 Review By: Jared Black |
Developer: | nFusion |
| Publisher: | Midway | |
| Genre: | FPS | |
| ESRB: | Teen | |
| # Of Players: | 1 (2-12 online/system link) | |
| Online Play: | Yes | |
| Accessories: | Xbox Live (online play), system link, HDTV 720p/1080i/1080p |
Then there are the bugs, which also point to a game rushed to market to meet a release date. Several times I got stuck on tiny objects in the environment, although they would eventually release their grip on me for some reason so I never had to restart a level. Cover doesn’t always work either, as I found myself often being shot while seemingly hidden behind large objects such as burned out cars or chunks of building.
Multiplayer is generic and uninspiring, with only three modes to choose from: Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, and Devastation (find a bomb, then destroy three targets). There’s nothing wrong with these modes of course, but it’s a thin roster when compared to what most other $60 FPS titles provide. The bigger issue is that I play tested online play on a Saturday afternoon, which one would think would be just about the busiest time, and there were a total of only 10 other players online (that I could see anyway) at the same time. Despite that though, I still encountered a significant amount of lag, to the point that my character jumped and warped several steps at times. Multiplayer maps are essentially the same as those used in the single-player game, so they’re not very well tuned to providing an excellent online experience either.
Graphically, at first glance the environments in Hour of Victory are full of detail, but once you start really looking around you realize it’s a lifeless world despite some crisp textures. For a title powered by Unreal Engine 3, the world is surprisingly devoid of life with very few interactive objects. For example, if you shoot a teapot sitting on a table, it sticks to that table like it’s glued down and doesn’t even dent. That’s true for almost everything you’ll see in the game. Sometimes, if you shoot a wall or other wooden object the game will throw up a fake spray of wood chips, but the object itself still stays perfectly intact. That level of interactivity was perfectly acceptable in the 32-bit era, but now just comes across as lazy. Dropped weapons also disappear at random intervals, as do bullet holes on walls (which are merely pasted on bullet textures anyway).
Sound wise, Hour of Victory has the epic-sounding music you’ve probably come to expect from a WWII FPS. There’s nothing wrong with the quality of the music, but like everything else in this game it’s flawed. In this case, it’s simply not long enough as it frequently loops…a lot. Several of the tracks here are only a minute or so in length, so you’ll hear them over and over (and over and over…) again. The transition isn’t even a smooth one, as the music will abruptly stop before starting over again a second or two later for the umpteenth time. The audio mix also seemed a little off on my low-tech setup, with surprisingly quiet tanks and overly loud turrets and machine guns.
Bottom Line:
As a fan of the WWII shooter sub-genre, I really wanted to like Hour of Victory, but unfortunately it’s a copycat cash-in bogged down by incredibly bad A.I., poorly implemented online play, uninspiring environments, and an annoying soundtrack that loops repeatedly. Even the aspects that would’ve otherwise distinguished the game, including the three different characters and drivable vehicles, ultimately have little impact on how it plays.
I couldn’t even recommend Hour of Victory as a budget title, must less at the ridiculous $60 MSRP it carries.
| Pros: | Cons: | Final Score: |
|---|---|---|
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| 2.8 |
Posted: 2007-08-04 17:25:04 PST