Call of Duty: Finest Hour
Posted February 10, 2005
The Call of Duty series made a name for itself by having the player assume the role of multiple characters throughout a game, instead of sticking to a single one. In some ways this helps build excitement within the game, but other ways it can really detract and cause what could be a good gaming experience into something that is choppy and fails to draw a player into the environment that the designers wish. Sadly, the latter is the case here as you assume the role of multiple Russian soldiers, a single British soldier and a single American soldier.
Before a mission when you take the role of a new character, you’ll be treated to a voice over by that character, but quite honestly it doesn’t have much effect other than to try to wrap you in the mood of the game, but I guarantee that within ten minutes of hearing the voice over, you’d have a tough time remembering your character’s name, let alone what he/she said in the voice over.
Gameplay:
I’m starting to come to terms with the fact that a lot of console FPSs are similar when it comes to gameplay, and by similar I mean essentially the same. The only real way a company can mix things up is with little touches to try and force their game to the top of the attention pile. What Activision has done here is try to bring a sense of realism to the genre by placing you (once again) in WW2 where you once again are fighting against the Nazis. The trick here is three different forces take on the evil empire, which instantly gives the developers the ability to mix up the locations quite dramatically all while maintaining the realistic approach; the Russians take Stalingrad, the British take on North Africa and the Americans get the lovely Belgium.
Controls are your standard FPS fair, dual analog sticks control both movement and aim. Although one big change here is the inclusion of tank battles which are not only the familiar “on rails” sections, as you assume full control of the tanks. I found the control in these modes to be quite frustrating, as it was tough to control the turret as well as the tracks of your tank, all while maintaining decent camera control. These sections really removed me from the game and brought about a level of frustration that I didn’t feel in any other section of the game, and as a result the overall score will suffer.
Some other little nitpicks I have about the game are based around the combat and how it’s done. The biggest issue is when throwing grenades, which becomes extremely important later when playing as the Americans and British, the distance you throw them isn’t variable! In the opening level for the Brits, I was a long way from a bunker, yet I managed to place a grenade right beside the machine gunner taking him out, yet when there was another gunner hunkered down behind a blown out car right in front, I always over threw the grenade. The other big issue with the single player mode is the lack of checkpoints. Far too often would you make it through a particularly trying section of the game only to make a small mistake and die, and then having to redo the level from scratch. This becomes a huge issue late in the game, but also early on you have to hold off a German assault for 10 minutes with a sniper…if you make a wrong step after the time expires, you’re doing the 10 minute battle again.
But really, you aren’t going to buy COD: Finest Hour for it’s fascinating single player campaign, what you really are going to do it pop it in, throw on the headset and plug into Xbox Live. I know that once I did that, I had a tough time fragging back through the three campaigns in offline mode. What’s given here are your basic modes of play (Deathmatch, Capture the Flag), but what really makes it shine is the number of people playing the game. I consistently saw games with 10-14 people playing at once, and very little slowdown or lag was apparent. Also the people playing this seemed quite into the game, rather than just yelling obscenities and spawn camping. With 8 different maps and four modes of play, an online gamer is sure to find this online portion of the game worth it.
Graphics:
Finest Hour isn’t necessarily one of the prettiest games I’ve played lately; in fact at times I found it to be quite ugly. Fog effects were not smooth at all (you could see the breaks in one density of fog to another), and even slowdown was a regular occurrence. Also I noticed some collision glitches that really detracted from the game, like I’d shoot at someone, but be no where near hitting them (they moved, give me a break), yet they’d lose a helmet and drop like I nailed them with a sweet head shot, which I didn’t.
Aside from those issues, the game generally looked about average. From the crumbling buildings of Stalingrad to the bridges of Belgium, just the basic amount of detail was put in to make them look good from far, but they seemed to lose some luster when looked at from up close.
Audio:
The audio on the other hand was a solid effort, except when you take into account the forgettable voice overs, but those will have no bearing on the score. The bullets and mortars wiz past your character, and in Dolby Digital 5.1, the sound is deep and true (or so I’d imagine). If a mortar blast goes off near your character, the sound will cut out temporarily deafening you, and as you regain hearing the world comes back into its action packed glory.
The soundtrack is really forgettable, but when you are running for your life from the bullets flying at your head, you really don’t have time to sit back and listen to the music.
Conclusion:
For players without Xbox Live, this would be a game that is best suited to the bargain bin, as the single player mode is average at most. Take the game online, and start playing with 15 other people on a fast connection and Call of Duty is displayed in its finest form. Will it drag you away from the multiplayer mayhem of the other games out there? Probably not, but it fills the WW2 hole that is not filled by Master Chief, and satisfies those who may not be into the science fiction world of gaming.
