 360 in the UK on 17 November.