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Hour of Victory
Hour of Victory is the latest World War II
first person shooter to arrive on the XBox 360 that is set during this
turbulent era by Midway Games which happens to use the Unreal Tournament
3 engine. Unlike traditional first person shooters, Hour of Victory
allows you take the role of three different soldiers which include
commando, ranger and covert operative with each of the characters
are integral to the storyline.
Each of the characters have their own pros
and cons such as the commando being able to take and give more damage,
whereas the ranger allows you to access areas where the other two
characters could not access, thanks to a grappling hook.
Before commencing each mission, the gamer
must select the character they wish to play, however it should be noted
that you can complete the game on either one of the three characters.
Needless to say, the commando is by far the most superior character,
however something is missing by how the characters interact with the
gaming environment and the developers should have divided the game into
three distinct campaigns, each suited for one character only.
The combat is Hour of Victory is relatively straight forward as you must
interact with the gaming environment and basically dispose of your enemy
troops before they dispose of you. What sets the title back a step or
two is the artificial intelligence that ranges from poor to mediocre to
decent as some enemies will just stand their waiting for you to attack.
As with all first person shooter console games, the title makes use of
checkpoints, so if you do find yourself getting killed, you will be
conveniently restored at a checkpoint.
The title also offers a multiplayer mode
that allows up to 12 players to engage in three team modes via XBox
Live. Some of these gameplay modes include Team Deathmatch, Capture the
Flag and Devastation. Best described, Hour of Victory has an almost
"light" Battlefield 1942 shade to it as gamers can jump in tanks and
battle their way through the variety of different gaming environment.
The only downside is the limited number of players.
Graphically, Hour of Victory uses the Unreal Tournament 3 engine but
definitely looks like something completely different. Although the
character models are quite impressive, the background environments look
extremely dithered and the characters and background environments are
not distinctive enough.
It's also strange when you're moving up or
downhill as you do not get a sense of realism as the title has a very 2D
look and feel to it. Other graphical glitches include tanks getting
stuck in walls and sometimes characters overlapping into each other as
if the clipping has been off.
The musical score of Hour of Victory suits
the genre perfectly and is great! Match that with some professional
voice acting and realistic sound effects and the title has almost
everything you will find in the latest Call of Duty title, unfortunately
the "shareware" feel for the gameplay and graphics slightly hampers the
overall enjoyment of this title.
In conclusion, Hour of Victory has a strange and perhaps unfinished feel
to the title that is definitely cashing on the popularity of the Call of
Duty series, however the title feels unpolished, suffers buggy gameplay
and strange looking graphics. |
