If there's one subgenre of first-person shooters than just about everyone has played, it's the WWII shooter. Since FPSs blasted their way onto our computer and TV screens back in the day, we've battled alien hordes, demons, and powerful humanoids, but for some reason, we keep coming back to reality. It's this reality that drives many people to play WWII shooters, as it's much easier to identify with a scared 19 year old from Topeka than a virtually indestructible space marine. While the genre got its start with EA and 2015's Medal of Honor series, it was taken to a higher level by Infinity Ward when they released Call of Duty for the PC last year. Now, however, it's time for console gamers to get a chance to feel the bullets whistle by their ears in Call of Duty: Finest Hour, an ambitious offering from Spark, a company made up of former EA developers.

As was the case with the PC titles in the franchise, Finest Hour puts you in the shoes of a variety of soliders one would find in WWII. You've got your wet behind the ears Russian teenager, a fiesty British veteran who takes a little too much joy in his work, and an all-American guy who's out to rid the world of evil, one Nazi at a time. The game also introduces some new types of characters, including an African-American fighter who's a member of the famed 761st "Blank Panther" Tank Battalion that helped turn the tides of war on the Western Front, as well as a female sniper out to avenge the death of her family.


The invdividuals and their stories are introduced between battles, with their voiceovers telling us a little bit about their motivation. The stories are all pretty believable, thanks to some excellent voice work and historical footage. While you might not really care whether they live or die, it's interesting to feel like you are meeting some of the personalities that shaped the great war. For the history buffs out there, baritone-voiced Dennis Haysbert (the president in TV's "24") presents some background on the battles before you enter them, complete with grainy footage of the action that went down.

Although there is definitely a bit of emphasis put on the game's storyline, it takes a backseat to the intense action once the cutscenes are over. The Call of Duty series has always been about "cinematic intensity", and that's obvious from the opening scene, in which you are trapped in a rowboat that's heading toward a burning Stalingrad. As planes strafe across the bow of your boat, killing some of your screaming squadmates, a gruff Russian leader commands you to kill as many Germans as possible, reminding you that he'll shoot any deserters himself. From there, it's off into the city, and as bullets zip over your head, you'll forget that you're in your safe living room.

While fighting in Stalingrad, you'll switch characters a few times over the course of the missions. Although it's nice to be introduced to new soldiers, I found it hard to really care about any of them, since you only control them for a mission or two at a time. Just when I was beginning to like the female sniper, I switched to a tank commander, and I felt gypped that I didn't get to see her story through to conclusion. It would have been nice to stick with one character throughout each of the three campaigns (Eastern and Western Front, as well as North Africa), so you are able to get drawn into their stories. It's a shame that the producers decided to do this, as it was one of the best things about the PC game.