To be fair to Spark and Activision, you’ve got to consider that their Call of Duty: Finest Hour released at a time when the consoles and PC alike were flooded with outstanding first-person shooters. Coming out at a time when Halo 2 and Half-Life 2 are also still new to store shelves is akin to a lamb walking into the lions’ den ... bleeding ... and after the lions have eaten nothing but tofurkey for 17 days.
Yet release it they did, putting Call of Duty: Finest Hour at a significant disadvantage. Fortunately for the developer and publisher, Killzone failed miserably in living up to its PS2 promise, giving COD: Finest Hour an inkling of a foothold, at least on Sony’s system. But an inkling is all it is. COD: Finest Hour may share its franchise with a hefty PC shooter, but it doesn’t share its impeccable production and enamoring gameplay. And those things would’ve shown through at any time of year.
COD: Finest Hour is the latest in a slew of WWII-themed shooters, but this time the game tells three separate stories. The first, from the Soviet point of view, takes place in and around Stalingrad following the Nazis’ invasion and destruction of the town. The second “campaign,” which takes place in the British point of view, follows the personal story of soldiers in North Africa. The final story, not surprisingly, tells the tale of American soldiers in Western Europe.
Each “campaign” is structured with an eye toward cinematic storytelling, the goal of which is to connect gamers on a more-personal level to the heroes, however minor, from each distinct side. The stories even switch between characters within their respective campaign, providing some context to the motivation of different soldiers.
Yet in spite of Spark’s clear efforts, this is where COD: Finest Hour makes its first misstep. The beginnings of each story are clearly apparent, but the narrative within the gameplay just isn’t there. Explosions riddle the city, commanding officers yell orders over deafening gunfire, players can apply medpacks to other members of their team, and the each character’s “heroic” role aims to immerse gamers in the story. It’s just that the immersion isn’t there. The linear hallway structure of the game doesn’t help, nor does the questionable AI. In some games, an entertaining story compensates for these shortcomings. This is not one of those games.
Likewise, in those instances where COD: Finest Hour tries to break from that model, it really doesn’t make much of a difference. Some levels include vehicular combat. Some include sniping. Some include manning a turret. None are overly compelling, nor are they particularly difficult. Some levels include several ways to get around a given enemy, but the gesture doesn’t do enough to overcome the rest of the game’s “going through the motions” feel.
Ironically, where COD: Finest Hour really adds something to the genre is in its targeting mechanic. Say goodbye to the targeting reticule, folks, because COD: Finest Hour compels gamers to aim by looking down the barrel and lining up shots manually. While it takes a few levels to get used to this twist, it’s the single most immersive element of the game, and it’s something more developers should implement in their attempts to re-create period battles.
When it comes to graphically re-creating battles, COD: Finest Hour does a serviceable job, but it’s nothing we’ve not seen before. Cities flaming, airplanes strafing, tanks blasting, bodies flying ... if it’s a moving object and has to do with mass wartime destruction, COD: Finest Hour includes it. Yet even graphically, COD: Finest Hour tries to immerse gamers one way but misses out on important others. The soldiers look great. They do battle in active but shallow environments. Each weapon is incredibly detailed and animated. They all fall down on minimally textured streets. It’s obvious where Spark spent their time. It’s also obvious where they could’ve spent a bit more.
Where Spark spared no expense was the audio department. The sound effects and music set the mood perfectly, and the voice acting is superb, even though the actors had to deliver a few melodramatic lines. The surround sound also helps set an epic tone, no matter how short-lived it may be.
Where COD: Finest Hour would normally excel is in its online multiplayer, with eight distinct maps and 16-player support for deathmatch, team deathmatch, capture the flag and search and destroy modes. But this is where the game suffers most from a case of bad timing. In terms of recent releases, COD: Finest Hour competes against Halo 2. In terms of squad games, it goes up against Rainbow Six 3 and Ghost Recon 2. In terms of WWII games, it competes with its own PC kin. Basically, it’s almost guaranteed that gamers already own a shooter with these options, and there’s nothing in COD: Finest Hour that warrants a new go ‘round.
The unraveling of COD: Finest Hour comes twice, first with the on-again-off-again immersion, then with a badly timed release date. Given its features, graphics and gameplay, the console shooter has enough to keep its head above water, but not quite enough to keep it from doing anything but tread amid a flood of high-quality shooters. The hardest of hardcore Call of Duty fans might want to pick up COD: Finest Hour, but all others should stick with the shooters they already know.
Send this news item to a friend
Here's your chance to learn more about the "sniper mode" in the upcoming Rainbow Six title for PlayStation 2 and Xbox.
Confucious say: April is good month for gamers long in tooth.
Publisher gains rights to popular online PC game.