Call of Duty: Finest Hour (Xbox, 2004)

Reviewed for Big Boss Games by: L.E.G.

As a lover and avid player of FPS (First Person Shooter) type games, I am probably one of the toughest critics and a game must satisfy all my criteria for me to give it a 5/5 rating. Without any doubts, Call of Duty Finest Hour has successfully accomplished this lofty goal.

To start with, Call of Duty Finest Hour is entirely based on events that happened during World War II. But, ActiVision took on a bigger role than just making a video game and actually tries and succeeds in teaching us a brief history lesson. Granted it's very short and concise, but it helps to setup the game and it's many diverse and challenging levels.

You start out playing as a member of the Russian Army fighting with your comrades on the Eastern Front, from the Volga to Stalingrad. The missions can be somewhat difficult to finish, but the squad leader does give you instructions (just as if you were in the army) on what you need to do or where you need to go. "Blow up that building" and "Take out those machine guns" are typical fare. And most of the time you are a member of a "squad", so don't try to be all "Rambo" and try to defeat the Germans all by yourself. You will get slaughtered!

After you complete your mission(s) as one person, you are then placed in someone else’s shoes and get to fight the war from their perspective. Which also opens you up to using different weapons and driving around in tanks. But, this is not Grand Theft Auto. You can't go around and jump in vehicles and take off. Your tour of duty on the Eastern Front with the Russians takes a total of 8 sometimes-grueling missions. At least the game is very forgiving and lets you restart the mission at the last checkpoint.

After the Eastern Front, you are whisked off to North Africa to serve with the British Army in Tunisia. All of the buildings and backgrounds used in this game are simply amazing. There is a lot of rich and articulate detail to keep your attention. You will serve a total of 4 missions with the bulldogs. More neat weapons used by the Brits and a lot of blowing stuff up in these levels. G-D Save the Queen!

And last, but not least, you go to the Western Front to fight with the American Army. As in previous levels, you get more awesome weapons to shoot and tanks to drive. Some of the toughest battles will be fought with the Americans. A total of 7 missions await your shooting skills.

Call of Duty Finest Hour by ActiVision is available for the Playstation 2, Xbox and Gamecube. It is rated "T" for Teen and contains a ton of blood and a whole lot of violence. Since this game is based on World War II, blood and violence is to be expected. Total missions are 19 and 23 different weapons.

This game is Single Player only, but does offer multiplayer online broadband only and 2-16 players. Online gametypes are: Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag and Search & Destroy.
Overall, this game was as close to perfect as they can get with very few technical glitches. Like one time I was crawling around on the floor and trying to climb a flight of stairs and my character just fell through some empty space to his terrible death.

This game was just so well balanced between missions, story, music and action that I had to give it a 5/5.

It's really an awesome game, so go ahead and get a copy.

I bought this game because WWII games are my favorite to play. I thought the idea of being able to play three different sides of battle from three different countries was great. The one thing all three sides (American, British, and Russian) do have in common is fighting the German army, and you do get to play all three sides which makes the game unique.
The opening sequence takes place on a rowboat as you and your comrades, you play as a Russian soldier first, cross a river to a Russian city where all hell has broken loose. The opening scene is full of things happening and plenty of eye candy. As your boat makes its way across to unload much needed reinforcements, you wait in line to get your rifle, however the man in front of you gets the last gun! So you get to start the game and go into battle with no weapon!
After a few different scenarios you begin to play as a British soldier, then American. Playing for three different countries also has three different stories to go along with each country. This game is also a single-person shooter where the only soldier you control is you, unlike first-person shooters of today where you can control a team, COD allows you to control one warrior, you.
A fun assortment of weapons from each country, what I thought to be good graphics, sound effects, and good soundtrack make for a good game which I thought Call of duty was. With two other xbox titles out there and a third on its way, start from the beginning, I don't think you'll be dissappointed.

Call of Duty: Finest Hour has been "consolized" and turned from a somewhat challenging and often intense PC first-person shooter into a bland, run-and-gun console pop-gun game. It's certainly not bad and is enjoyable throughout, but it just doesn't excel in a single area. The brilliant concept of following three individual stories of the Allied campaign against the Nazis has been watered down with too many perspectives and no cohesive or interesting story. I cared nothing for any of the characters and felt like I was just going through the motions the entire game. A lack of checkpoints in the majority of levels is questionable and sometimes frustrating. Finest Hour had the pedigree to become the finest console World War II game, but in the end fails to bring any spark or intensity to a story about courage and sacrifice.

Here is an experience that few games have been able to capture: the feeling of being in the battle. Multiple storylines keep you engaged, while up close and personal combat keeps you wanting more. It's a real rush to take out multiple enemies at once with a single grenade, or quickly pop them all with your rifle. This is a game that needs to be played to not only appreciate how fun it is, but what a great historical game it is as well. It's like having fun in history class.
-BJS(pud9bri)

I give this game a 4/5. The graphics were pretty good. The missions were really fun, although, some could be a little long. The controls were good but took a little getting used to. This is the best World War 2 Shooter Game for Xbox! Although, there is no multiplayer mode except through system link or Xbox live, you can't have more then 1 person playing on the same Xbox. I would not recomend buying this as a game to play with your buddies. I would recomend this as a great 1 player game.