hile war is hell, it’s hard to deny that they often make good topics for video games.  Perhaps it’s the gritty and intense combat that appeals to so many gamers.  Or perhaps it’s the feeling that you’ve been transported back in time and are taking part in epic battles from the past.  Whatever the reason, war games are here to stay and I couldn’t be happier.  While most war games in the past year have dealt mostly with the Vietnam War, Activision is getting ready to once again take gamers to World War II.  But this time around, expect a few surprises.  Spanning three continents and countless characters, Call of Duty: Finest Hour marks the first time the critically acclaimed series has made its way to home consoles and so far the results are absolutely explosive.

While many World War II games simply focus on the Western Front and the battles that took place in Europe, Finest Hour goes one step further by including campaigns in Europe, the Soviet Union, and North Africa.  The game starts off with the epic and ultimately deciding battle at Stalingrad, where outnumbered and outgunned Soviet troops managed to push the Nazis out of the city and effectively halt their progress into their home country.  Along the way you’ll take control of a Soviet conscripted soldier, a female sniper, and even a tank commander.  After the Soviet campaign you’ll take control of British troops fighting in North Africa as they try and halt the powerful war machine headed up by Rommel, as well as American troops as they take on the German’s on the Western Front in Europe.  While I won’t spoil all the battles that you’ll take part in, expect to fight in some key historical battles from the War, many of which were milestones in the Allied push against the Axis powers. 

The most notable aspect of the different campaigns are the varied characters that you take control of.  The Soviet campaign gives you a good idea of how often you’ll switch through them.  While you start off as a lowly soldier in the masses of the Soviet Army, you’ll quickly meet new allies, at which point you’ll usually switch control over to someone else.  The result is game that truly feels like its putting you in the middle of the action.  Gone is the clichéd feeling that you’re one soldier taking on an entire military and in its place is the feeling that you’re part of an actual living and breathing war machine.  Allies provide cover fire and give you guidance, but also expect you to watch their backs as well once the heavy fighting begins.  Most levels have you fighting through enemy groups while trying to complete certain objectives, such as meeting up with allies, breaking through enemy lines, or bringing supplies to pinned down soldiers.  While not an original concept, the goals are varied enough to keep things interesting.

Bravery, however, will only get you so far in a fight.  To even the odds against the Nazi forces you’ll have a wide assortment of weapons to use, including an array of different semi-automatic rifles, handguns, and bazookas.  All of the weapons are period accurate, right down to their rate of fire and the resulting recoil.  For times that call for really heavy firepower, you’ll be able to utilize gun emplacements, such as machine gun nests and bunkers.  You’ll also take control of vehicles like tanks and jeeps.  When using a vehicle, you’ll have the option to switch through a number of different viewpoint perspectives to make combat and navigation easier.  This really helps out when you’re using a tank, since you’ll usually find yourself the main target of enemy fire when rolling around in one.  But, for purists, the first person cockpit view is probably the way to go and the most historically accurate.

Considering that 30 members of the Finest Hour team worked on titles in the Medal of Honor franchise, it’s not too surprising to see that the game has a stellar cinematic presentation.  Each Medal of Honor title in the past has opened with a brutally intense introduction level; one that not only tested your skills but also dropped your jaw in amazement.  Finest Hour borrows this formula but also manages to keep that cinematic appeal throughout the majority of the game.  Levels are expansive and full of action and also filled with plenty of cover objects and other debris to provide strategic protection. You’ll witness troops in the background get gunned down my machinegun fire or tanks battling it out in a town square while you try to provide them cover fire.  There’s really so much to see and do in most of the levels that you may even have a hard time keeping track of all of it.  But, this chaotic feeling is a welcome change in my opinion.  Too many war games in the past have seemed content with simply throwing a bunch of enemies at you, having you kill them, and then ushering you on to the next encounter.  While you do get a hefty dose of this in Finest Hour you also get to experience that feeling of absolute panic; something that most war games never manage to get down.

Visually Finest Hour is near the top of the list in terms of war game graphics.  Levels come alive with tons of background action and explosive particle effects.  Often times, I even found it hard to focus on my objective at hand because I was too busy gawking at the action unfolding around me.  Gunfire is incredibly realistic, right down to the amount of muzzle fire that bursts forth from each one.  Explosions aren’t as detailed and usually look like a big puff of smoke and chunky rock, but the effect is captured well enough to suffice.  While the levels are intensely realistic and full of action, this attention seems to come at the expense of character modeling.  While respectable, the game’s character models seem a bit too bland when compared to the levels that they exist in, which is a bit disappointing.  The coolest visual aspect of the game that I found was the new shellshock effect.  When grenades or other explosions occur around you, you’ll go into shellshock.  At this point on-screen action slows to a crawl and your aim is severely affected.  While nothing really more than a visual parlor trick, the effect really hammers home that idea that you’re taking part in some of the most realistic war gaming on home consoles.

Aurally Finest Hour also impresses, thanks to a healthy mix of an epic musical score, top notch voice acting, and realistic war sound effects.  The tunes, while highly reminiscent of what you’ve probably heard in a Medal of Honor title, fits the tone of the game nicely, creating scenes of not only panic but also those full of pride (such as the Soviet speech before the battle of Stalingrad).  The voice acting is likewise top notch and features a talented mix of Russian, British and American accented dialogue.  Lastly, the sound effects will really draw you into the action, whether you’re ducking from thunderous explosions of mortar shells or retreating after being surprised by an enemy tank brigade.

For multiplayer gamers, Finest Hour offers up some respectable options, including eight different maps and four modes (Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture The Flag, and Search And Destroy).  On the Xbox version, the build that we played through, up to 16 players can battle it out online.  The real draw for multiplayer is being able to play the game cooperatively through some of the most interesting levels from the single player campaign.  Since most levels are full of blown out buildings and other cover, the strategy of staying alive takes on whole new levels.

Overall Call of Duty: Finest Hour is one of the best World War II games I’ve played in quite awhile.  The use of three different Fronts from the war really helps to diversify the action at hand and the viewpoints you’re introduced to in each one are not only a nice history lesson but also an attempt at adding some more humanity into the genre.  The action is realistic and the storylines behind each character so human, the end result is not only a war game for those gamers who have itchy trigger fingers, but also those gamers who can see past the thin red line and see the people behind the guns.