Call of Duty: Finest Hour
Don't answer this call. Despite the name, this isn't the series' finest hour.
Published: December 19, 2004
World War II shooters have been all the rage for a while now, and there probably won't be any end to them so long as the endless stream of Medal of Honor games that EA is now pumping out. The series seems to be in decline, however, mainly because so many people from the teams that created the original games usually spun off to form their own companies. Such is the case with newcomer dev house Spark Unlimited, formed by team members that worked on the original PlayStation MoH.
Spark's first project is a console version of Call of Duty, birthed when team members that worked on EA's first PC MoH game, you guessed it, started their own company. The PC CoD was an absolute blast, thanks to some stellar graphics, intense sound design and a plethora of scripted events that tossed players right in the heat of some truly epic situations.
Still, with all of these high-budget WWII shooters, the focus was still on telling one soldier's story, usually only pairing him up with other squadmates for a few moments. Finest Hour, on the other hand, plops you right into the middle of some absolutely massive engagements where dozens of soldiers are on screen at once, and the accompaniment of comrades is almost always at the fore.
Unfortunately, whether because of a smaller dev team or budget, or just an outright lack of experience with something on this scale, too many nagging technical problems constantly pull you out of the fray, negating the scale and intensity of what could have been the best examples of what war was like for these men and women pressing against swarms of opposition. It's not a bad shooter by anyone's standards, but it's obvious that the game doesn't reach its potential.
FH attempts to tackle the final push of the Allied forces across three major fronts: Russia's repelled invasion of the Nazi's into Eastern Europe, The guerilla-like Popsky's Private Army attacks that weakened the Axis defenses in North Africa, and the final push by the Allies into Western Europe. Each campaign is told through various perspectives and armies, adding a fantastic amount of depth to the presentation. It also taps reams of reference material to accurately portray all of the units, locations, weapons and environments with aplomb.
The problem with the game isn't that it misses its target with the big stuff (or even some of the smaller details like authentic weapon fire sound effects or enemy troop movement and accuracy), but that smaller goofs produce too many aggravating or unintentionally hilarious moments.
Having your fellow soliders cross directly into your line of fire while you're still firing or charge ahead when it's obvious that they should proceed with caution is annoying, but the canned death animations or weird bugs (I once lobbed a grenade into a trench only to watch a solider slide forward as if he were on ice, locked in a single frame, only to pop into a death animation after getting 10 feet from me) deprive the game of its one differentiating factor among all the other shooters in the genre: its sense of immersion.
Most of the gameplay variety isn't anything all that new; there are some rail shooting events, some stealthy missions, some massive company-wide rushes, and some vehicle driving sections, and all work well for what they try to do, but there are usually one or two moments where the brain-dead AI or some ridiculous odds mean you'll replay events a half-dozen times before you make progress.
It's also obvious that the PS2 doesn't quite have the guts to display a game crafted to this scale. The other consoles are fairly adept at throwing all the chaos on screen with a modest framerate, but the PS2 version chugs regularly, sometimes to the point where it makes drawing a bead a chore.
Texture detail and level geometry are pleasantly diverse, however, and there are some wonderfully organic levels that mix things up enough to keep from feeling like you've hit the same area twice (in fact, you almost never feel like you've seen that same area, a testament to how well the levels flow). Some of the bombed-out, dilapidated battlefields boast buildings that may only have one or two walls and some connective crossbeams, which make for some nicely organic sources for cover.
Most of the time, it's pretty obvious where you can and can't go, which is a shame since the on-screen compass does a great job of telling you where you need to go, and it would have been nice to make cover where it lies rather than using the pre-set bits of rubble or building that the designers obviously wanted you to use.
I already touched on some of the animation bugs, but the particular moments where the game takes life from enemy soldiers really deserves to be harped on. It's one thing to cap a guy standing still and then see him lurch forward and collapse as if he were running at full bore, but it's quite another to watch a stream of comrades or enemies round a bend, get gunned down and die in the exact same canned animation. There's hardly ever an attention to the smaller physics-based details like how fast a guy was running, what direction, or where they were hit (aside from a helmet popping off). Explosions cause enemies to jackknife up into the air, frozen in place, then land, then crumple in the same way every time.
