2004 video game
2004 video game
Call of Duty: Finest Hour is a first-person shooter video game developed by Spark Unlimited and👍 published by Activision for GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox. It is the first console installment of Call of Duty.
Although it👍 is based on the original Call of Duty for Microsoft Windows, it has a different storyline and acts as a👍 side-story of the main game. It features six intertwined stories and battles based on real events from the perspective of👍 soldiers on each side of the allied campaign (U.S., British, and Soviet).
The game's music was composed by Michael Giacchino, who👍 previously worked on the original Call of Duty and the Medal of Honor franchise. AC/DC singer Brian Johnson provides the👍 voice of Sergeant Starkey, one of the British commandos.
Multiplayer [ edit ]
Finest Hour can support both online and local multi-player👍 support, depending on the console. It had no online multi-player support for the GameCube as it does not take advantage👍 of the GameCube broadband or modem adapter. On the Xbox, Finest Hour had Xbox Live support and up to 32👍 players can play locally through Xbox's System Link feature. The PlayStation 2 port of Finest Hour also had PS2 Online👍 support, with up to 16 players per session.
Plot [ edit ]
Eastern front [ edit ]
In the Soviet campaign, the player👍 first controls Private Aleksandr Sokolov. Sokolov participates in The Battle of Stalingrad following Sergeant Oleg Puskov. The sergeant is eventually👍 killed by a sniper, sacrificing himself to save Sokolov. A female Soviet sniper, named Tanya Pavelovna appears and shoots the👍 German sniper, then sends Sokolov on a mission to liberate Mamayev Kurgan hill. After the mission is completed, Sokolov becomes👍 Pavelovna's spotter as the two work to harass the Germans. Pavelovna and Sokolov navigate through the sewers to help defend👍 a tractor factory to ensure the safety of a T-34, supervised by Major Nikolai Badanov. In the tank, the major👍 fights his way to General Belov's headquarters. Nikolai has orders from Belov to deliver a radio to a spotter team👍 at the train station in order to coordinate a Katyusha rocket barrage on German armor. Afterward, Badanov is involved in👍 the Soviet assault on a German airfield at Tatsinskaya, codenamed Operation Little Saturn. Nikolai and other T-34s proceed to the👍 airstrip to destroy German aircraft. Upon destroying the airfield they meet up with more Soviets to assault the German headquarter's👍 air traffic control.
North Africa [ edit ]
The British campaign follows Edward Carlyle. Carlyle embarks on a night raid in Matmata👍 with a commando team led by Sergant Starkey to storm a German fortress and destroy a fuel depot. After the👍 Matmata raid, Starkey and Carlyle evacuate in a Jeep. By daybreak Starkey drives through German infested roads, while Carlyle mans👍 the 50. Cal Browning machine gun. Eventually Carlyle and Starkey make it to a besieged British fort, where they rescue👍 Sergeant Dehart and a cartographer and ultimately neutralize the German presence in the fort.
Western Front [ edit ]
The American campaign👍 follows Sergeant Chuck Walker. The first three missions concentrate on the capture of Aachen, with Chuck protecting the tank column👍 along the way. After the capture of Aachen, the story shifts focus to M4 Sherman tank commander Sam Rivers, a👍 young African-American who fends off Germans around the town of Tillet. After that, the newly promoted Lieutenant Walker infiltrates the👍 city of Remagen to scout the Ludendorff Bridge and escort Rivers' tank squad to the bridge. Upon reaching the bridge,👍 a huge hole in the ground prevents the tanks from moving on. Chuck eliminates the German garrison, delivering the bridge👍 into Allied hands, so they can push into Germany.
Reception [ edit ]
The PlayStation 2 version received "generally favorable reviews", while👍 the GameCube and Xbox versions received above-average reviews, according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.[2][3][4] IGN stated that despite its👍 portrayal of a good shooter, it is still stuck between realism and over-the-top antics; the graphics were criticized as being👍 very ordinary along with the effects being disappointing and the sound was also found to be out of place in👍 some areas of the game.[20] In Japan, where the PS2 and Xbox versions were ported and published by Capcom on👍 October 27, 2005, Famitsu gave it a score of 33 out of 40 for the latter,[8] and 32 out of👍 40 for the former.[7]
The Times gave the PS2 and Xbox versions all five stars, saying, "What singles out this series👍 from the rest is that it homes in on the sheer intensity and ugliness of war."[28] However, The Sydney Morning👍 Herald gave the latter console version three stars out of five, saying, "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."[27] Detroit👍 Free Press gave it two stars out of four, saying that the game, "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."[29]
By July 2006, the PlayStation 2 version had sold 1.2 million units and earnedR$45 million in the👍 U.S. NextGen ranked it as the 41st highest-selling game launched for the PlayStation 2, Xbox or GameCube between January 2000👍 and July 2006 in that country. Combined sales of Call of Duty console games reached 4 million units.[30] The PS2👍 version also received a "Platinum" sales award from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA),[31] indicating sales of at👍 least 300,000 units in the UK.[32]
