Act of Valor III

Act of Valor III is a First-Person shooter developed by Frontier Unlimited and came out on November 9, 2013 for the PS3, Xbox 360, PC and December 11, 2013 for PS4 and Xbox One. It is the third installment in the Act of Valor series and the first Act of Valor game to be on next-gen consoles.
== Gameplay ==
=== Campaign ===
The single player is modeled after the Normandy breakout, where the British, Canadian, Polish, American, and French Resistance forces pushed into the village of Chambois, France, also known as the Falaise Gap. Unlike most other games in the Act of Valor series, the events in Act of Valor III are based on a single combined campaign, with the player being switched between the four nations and their respective characters for each leg of the story. There are 14 campaign missions.
=== Multiplayer ===
In addition to the single-player campaign, Act of Valor III features a wide range of multiplayer modes for players to participate in - each team allowing up to 24 on the PS3 and the Xbox 360, and 36 for the PS4, Xbox One, and PC in a single match. This is only in the online mode. All team game modes feature the soldiers of the Allied nations versus those of the Axis.
This was also the first Act of Valor to introduce two different game modes. The "Normalized" mode was added to allow console players a way to adjust to the smaller kill box of Act of Valor and Act of Valor II.
On the Xbox 360, Act of Valor III divides its multiplayer aspect into Player and Ranked matches. Player matches allow players to invite other players into their games, but do not contribute points toward the leader board or unlock Achievements. Ranked matches put the player with and against teams of random players, and contribute towards player points and allow players to unlock Achievements.
=== Downloadable Content ===
Three map packs were released for the Xbox 360 multiplayer game on the Xbox Live Marketplace. The first, "Champs", was released as a free download on January 11, 2014 and contained a single self-titled map The "Valor" map pack contained five new maps: Crossing, Ironclad, La Bourgade, Stalag 23, and Wildwood. The pack was released on June 27, 2014 for 800 MP ($10). The final map pack, "Bravo", contained five new maps of which two were remade from Act of Valor II: Gare Centrale, Marseilles, Aller Haut, Seine River, and Rimling. The pack was released on September 15, 2014 for 800 MP. The price of the map packs was later reduced to 400 MP ($5) each.
== Plot ==
=== American campaign ===
In the American story a month after the D-Day invasion, the player takes control of Private Nichols, recently arrived in France and eventually attached to the 26th Infantry Division. Nichols and his squad participate in the capture of Saint-Lô. After that, the squad is folded into the 90th Infantry Division and sent to secure the wooded area of Saint-Germain-Sur-Seves, where intense hedgerow fighting took place. Soon after, the 90th assaults the town of Mayenne, where Private James Hugho (voiced by Matthew Collins) is tasked with defusing bombs planted on a bridge to stop the American advance, which is heavily guarded by German infantry and tanks. Huxley is wounded before he can carry out the order and Sergeant Sam McCullin successfully defuses the bombs, but is killed in the process.
Corporal Mike Dixon then assumes command of the squad and is promoted to sergeant. The squad is later tasked with clearing out Forêt d'Ecouves so 2nd Battalion can move through. In the end, Nichols clears the last roadblock with a mortar. The squad then participates in clearing out a nearby suburbs with a vital crossroads. Towards the end of the assault Dixon is wounded but survives. After taking a shortcut through the sewers, they find the crossroads and take it successfully, with the help of the Sherman tank divisions. Dixon tells his squad about the Falaise Gap plan to trap the Germans between the Allies.
The unit is then sent to defend the town of Chambois from Axis forces trying to run through the Falaise Gap. With their position being overrun, the squad and the surviving soldiers falls back to a church where Muzzo calls in bombing strafing runs. Private First Class Salvatore Muzzo marks German positions with flares for air support. Earlier, the squad had supported Baker Company and held a heavy position while Huxley went to get a bazooka to hold off German tanks. The squad tried to hold position, but they were soon heavily out-gunned and fled to the rally point, and the Germans did not hesitate to chase them. The squad fell back to a heavy German emplacement. While laying smoke, Muzzo is wounded, and Dixon and Nichols come to his aid and extract him to relative safety. While treating Muzzo, Dixon is shot in the back, and dies a few moments later. Muzzo takes command of the squad. After fighting through the rest of the town, the squad makes their last stand to holds off the Germans. Nichols mans two Pak 43s, armed with a M1 Bazooka, and a M1903 Springfield as the Americans makes their last stand against the Germans until reinforcements arrived to sweep the last of the German resistances.
