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

One thing Call of Duty: Finest Hour manages to do with success is take everything from graphics to sound, from music to gameplay; and toss it all into one big can of whoop-ass and make a great game.

GamingTrend

The game is realistic and fun, albeit an on-rails shooter at the core. Some parts of the game just beg to be replayed while others have you scratching your head why they aren't longer to begin with.

TeamXbox

A perfect example of how attention to detail can make an average game much more than the norm. First-person shooters are nothing new, and even though Finest Hour doesn't really introduce any groundbreaking aspects into the gaming world it does show just how well crafted a video game can be, blurring the line between gaming and cinema.

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.

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]

Kombo

I hope to see the community surprised by the shockingly high production values which its single player holds. That being said however, the multiplayer game of Call of Duty: Finest Hour is practically a throw away. The game modes are generic, communication poorly chosen, and fun level is shockingly low.

1UP

Unlike "Rising Sun," Finest Hour goes beyond the epidermal layer and strives to provide a realistic yet still engaging and addictive experience on all fronts, not just for your eyes. And, luckily enough, it succeeds.

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]

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

Throughout the game, you'll be thrust into different roles. Before it ends, you'll have been an American, Russian and British solider. Each of these soldiers will have their 'day in the sun' so to speak.

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.

Gamer.tv

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

GameSpy

Although the single player campaign is on the short side, a solid multiplayer mode will ensure that you'll still be playing it a few months from now. If you're looking to fight in the Big One, it's time to answer the call.

AceGamez

With the lovely graphics comes lovely sound.

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]

Xbox Nation Magazine

The shoddy A.I. and other flaws are rare or negligible enough so as not to detract from the overall enjoyment of an otherwise great game. [Jan 2005, p.89]

Game Chronicles

The lack of any cohesive story spread thin by too many distracting viewpoints kept me from ever getting involved with the characters. It was almost like I was trapped in an episode of "Quantum Leap."

Worth Playing

Expect to be frustrated anyway. The tank levels are the worst offenders, with missiles coming at you from every direction, your armor evaporating like dry ice, and the bizarre rules under which you're allowed to disembark.

BonusStage

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

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.

RealGamer

At the end of the day it just feels like another run of the mill shooter.

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]

Gaming Age

For those who have played the original PC version, I'm sorry to say that the console version just doesn't meet up to it in the end.

DailyGame

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

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.

GameZone

A fine WWII shooter, but doesn't quite capture the pure intensity of the PC version.

Xbox Evolved

The weapons look good and are nicely designed.

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.

Gaming Target

A fun game that could have been made a lot more enjoyable by adding a couple of checkpoints here and there.

ActionTrip

This game has committed a cardinal sin, and that sin is mediocrity. Nothing is special about it, and while it does have a fun, cinematic feel and some nicely featured historical missions, it simply does not feel memorable. Maybe I shouldn't have compared it to the original, but I have. Sue me.

Official Xbox Magazine

A decent experience, but not one you're likely to spend much time with. [Jan 2005, p.72]

GMR Magazine

The game's presentation is incredible... Unfortunately, the A.I. should have spent more time in basic training. [Feb 2005, p.87]

Eurogamer

As it stands, it hasn't re-ignited much other than a vague feeling that we should pull the PC version out of the cupboard and play it again.

Total Video Games

A WWII game with nice moments and a good storyline; but as a game it fails on a number of points and its distinct lack of innovation makes it hard to recommend to anyone but fans of the genre.

3DAvenue

Spark took hold of the project to completion and while the game is fairly decent, it is a shame they didn't have the spark to polish it as much as the PC version.

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.

Yahoo! Games

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

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.

Loaded Inc

If I couldn’t complain about the graphics or sound, then I certainly could about the game’s AI. It borders on incompetent and if you’re AI allies aren’t running right in front of you cutting off your line of fire, then they’re charging head-first into an enemy machine gun nest.

netjak

First and foremost, the amount of shots it can take to kill your enemies is absurd. It's so inconsistent that not even a headshot will always drop your enemies, and I have a HUGE problem with that.

TotalGames.net

This could have been Activision's finest hour, but it looks likely to be nothing more than an agonising five minutes of fame.

Xequted

As a whole, Call of Duty: Finest Hour feels like it was poorly assembled with shoddy A.I. and lacklustre graphics. Couple that with short, uninteresting missions and main characters that you couldn't care less about, and you have a game that may be worth a day's play but is a title that you wouldn't want to in your own library.

Xbox Solution

While the single-player mode offers enough missions and options, it can become old quickly. As far as the online mode, the 16-player matches are nice yet, tend to become boring due to the overall mechanics of the game.

G4 TV

If some of the difficulty settings didn't feel so unbalanced, we'd have liked more time in North Africa, as that campaign feels the most fresh out of the three.

Sydney Morning Herald

Although missions are well-designed and combat can be intense, sequences such as the battle to reclaim Stalingrad lack the scale and cinematic grandeur of the PC version.

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]

GameCritics

Finest Hour is a heavily-scripted experience, almost to the point of being completely on rails. Things happen because they're scripted to happen, not because they're an organic outgrowth of the gameplay.

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.

Boomtown

But the problems with the game can be summed up in a mission to defend a factory, where failure meant game over rather than the continuation of the battle from that point on.

GamerFeed

Call of Duty doesn't blast its way onto the Xbox but rather trips over its own feet onto a pile of live grenades. It's an enjoyable first person shooter, but its many glitches (especially those found in the online mode) are extremely annoying, and the game is just too linear for its own good.

Xbox World Australia

Nothing but a rushed, messy and lacklustre attempt to cash in on a popular PC franchise during the Christmas rush period.

Detroit Free Press

While offering a well-scripted narrative, comes up with precious few reasons to play out these battles again. No surprises here -- just solid, albeit predictable, action that could have been better.

GameShark

Even if I hadn’t played the crap out of the game series on the PC, I would have still felt the game was lacking any significant punch to set itself ahead of the market for its time.

Gamestyle

'Average Hour' would seem a better appellation for Call of Duty: Finest Hour.