|
Published
by Activision
Developed by Spark Unlimited
Release Date: Out Now
Price: £39.99
Imagine
taking one of the most action filled World War II FPS games
on the PC and doing a version of it on the PlayStation 2,
a console which has showed it's age a little in recent times.
You'd be forgiven for thinking the whole thing would be
a fiasco with a poor frame rate and key elements of the
game dumbed down to suit the components of Sony's console.
This is exactly the kind of experience that I was expecting
when the review code dropped on the Deaf Gamers' welcome
mat. Surprisingly though this isn't the case at all and
Spark Unlimited have given PlayStation 2 gamers a real taste
of that magical Call of Duty experience.
Call
of Duty: Finest Hour is a whole new story. It all begins
in familiar territory as we are back in World War II on
the Eastern Front, in Stalingrad, playing as the Russians
who are trying to remove the presence of the German soldiers.
As with the PC version of Call of Duty you won't play as
the same character all through the game. Initially, as just
mentioned you'll begin as a Russian soldier but you'll also
play as a British soldier and a US soldier throughout the
course of the game. The Russian missions, where you play
as a conscript, are quite easy but when you progress to
the British ones (which are set in North Africa) there is
a noticeable increase in the difficulty and the US missions
(which see you back in Europe) are even more difficult.
Anyone who has completed the PC Call of Duty will have no
trouble with the difficulty level in the game though and
the control system is a comfortable one that works well
which of course makes things easier. The missions are linear
affairs but the same thing could be said about the original
Call of Duty and it doesn't really make the game any less
exciting, although it does mean there is limited replay
value.
Not
content with simply providing single player action, Spark
have also added online game play. Online play supports 16
players online and offers four game modes. Deathmatch, Team
Deathmatch, Capture the Flag and Search and Destroy are
the modes you can play. Online play does support voice communications
which could prove awkward for deaf gamers, especially if
you're not playing exclusively with other deaf gamers. I
did experience a small amount of lag but nothing too serious.
Obviously
Finest Hour isn't going to look as good as Call of Duty
on the PC but it does a good job nevertheless. Most of the
environments look good although there are a few bland areas
of the game. Slowdown can be seen when the action gets very
hectic or huge explosions occur etc., but for the most part
it's a smooth experience. Character models and animations
also look good and certainly compare well with anything
we've seen on the PlayStation 2 to date.
Finest
Hour does have subtitles (subtitles are on by default) but
unfortunately not everything is subtitled. The games cutscenes
are not subtitled, which is disappointing, but on the whole
the game isn't too bad at all for deaf gamers. Important
conversations and orders are given in text as well as speech.
The name of the person speaking to you is also given (in
a different coloured text) to make it clear who is talking
to you. Call of Duty often puts you with other soldiers
and their names appear in text next to them. The colour
of this text indicates the status of their health. Your
objectives are given in text and can be recalled by pressing
the start button. You're notified in text when a checkpoint
has been reached. A hand icon indicates when an item can
be picked up which is always useful. An icon will tell you
if you are aiming at a soldier who's on your side, so you
shouldn't shoot any of your own men by accident. Finally
you have indicators to show which direction you are being
fired at from and you also have the compass which shows
you the general direction you should be heading.
Out
of the recent FPS games we've seen on the PlayStation 2
such as GoldenEye: Rogue Agent and Killzone, Call of Duty:
Finest Hour is the most enjoyable we've played. The single
player game is guilty of being rather short (around 10 hours
play at the most) but it's been engrossing stuff and it's
a real shame that it does have little replay value. The
online side of the game seems to work well but it's not
up to the standard of the single player game. We started
off the review by saying most would have imagined a Call
of Duty game to have been a complete mess on the PlayStation
2 but Finest Hour is far from it and in places it's managed
to capture the cinematic quality that the PC's Call of Duty
has. Finest Hour doesn't have as many memorable moments
as the PC game but there enough special moments here to
satisfy most people and it's great to see that the Tank
combat has again been included. If you're looking for a
quality FPS experience on your PlayStation 2 this Christmas
it has to be Call of Duty: Finest Hour.
Overall
Game Rating: 8.0/10
Call of Duty comes to the PlayStation 2 and it can be considered
a success. Whilst the game never reaches the excellence
of the PC Call of Duty it's still a very enjoyable game
with a solid online mode. Without a doubt it's the best
FPS game on the PlayStation 2 that's arrived in time for
Christmas.
Deaf
Gamers comment:
Cutscenes and some peripheral speech are not subtitled but
it's still enjoyable for deaf gamers.
|
