If this game portrayed the true reflections of WW2, we probably accuse WW2 veterans as liars and jail them.
Graphics 4
Sounds 3
Value 2
Tilt 2
I have this strange motto that once I install a game, the game must be totally completed. That is, trying out all the available options, spotting all the secrets and whatever else the game can ditch out. Saying this, I have spotted some real gems and duds however I rarely regret the playing experience.
Considering my playing experience mostly stems from older games as I’m a firm believer that a game needs to be played on the highest settings (otherwise it’s not worth playing) I was looking forward to a World War II game based on the Unreal III engine (as I was totally amazed with Bioshock) and released in 2008. Yes, the latest and the greatest that a game could offer. Well the first game caught my eye was Hour of Victory.
Since my line-of-vision was like a horse (Unreal Engine) I didn’t really know what to expect. Well, rule number one: do some research. As mentioned above, once I installed the game I went straight to the game’s settings and something strange appeared there. There was no optimisation at all (no changing of screen resolution, lighting etc). Just brightness and some other mundane setting I cannot remember. Also key bindings were limited as well. Was this a sign of things to come? Nonetheless like a good soldier, I marched on.
Thankfully, it improved as before you start the game you need to select one of the three available characters: a sniper, the soldier and the covert ops (scout). I choose the sniper (it’s a character I rarely played as I normally prefer in-your-face action). So this game promises different playing experiences as the sniper can scale walls (marked with a glowing rope), the soldier pushing large objects and the covert ops performing that silent kill (by hiding in specially marked places).
Then the game starts. The storyline goes something like this: You guys are the best of the best; the Germans are making a A (or H) bomb (I cannot remember); go save the professor responsible for making this weapon; Germans are upset and knowingly the war is going to end therefore planning to nuke Berlin causing a massive catastrophic affect that will wipe out all of the allies (and the Germans). This logic is like saying my pet fish is allergic to water therefore it needs to stay on land so it can survive. Now add very poor acting and stuttered movements and there you have the opening scene. Stupidly, I carried on (I’m a very stubborn person).
I was then greeted by some freak stating our base is under attack and off I went. Here is where the game truly shines. Naturally I tested out this game by firing anything I see (including allies) and see how the AI fair. I also test out how much punishment my character can take and that oh-so different playing experience (scaling walls). Here are the results:
Allies are totally immune to your attack or don’t care if you killed them ‘accidentally’ (there was a level where I needed to shoot down German bomber planes and considering I have absolutely no idea which planes are the allies or the axis so I shot down everything – the results was that I moved on the next stage without any consequences – I wished life was that easy). The Germans AI on the other hand is in fact quite worse. They do take cover however they don’t duck. Other words, half their bodies always appear behind the cover and usually (and for some unknown reason) facing the opposite direction to your line-of-sight. Others just stand there (literally) waiting to be killed. In spite of this there is reasoning to their madness. Their uncanny ability to spawn more Germans is quite remarkable. They keep on spawning and spawning and eventually will give up (however I need to emphasis the word ‘eventually’).
To those who play PC games in ‘god mode’ will appreciate the next part; and you don’t even need to enter the cheat codes to activate this astonishing feature. Considering there is no health bar and no health packs, taking any hits will be like punching you with a side of beef. It’s going to hurt. However fear not. The developers used this ‘realistic’ healing system that if you get hit, your vision blurs (just like in real life according to the blurb - for me though I normally bleed but maybe I'm abnormal). However if you sit still and don’t perform any actions, your vision clears up and viola, you are up-and-ready to fight yet again (just like in real life – in case you didn’t notice, I’m now dripping in sarcasm). Now I know why in the 50s and 60s they always raving on about ‘duck-and-cover’. This ‘technique’ has been proven in the battle fields so who needs medics.
This concept of ‘unique’ game play for each of the characters is nothing more than fake advertising. The available options for each character throughout the game is quite minimal however in some circumstances do provide reasonable shortcuts to get ‘behind enemy lines’; only to find yourself in front of…yes…spawning Germans. The game on-the-other-hand ‘cleverly’ forces the player to utilise all of the three heroes at least once (as some missions requires certain ‘skills’ that that character only possess). Then again, it all boils down to shooting those almost unlimited spawning Germans. Also your default weapons is pretty much worthless as there are absolutely no ammo to locate once depleted. I hope you like using the German weaponry as they are the only ones that produce ammo (because of that remarkable spawning ability).
Considering the game uses the latest Unreal Engine you come to expect that ‘wow’ factor graphics. I’m not sure who got the better deal as the game’s graphics is appalling (to say the least). Very comical, extremely ugly and no optimisation spell disaster. The sound quality is practically on par with the graphics. Voice acting is nothing more than the sounds of chomping through puss-covered chickens; there is no sound optimisation so expect the lowest quality output however the only ‘good’ thing comes out of this is the musical scores; though at times the scores can sound confusing but beggars can’t be chooses. Take what you get.
Be prepared for the worst in Hour of Victory. Bearing in mind the game is a ported console tragedy, there is that ridiculous check-point save system. I’m no big fan when it comes to this however considering the checkpoints are few and far between coupled with frog spawning Germans and not to mention that ‘getting stuck for no reason’ bug (which will happen at the worst of times) the game will reload back to almost at the beginning of the mission. Well considering the game is not difficult to say the least, fighting the boredom is. Now to add salt to the wounds, the game cheekily states in the reload screen something like ‘If you think you’re tough, try playing it on hard or veteran’. Correct me if I’m wrong, those are fighting words. As a side note, I was playing on the hard difficulty. So you can say the replay value is…high? The actual length of the game should take less than ten hours if not counting on the bugs, boredom plus frustrations.
Hour of Victory I feel shows courage in realms of computer gaming. Considering there are trillions of World War II theme types games (can anyone say Call of Duty 4), here arrives a game that is a total catastrophe from start to finish. It seems that there were some great ideas to the game initially (that choice of three different characters which should resemble different styles of game play) however the ‘think tank’ died immediately. Either the developers given up hope to live or hoping some twerp like me playing this senseless game so they can make a living is beyond reasoning. Don’t play it.