Michael Giaccino's Medal of Honor scores were something few games have been able to match in ambiance, richness and heart-stirring emotion. I can still think back to some of the music he's done for those games (the first PC MoH score is, in my book, the single most stirring aural accompaniment heard in any shooter), and it's obvious the guy has some serious chops. Finest Hour doesn't really seem to offer any of those memorable pieces, however, which isn't saying that they're particularly good, but there isn't as much of a feeling of tension as there was in his previous work, and it's a shame, because I'd really hoped to be humming some of this stuff for the next couple weeks.
The rest of the effects work, is fantastic, though, from the voice acting (much had been made of Activision's tapping of 24's president, Dennis Haysbert and AC/DC frontman Brian Johnson, but they're about on par with the other voice actors) to the gunfire to the ambient effects of far-off explosions or the rustle of equipment as you move from standing to crouched to prone positions.
Again, though, I'm found wanting a bit more. I would have loved a little more conversation with the digital teammates you're supposed to love, not just in the quiet parts, but in the more action-packed sequences that gave them a little more emotional baggage when they were gunned down (or, led you to hold your fire when they stupidly walked in front of your gun barrel). A bit more pop on the footsteps or debris falling too would have added a bit of punch.
If it seems like I'm harping on the smaller stuff, it's because, well, the smaller stuff matters in these games, and the PC version of Call of Duty set the bar so damned high in so many areas. Superior production values extend beyond crafting huge levels and hiring some big-name voices; it has to encompass everything, especially the small stuff. Instead, the game drops the ball on some of the most commonly-seen parts of the game, and loses itself in trying to replicate the scale of war, which it pulls off to a degree, but it's not huge moments that really suck me into any shooter, it's the smaller stuff, the battle-by-battle events with AI that changes things every time.
Finest Hour really does make a valiant effort, but it just can't stand up under the weight of its namesake. I was honestly hoping that Activision would wrestle the console WWII shooter crown from EA and take its time in pumping out quality entries into the franchise, but it looks like I'll have to wait a bit longer to find out if they can do so. FH works as a rental, but as a full-priced entry, it's just not up to snuff.
Spark's first project is a console version of Call of Duty, birthed when team members that worked on EA's first PC MoH game, you guessed it, started their own company. The PC CoD was an absolute blast, thanks to some stellar graphics, intense sound design and a plethora of scripted events that tossed players right in the heat of some truly epic situations.
Still, with all of these high-budget WWII shooters, the focus was still on telling one soldier's story, usually only pairing him up with other squadmates for a few moments. Finest Hour, on the other hand, plops you right into the middle of some absolutely massive engagements where dozens of soldiers are on screen at once, and the accompaniment of comrades is almost always at the fore.
Unfortunately, whether because of a smaller dev team or budget, or just an outright lack of experience with something on this scale, too many nagging technical problems constantly pull you out of the fray, negating the scale and intensity of what could have been the best examples of what war was like for these men and women pressing against swarms of opposition. It's not a bad shooter by anyone's standards, but it's obvious that the game doesn't reach its potential.
FH attempts to tackle the final push of the Allied forces across three major fronts: Russia's repelled invasion of the Nazi's into Eastern Europe, The guerilla-like Popsky's Private Army attacks that weakened the Axis defenses in North Africa, and the final push by the Allies into Western Europe. Each campaign is told through various perspectives and armies, adding a fantastic amount of depth to the presentation. It also taps reams of reference material to accurately portray all of the units, locations, weapons and environments with aplomb.
The problem with the game isn't that it misses its target with the big stuff (or even some of the smaller details like authentic weapon fire sound effects or enemy troop movement and accuracy), but that smaller goofs produce too many aggravating or unintentionally hilarious moments.
