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Call of Duty: Finest Hour
The original Call of Duty: Finest Hour was
one of the most definitive PC war games on the market that took first
person shooters into the realistic world of World War II that boasted
amazing graphics, an intensive storyline and some of the best gameplay
to hit the PC in a long time.
As with the original PC version, the PlayStation 2 version contains 3
different campaigns that include the Russians, British and Americans and
although the storyline does jump around in the game, it does help give
the gamer an excellent perspective of each sides representation of the
war.
The Russian campaign starts at the crossing of the Volga River where the
Russian army attempted to force the Germans out of Stalingrad. This
first mission is extremely reminiscent of the excellent war movie called
Enemy of the Gates which Activision does an impressive job at
recreating. The British campaign begins in the deserts of North Africa
that set the British against the Nazi's in one of the deadliest arenas
of World War II. Finally, the American campaign begins in the city of
Aachen that has the Americans trying to recapture this town from the
Germans. All these stories have been accurately taken from actual events
in WWII which really give this game a true historical experience.
The gameplay of Call of Duty: Finest Hour features all the standard
first person shooter controls that allows the player to access a variety
of weapons and even different vehicles such as tanks and jeeps to help
break the monotony of just running and walking around. To keep the game
realistic, the player meets a variety of different AI characters that
not only push the storyline forth but also assist you in completing your
objects and as we all know, the war wasn't just won by one solo man.
With that said, it should take the average gamer around 20 hours to
complete with professional gamers taking a little less... however!
The most noticeable problem with Finest Hour is the save system or lack
of... which is confounded by the lack of checkpoints that really makes
this title a frustrating experience, especially when you are trying to
complete a level or find a checkpoint without being shot dead by a
mystery sniper. I must also admit that this really affected the gaming
experience of the title and I don't believe that a save system would of
hindered the programmers or enjoyability of this title. The difficulty
of the game goes up and down with the Russian campaign being the most
difficult campaign, closely followed by the British.
Graphically, Finest Hour seems a little dated on the PlayStation 2 with
some great modelling that is unfortunately backed up by some poor
texture detail and when the battles become too fierce, the game really
starts to chug and slowdown. Fortunately the developers have really
managed to capture the true feel of WWII with huge Hollywood style
explosions and special effects that are littered throughout the game and
even though the game doesn't look as good as Killzone, it does come
leaps and bounds over that buggy game
The audio quality of Finest Hour features some great character acting
from Dennis Haysbert (24 and Heat) who lends his talents to this epic
tale of World War II. Match that with one of the most fulfilling
soundtracks of the year and a plethora of sounds from World War II such
as the shouts and screams of German soldiers, the sounds of Panzer tanks
firing into Russian buildings and of course a variety of authentic
weaponry sounds and you have one great sounding game.
In conclusion, Call of Duty: Finest Hour is a rather sturdy game on the
PlayStation 2 but is dragged down by the slightly dated graphics, the
various slow down issues and of course the lack of a proper save system
which really makes this one fiddlesome title. If you're looking for a
World War II first person shooter than you should check this out but if
you are after a true first person experience of the new millennia then
you may want to look elsewhere.
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