Call of Duty: Finest Hour

Times Online

What singles out this series from the rest is that it homes in on the sheer intensity and ugliness of war.

Next Level Gaming

And when I finally got a hand of the great online play for the Playstation 2 I was just blown away. It is fast and silky smooth. And the botom line is that the game is just fun and exciting to play. Your heart will race while you try and duck gunfire from the Nazis.

PSX Nation

The most fun I have had playing online as far as the first person shooter genre goes. This is one of those games you will want to have for sure just to see how good online play can be!

Game Chronicles

I hate this game. Since the day I picked it up, it has sucked up so much of my free time, causing me to neglect my Xbox Live buddies, forego weeknight sleep, go in late to work, neglect my wife ' yeah it's that bad. I absolutely hate this game.

Play Magazine

I love the urgency of a slow-to-load rifle, the way your fumbling and learned cadence strikes a unique tension in the shootouts; too bad the clumsy grenades aren't nearly as much fun. [Jan 2005, p.60]

GameZone

The best PS2 shooter I've played all year.

Gamers' Temple

Great presentation and some intense missions will draw you into the game's immersive environment and make for a very entertaining experience.

Games Radar UK (Pre-2006)

Another brilliant PS2 first-person shooter. Boasting realism, originality and variety in equal measure - it's the premium choice for Medal of Honor fans this year. [PSM2]

Game Informer

Much like the PC Call of Duty (which I should note is a completely different game), this console title features a brilliant targetting mechanism that allows players to zoom in and aim down the sight of the firearm. [Jan 2005, p.115]

1UP

It's simply trying to be the best console WWII shooter ever created, and in this it almost certainly succeeds. The single-player game is short, yes, but it's incredibly epic (in the cinematic definition of the term), and multiplayer should keep you playing long after the main campaign is over.

IC-Games

The game is brutal, yes, but bloody? No. Maybe it's because everything seems to happen so fast you don't need to see it, I don't know.

PGNx Media

The game's single-player campaign is enjoyable despite some questionable design choices, and the multiplayer is capable, as well. That said, while Finest Hour is always good and often times great, it never quite reaches excellence.

XGP Gaming

The opening sequence screams "Saving Private Ryan" (or better yet "Medal of Honor") at you, as you're sitting next to several of your comrades on your way to storm a beach and capture some enemy bunkers.

TotalGames.net

It's a blaster dressed in perfect olive greens that makes previous "Medal Of Honor" games seem slightly robotic and soulless in comparison.

Cinescape

It's the best of its kind on the consoles with the historical details, cinematic gameplay and fun factor overwhelming some unoriginality and glitches.

Cheat Code Central

This should give those with short attention spans cause to celebrate - if any of them have actually been capable of reading this far.

GameBiz

While not the most difficult or longest FPS game on the Xbox, or PS2 it is a competent shooter, and is worth checking out.

Electronic Gaming Monthly

Even though gameplay is pretty much the opposite of innovation (with the exception of the multiple characters, and more chances to drive a tank compared to the PC version), the presentation is second to none. [Jan 2005, p.124]

GameSpy

Although switching characters every few missions took away from my enjoyment of the game, I found experiencing combat in different locales to be very entertaining.

Gamer.tv

A wild ride through some of mankind's most violent episodes holds its own against the orginal PC masterpiece.

Gaming Nexus

There are some problems with the mission structure, but the intense action and addictive online more than make up for the inane tank missions.

AceGamez

Finest Hour may deter the novice of the gaming world, but those who love a challenge will find piles of enjoyment here.

Official U.S. Playstation Magazine

A surprisingly stirring, entertaining experience. [Feb 2005, p.82]

Worth Playing

Sluggish controls, sketchy A.I., watered-down stories, and a frustrating lack of checkpoints block this game from stepping into the FPS V.I.P. room. On the good side, it does have atmosphere, varied gameplay, and interesting, authentic weaponry.

BonusStage

If there had been offline multiplayer support, the score would've been higher for the game.

My Gamer

Sadly, considering the realism on show, enemy soldiers don’t bleed when shot, neither do they react in a show of dismemberment when killed in explosions.

Gaming Illustrated

Going into and out of some of WWII’s most intense battles will keep you coming back for more. If you can get by the average graphics and a couple of A.I. wobbles you’ll have a great time playing this game.

Pelit (Finland)

Too linear and short, but it has a nice atmosphere to it and many enjoyable missions. Poor graphics and moronic companions detract from the experience, though. [Jan. 05]

Gamezilla!

Could have been better in many areas but still gives a solid performance. It's not cutting edge or innovative but fans of this genre will be satisfied.

eToychest

With the exception of the very first level (the Battle of Stalingrad) you hardly get the sense of urgency that you should feel while playing this game.

VGPub

The game will take you about eight hours to beat and it will entertain you for most all of that time. Maybe it was the character jumping or maybe it was the generic feel the game puts out, but I just couldn't really get into this one.

DailyGame

If it existed in a vacuum it'd rank better, but this is a strong holiday for videogame shooters.

Gaming Age

A solid game that unfortunately doesn't quite live up its PC counterpart.

Inside Gamer Online

You're going to be feasting your eyes on some fantastic looking environments and some pretty good character models. The textures, aliasing, explosions, and the rest aren't so bad either.

IGN

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.

PSM Magazine

It's not a bad game at all, but it doesn't offer anything really new or exciting to the already overrun WWII first-person shooter genre. [Jan 2005, p.78]

Yahoo! Games

There's an awful lot of linear, shooting-gallery tedium you have to plod through to get to the good stuff.

Game Over Online

A lack of checkpoints, imperfect weapon design and control along with a lack of a story that players will care for makes this the low point for the impressive franchise.

Total Video Games

It's more than equal to any of the console "Medal of Honor" titles, although we're desperately hoping that developers will now give it some time to truly shake up the genre a little and bring some new ideas to the table.

Warcry

It has a real "been there, done that” feel in every aspect, except the shell shock bit.

PALGN

It’s not worth the trouble when there’s greater wartime FPS out there or coming up.

Boomtown

A wasted opportunity.

Armchair Empire

Despite the constant companionship of allies, it still feels like you're the only person in the conflict.

GameSpot

Had the feel of the weapons been a little better, and had the campaign been more consistently intense, Finest Hour could have been a much better game.

TotalPlayStation

Finest Hour tries, but thanks to some jarring hiccups and repetivie animations, it can't live up to the series' pedigree.

Loaded Inc

While it had the potential to be the best console war FPS game out, it is nothing more than a competent, but mediocre shooter.

GamingTrend

This game has so many glaring graphical and AI glitches it borders on comical.

GamePro

But playing this game live on the console systems lacks the finesse and speed to which you're accustomed. Lag is apparent everywhere, from watching other players float across the ground to empting an entire magazine into a foe at close range with no effect.

games(TM)

The atmosphere is electric, the sense of making tiny in-roads to solve a great problem as satisfying as it is frustrating... Spark never allows you to forget that outside the restrictive confines of the first-person viewpoint there’s a much, much bigger fight going on involving thousands of men. [Jan 2005, p.110]