Based on my issues with the controls, the lackluster story (or more likely, the lack of an interesting storytelling method), and a somewhat short single player mode I’ll have to only give this a rental recommendation. However, I bet that once you rent this and go online with it, you’ll be pleased with the game and may then try to score a previously played copy, and that wouldn’t be a bad thing.
Before a mission when you take the role of a new character, you’ll be treated to a voice over by that character, but quite honestly it doesn’t have much effect other than to try to wrap you in the mood of the game, but I guarantee that within ten minutes of hearing the voice over, you’d have a tough time remembering your character’s name, let alone what he/she said in the voice over.
Gameplay:
I’m starting to come to terms with the fact that a lot of console FPSs are similar when it comes to gameplay, and by similar I mean essentially the same. The only real way a company can mix things up is with little touches to try and force their game to the top of the attention pile. What Activision has done here is try to bring a sense of realism to the genre by placing you (once again) in WW2 where you once again are fighting against the Nazis. The trick here is three different forces take on the evil empire, which instantly gives the developers the ability to mix up the locations quite dramatically all while maintaining the realistic approach; the Russians take Stalingrad, the British take on North Africa and the Americans get the lovely Belgium.
Controls are your standard FPS fair, dual analog sticks control both movement and aim. Although one big change here is the inclusion of tank battles which are not only the familiar “on rails” sections, as you assume full control of the tanks. I found the control in these modes to be quite frustrating, as it was tough to control the turret as well as the tracks of your tank, all while maintaining decent camera control. These sections really removed me from the game and brought about a level of frustration that I didn’t feel in any other section of the game, and as a result the overall score will suffer.
Some other little nitpicks I have about the game are based around the combat and how it’s done. The biggest issue is when throwing grenades, which becomes extremely important later when playing as the Americans and British, the distance you throw them isn’t variable! In the opening level for the Brits, I was a long way from a bunker, yet I managed to place a grenade right beside the machine gunner taking him out, yet when there was another gunner hunkered down behind a blown out car right in front, I always over threw the grenade. The other big issue with the single player mode is the lack of checkpoints. Far too often would you make it through a particularly trying section of the game only to make a small mistake and die, and then having to redo the level from scratch. This becomes a huge issue late in the game, but also early on you have to hold off a German assault for 10 minutes with a sniper…if you make a wrong step after the time expires, you’re doing the 10 minute battle again.
But really, you aren’t going to buy COD: Finest Hour for it’s fascinating single player campaign, what you really are going to do it pop it in, throw on the headset and plug into Xbox Live. I know that once I did that, I had a tough time fragging back through the three campaigns in offline mode. What’s given here are your basic modes of play (Deathmatch, Capture the Flag), but what really makes it shine is the number of people playing the game. I consistently saw games with 10-14 people playing at once, and very little slowdown or lag was apparent. Also the people playing this seemed quite into the game, rather than just yelling obscenities and spawn camping. With 8 different maps and four modes of play, an online gamer is sure to find this online portion of the game worth it.
Graphics:
Finest Hour isn’t necessarily one of the prettiest games I’ve played lately; in fact at times I found it to be quite ugly. Fog effects were not smooth at all (you could see the breaks in one density of fog to another), and even slowdown was a regular occurrence. Also I noticed some collision glitches that really detracted from the game, like I’d shoot at someone, but be no where near hitting them (they moved, give me a break), yet they’d lose a helmet and drop like I nailed them with a sweet head shot, which I didn’t.
Aside from those issues, the game generally looked about average. From the crumbling buildings of Stalingrad to the bridges of Belgium, just the basic amount of detail was put in to make them look good from far, but they seemed to lose some luster when looked at from up close.
Audio:
The audio on the other hand was a solid effort, except when you take into account the forgettable voice overs, but those will have no bearing on the score. The bullets and mortars wiz past your character, and in Dolby Digital 5.1, the sound is deep and true (or so I’d imagine). If a mortar blast goes off near your character, the sound will cut out temporarily deafening you, and as you regain hearing the world comes back into its action packed glory.
The soundtrack is really forgettable, but when you are running for your life from the bullets flying at your head, you really don’t have time to sit back and listen to the music.
Conclusion:
For players without Xbox Live, this would be a game that is best suited to the bargain bin, as the single player mode is average at most. Take the game online, and start playing with 15 other people on a fast connection and Call of Duty is displayed in its finest form. Will it drag you away from the multiplayer mayhem of the other games out there? Probably not, but it fills the WW2 hole that is not filled by Master Chief, and satisfies those who may not be into the science fiction world of gaming.
Based on my issues with the controls, the lackluster story (or more likely, the lack of an interesting storytelling method), and a somewhat short single player mode I’ll have to only give this a rental recommendation. However, I bet that once you rent this and go online with it, you’ll be pleased with the game and may then try to score a previously played copy, and that wouldn’t be a bad thing.