Three weeks later, Muzzo is promoted to Sergeant, Huxley and Nichols are promoted to Corporal, and the surviving German forces surrender to the Americans. With new men in their squad, they continue to march into France as the Allied forces have gained access to Europe, ending the Battle of Normandy.
=== British/French campaign ===
During the British and French campaign, the player controls Sergeant James Doyle, a member of the British Special Air Service. Doyle parachutes into France with a squad led by Major Ingram, and meets up with members of the Maquis Resistance. Due to fire from an 88 mm gun, their Handley Page Halifax is shot down. The plane drops the squad and the two jeeps. Soon after making contact with the French resistance, SAS andFrench Resistance fighters attack a German anti-aircraft position. The French Resistance and SAS then try to destroy a German-held fuel plant. While escaping, Ingram is captured and tensions rise as Corporal Keith accuses one of the Resistance members, Marcel, of collaborating with the Germans. Against the advice of the Resistance, Keith and Doyle attempt to locate Ingram. Soon after rescuing Ingram, French and British fighters attempt to stop the executions of captured Resistance fighters. They rush to save as many as they can, but in the process the Resistance loses one of their significant members, Isabelle DuFontaine, who is killed after planting an explosive charge on an armored car. The remaining French Resistance pockets and the British Commandos group up and move to gather with the Allies as they take the fight into the rest of Europe.
=== Canadian campaign ===
The Canadian aspect of the campaign involves members of the 4th Canadian (Armoured) Division. It is centered on Private Cole, led by World War I veteran Lieutenant Jean-Guy Robichaud, who demonstrates a proud and often haphazard style of leadership, often making assaults and completing objectives beyond his assigned mission at the risk of his own men. Robichaud commands a platoon in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada. The platoon captures an industrial area and successfully defends it from a larger German force. While the Polish 1st Armored Division guards their western flank, the unit clears a forest near the Laison River, during which Robichaud berates a young radio operator, Pvt. Leslie Baron, over his lack of combat participation. Tension builds between the two, and Baron insists that he is not a coward. Robichaud dismisses him and assigns him to act as radio operator for a Polish unit where he is later killed in action. Robichaud proceeds to clear a town to rescue a captured Canadian tank crew, but rather than withdraw with the rescued servicemen he decides to assist in capturing the whole town. After a King Tiger tank appears, the men plant demolition charges in a German ammunition dump to destroy the tank. But one of the fuses is defective, and Sergeant Callard manually detonates it, sacrificing himself in the process. Robichaud and Cole are wounded, and Callard is killed. A saddened Robichaud decides to nominate Callard for the Victoria Cross and promote Cole, and presumably Private Peterson, to corporal. They then start moving more Canadian reinforcements through the town to aid the Polish struggling to defend Hill 262.
=== Polish campaign ===
The Polish campaign revolves around Cpl. Wojciech Bohater, a tank driver in the Polish 1st Armored Division hunting more German tanks. Bohater participates in a sweep across the French countryside, engaging German armor. The Poles later move into defensive positions at the base of Hill 262, which is assaulted by the remnants of the German 7th army desperate to escape the Falaise Pocket. Bohater and his crew defend the hill against German tanks, but eventually their tank is damaged where many German infantry units overrun their position, forcing the crew to abandon it. They join in the battle alongside the Polish infantry units and other tank crews, holding off the German offensive. The Poles continue to take heavy casualties, including two of the main characters, Corporal Rudinski and Sergeant Kowalski, while waiting for Canadian reinforcements, and start to retreat up the Mace through pockets of German-infested trenches. The Canadian radio operator, Pte. Baron, arrives to call in artillery support. When a German advance forces the Polish troops to fall back in the Mace, Baron argues with them, refusing to retreat since he is tired of being called a coward. He is shot in the head and killed by the Germans, and Ulan scavenges his radio, which he uses to call for artillery strikes. In the final stand against the German counterattack, Major Jachowicz commands Bohater and the surviving soldiers to defend the hill against the advancing German troops. He defends the other side of the hill and finally, as green flares illuminate the skies, the Royal Canadian Air Force commence bombing runs on the German troops and armor. Reinforcements then arrive to aid the Poles on Hill 262. After the victory, Lieutenant Robichaud is seen talking with Major Jachowicz, saying that he and his men have done an excellent job at defending the hill, and also telling him that the Germans still have an escape route: Chambois. Presumably Bohater is promoted to sergeant and Ulan is promoted to corporal, and the soldiers move to prevent the Germans from escaping in Chambois.
== Development ==
Act of Valor III was announced on May 4, 2013. It was shown off at E3 2013.
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Category:First Person Shooter Games