OUR RATING: 7.2 VERY GOOD About our ratings

TANGIBLES: Gameplay: 7 Visuals: 7 Audio: 9 Value: 6 Quality: 8

Why you should buy it: Not Available Why you should rent it: Not Available

UNIQUE RATING: 7.2 SUGGESTION: N/A

This has been a pretty spectacular year for the first-person shooter genre. We've seen some extremely good games since the year began. When Far Cry and Unreal Tournament 2004 came out and blew us away, we knew the year was just going to get better and better as more games like Half-Life 2 and Halo 2 hit shelves. This was definitely true. Most of you probably remember last year's AIAS Game of the Year, Call of Duty. This was perhaps the greatest World War II based shooter the genre had ever seen. It took what 2015 did with the Medal of Honor series to a new level, blending spectacular presentation with the most intense gameplay offered in the genre.

Call of Duty: Finest Hour was soon announced after the release of the PC version. It's finally out, and there's two ways to look at it. It's either going to be one of the best World War II shooters you can buy for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, or GameCube. Or' it's going to feel like a rush-job rehash because it's pretty tame in comparison to the PC counterpart.

To say Finest Hour isn't a great game is selling it short, it's quite entertaining on every level and the amount of immersion the atmospheric setting gives you is almost unrivaled. If you've played the PC version, however, it's going to feel dated and somewhat mediocre in comparison. But instead of focusing on how the game doesn't play, you should be happy to learn that the game itself plays well, looks good, and is fun all on its own rights.

The game plays pretty standard; dual analog setup found on console FPS games,'trigger fire, and the works. It's pretty refined to fit the controller, so you'll feel right at home from the get-go. You'll go from objective to objective fulfilling missions throughout the vantage point of various soldiers in World War II. There are some notable ones however, like the African American tank soldier who's missions are extremely'fun. Ground combat can get a little stale, just because it's been done before many, many times. However, the rest of the gameplay that it offers you is quite entertaining, especially when you get behind the wheel or act as a gunman inside of one.

The objectives themselves are pretty straightforward. The developer doesn't really throw you for any loops here with some inventive and innovative new way of playing a World War II FPS. It's putting you in the role of a soldier expected to know what you're doing, or have some familiarity with the subject matter. The way the story is told is through fantastic cutscenes with some awesome voice work. Generally speaking, these are some of the high points in the missions, because you'll be traversing your way through the objectives to learn more about the character you're playing as at that time. If there is one thing this game has over the PC version, it's the fact that the characters are actually interesting this time. The setting is also very well done. If you're a history buff you're going to absolutely fall in love with this game, as it's the most realistic and history-intensive World War II shooter on the console market.