Having your fellow soliders cross directly into your line of fire while you're still firing or charge ahead when it's obvious that they should proceed with caution is annoying, but the canned death animations or weird bugs (I once lobbed a grenade into a trench only to watch a solider slide forward as if he were on ice, locked in a single frame, only to pop into a death animation after getting 10 feet from me) deprive the game of its one differentiating factor among all the other shooters in the genre: its sense of immersion.
Most of the gameplay variety isn't anything all that new; there are some rail shooting events, some stealthy missions, some massive company-wide rushes, and some vehicle driving sections, and all work well for what they try to do, but there are usually one or two moments where the brain-dead AI or some ridiculous odds mean you'll replay events a half-dozen times before you make progress.
It's also obvious that the PS2 doesn't quite have the guts to display a game crafted to this scale. The other consoles are fairly adept at throwing all the chaos on screen with a modest framerate, but the PS2 version chugs regularly, sometimes to the point where it makes drawing a bead a chore.
Texture detail and level geometry are pleasantly diverse, however, and there are some wonderfully organic levels that mix things up enough to keep from feeling like you've hit the same area twice (in fact, you almost never feel like you've seen that same area, a testament to how well the levels flow). Some of the bombed-out, dilapidated battlefields boast buildings that may only have one or two walls and some connective crossbeams, which make for some nicely organic sources for cover.
Most of the time, it's pretty obvious where you can and can't go, which is a shame since the on-screen compass does a great job of telling you where you need to go, and it would have been nice to make cover where it lies rather than using the pre-set bits of rubble or building that the designers obviously wanted you to use.
I already touched on some of the animation bugs, but the particular moments where the game takes life from enemy soldiers really deserves to be harped on. It's one thing to cap a guy standing still and then see him lurch forward and collapse as if he were running at full bore, but it's quite another to watch a stream of comrades or enemies round a bend, get gunned down and die in the exact same canned animation. There's hardly ever an attention to the smaller physics-based details like how fast a guy was running, what direction, or where they were hit (aside from a helmet popping off). Explosions cause enemies to jackknife up into the air, frozen in place, then land, then crumple in the same way every time.
Michael Giaccino's Medal of Honor scores were something few games have been able to match in ambiance, richness and heart-stirring emotion. I can still think back to some of the music he's done for those games (the first PC MoH score is, in my book, the single most stirring aural accompaniment heard in any shooter), and it's obvious the guy has some serious chops. Finest Hour doesn't really seem to offer any of those memorable pieces, however, which isn't saying that they're particularly good, but there isn't as much of a feeling of tension as there was in his previous work, and it's a shame, because I'd really hoped to be humming some of this stuff for the next couple weeks.
The rest of the effects work, is fantastic, though, from the voice acting (much had been made of Activision's tapping of 24's president, Dennis Haysbert and AC/DC frontman Brian Johnson, but they're about on par with the other voice actors) to the gunfire to the ambient effects of far-off explosions or the rustle of equipment as you move from standing to crouched to prone positions.
Again, though, I'm found wanting a bit more. I would have loved a little more conversation with the digital teammates you're supposed to love, not just in the quiet parts, but in the more action-packed sequences that gave them a little more emotional baggage when they were gunned down (or, led you to hold your fire when they stupidly walked in front of your gun barrel). A bit more pop on the footsteps or debris falling too would have added a bit of punch.
If it seems like I'm harping on the smaller stuff, it's because, well, the smaller stuff matters in these games, and the PC version of Call of Duty set the bar so damned high in so many areas. Superior production values extend beyond crafting huge levels and hiring some big-name voices; it has to encompass everything, especially the small stuff. Instead, the game drops the ball on some of the most commonly-seen parts of the game, and loses itself in trying to replicate the scale of war, which it pulls off to a degree, but it's not huge moments that really suck me into any shooter, it's the smaller stuff, the battle-by-battle events with AI that changes things every time.
Finest Hour really does make a valiant effort, but it just can't stand up under the weight of its namesake. I was honestly hoping that Activision would wrestle the console WWII shooter crown from EA and take its time in pumping out quality entries into the franchise, but it looks like I'll have to wait a bit longer to find out if they can do so. FH works as a rental, but as a full-priced entry, it's just not up to snuff.
