Call of Duty: Finest Hour

"Certainly not Call of duty's finest hour, but a solid game nontheless"

The Call of Duty franchise has always been about incredible realism, being Historically Accurate, and incredible Sound FX. Yet, I feel that Call of Duty: Finest Hour dropped the ball, though grabbed it at the last minute.

Graphics: 8/10 The main reason the graphics obtained an 8/10 is that the game is incredibly dark. And by dark I mean dark on the levels of Doom 3. In fact, Doom 3 looked bright compared to this game. But, thankfully, the darkest places appear only in the Russian Campaign. Another problem with the graphics is how difficult it is to understand the cut-scenes. The Cut-scenes will switch from first person view to third person, and I found myself thinking "Huh?..."'

Audio: 9/10 The audio is good. Not great, just good. The music is incredibly... uplifting (in search of a better word). The triumphant soundtrack was enough to make me want to fight for my country (which changed three times during the course of the game).

Game play: 7/10 This is where the game (considerably) falls apart. First of all, you can not cook off grenades before you throw them. Secondly, and most importantly of all, the enemy A.I is far to superior to that of your men's. I would poke my head out through the SMALLEST crack in the rubble of a destroyed building, and immediately every single German would fire at me. I would be bombarded with machine-gun fire and grenades if I ducked for cover.

Overall: 8/10 Call of Duty: Finest Hour is a good game. Not a great one, but a good one. One problem I had with the game that I could not place in any other area is the fact that you don't feel any sort of loss after the death of a comrade. Not only that, but in the American campaign they completely skip D-Day and Overlord and focus on the assault on Germany. This made me angry because there is no other greater way (in my mind) to honor the men who fought for our freedom, British and American alike, than showing others what they had to go through. I suggest you rent it, play it, and see if you'd like to buy it. However, because this review is being written on 1/19/2005, I highly recommend Call of Duty 2: Big Red One.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 01/20/06