Call of Duty: Finest Hour

"Only for history buffs and hardcore FPS fans"

The original Call of Duty on the PC was called one of the best World War 2 FPS ever. Now with Finest Hour the acclaimed franchise makes its debut on the consoles. Sadly this franchise should have stayed on the PC.

The gameplay of CoD:Finest Hour is solid with about 24 missions in single player. Over the coarse of these missions you play a variety of soldiers from Russia, Britain, and America in that order. Most missions are for the most part very linear but still remain intense through out with many explosions and many memorable scripted moments.

You are able to hold 2 weapons and 2 kinds of grenades, this goes in part to realism. These weapons look and feel historically accurate and are another plus to the game.

Unfortunately this is where the good things end for gameplay. Missions feel bland and sometimes they feel more like a chore then fun. The lack of checkpoints on some levels can make you very mad, especially on vehicle levels. Also what is the deal with the two button crouch and stand set up?

Controls while on foot are very well done and feel right. Much like another recent FPS (Killzone) Call of Duty:FH uses an all purpose button that lets you pick up weapons, place explosives, get out of vehicles, etc, this element works very well. Unfortunately the game's controls with vehicles, which you use during a good portion (about 30-40%) of the game, are frustrating and clunky. I can't say how hard it is to maneuver a tank through different parts of the levels you play and be able to fire at other tanks.

Graphics are nicely done are up to date with other console shooters. Framerate is solid as well and there is absolutely no slowdown that I could find. While there aren't CG cinematics there are some cutscenes using the game's graphics engine.

Sound is great as well and just drags you into the intensity of WW2. You will hear bullets flying by you along with soldiers shouting and explosions off in the distance. Weapon fire noises sound great as well with each sounding decidedly unique. Plus the in game music is great too.

Now the multiplayer is a puzzling thing, what I mean is that there isn't any for those offline and this drops replay value down very far for those without Broadband.

For those with Broadband, the multiplayer is fun with 8 maps and there is voice chat. You can have up to 16 people play at once and games can get pretty hectic at times as well.

Sadly this game just misses its mark. The levels are linear, the missions are bland, the vehicle controls are clunky, and there is no offline multiplayer and while there is some fun to be had with Call of Duty: Finest Hour its faults overshadow it. I recommend this to history buffs and to the hardcore FPS fans only. 6/10

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 11/22/04