This article consists almost entirely of a plot summary and should be expanded to provide more balanced coverage that includes real-world context. Please edit the article to focus on discussing the work rather than merely reiterating the plot. (January 2012)

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. It needs additional citations for verification. Tagged since June 2009. It needs attention from an expert on the subject. Tagged since January 2008. It may be written from a fan's point of view, rather than a neutral point of view. Tagged since January 2012. It may contain original research. Tagged since January 2012.

Call of Duty: Finest Hour is a first-person shooter developed for the GameCube, PlayStation 2 and Xbox. It was released on 16 November 2004. It was the first console installment of Call of Duty, developed by Spark Unlimited and published by Activision. It was followed up by a sequel, Call of Duty 2: Big Red One, in 2005. The game runs on the RenderWare engine.

Although it is based on the original Call of Duty franchise for the PC, it has a completely different storyline and acts as a side-story/expansion of the main game. In the spirit of previous Call of Duty games, it features six intertwined stories and battles based on real events from the perspective of soldiers on each side of the allied campaign (U.S., British, and Soviet).

The game's music was composed by Michael Giacchino who previously worked on the original Call of Duty and the Medal of Honor franchise. AC/DC singer Brian Johnson provides the voice of Sergeant Starkey, one of the British commandos.

Multiplayer[link]

Finest Hour has no online multi-player support for the GameCube, as it does not take advantage of the broadband adapter. However, on the Xbox, Finest Hour is Xbox Live compatible and through system links, has support for up to 32 players. This game has online support for PlayStation 2 for up to 16 players per session.

Plot[link]

Characters[link]

• Private Aleksandr Sokolov is the first playable protagonist and one of the three playable Russian characters in the game.
• Lieutenant Tanya Pavelovna is a Russian sniper. She is encountered by Sokolov, and takes on the role of the second player character on the Russian front.
• Lieutenant (later Major) Nikolai Badanov is a Russian tank commander who encounters Sokolov and Pavelovna. With their help he secures a T34 tank. Badanov becomes the player's character for the remainder of the Russian campaign.
• Edward Carlyle is a British commando serving in North Africa. He is in charge of Demolitions and is the playable character for the entirety of the African campaign.
• Sergeant (later Lieutenant) Chuck Walker is a member of the U.S. Army's 1st Infantry Division and a veteran of D-Day. His squad is tasked with clearing the German resistance from Aachen and finally from the last bridge over the Rhine at Remagen.
• Sergeant Sam Rivers is a U.S. tank commander. Rivers is the playable character for a single mission only in which his tank backs up American forces during the German Assault on Bastogne. He is later seen again in the mission at Remagen but not as a playable character.

Eastern front[link]

In the Russian campaign, Private Aleksandr Sokolov starts in Stalingrad, Russia. Sokolov is riding in a wooden boat with other soldiers and a commissar who patriotically gives them a pep talk when all of the sudden a Stuka swoops in killing a couple of the boat riders and prompting two men to get off boat and flee just to get shot down by the commissar who surprisingly is still able to keep his cool, says that cowards will be shot. Sokolov then gets off the boat and lines up for the giving of arms, the fellow comrade in front of him gets a gun while Sokolov gets an ammo clip. After getting the ammo clip and a good view of Stalingrad being destroyed, Sokolov follows Sgt. Puskov who tells him to follow him to stay alive. Sokolov then follows Sgt. Puskov around the trenches and sees fellow comrades die the instant they get closer to Stalingrad while more comrades come in to their inevitable deaths. After finally getting cover from the machine gun fire, Sokolov then encounters a small fight with his fellow comrades against a small German force stationed at an armory.At this point, Sokolov can only look on until a fellow comrade blindly runs towards the middle making him an easy target and getting shot down, letting Sokolov finally be able to participate the fight by taking the fallen comrade's Mosin-Nagant rifle. After taking out the Germans, Sokolov and Sgt. Puskov then enter the armory, to see via the window, retreating German soldiers. Conveniently, an MP40 is lying on the ground with a lot of magazines. Sokolov then uses the MP40 to mow down the retreating Germans until Russians are now the ones running through the streets. As Sokolov and Sgt. Puskov exit the armory, they see a large force of Soviet troops being told by a commissar that they can now overwhelm the remaining German position on the other side of the wall. The Soviet troops then run in masses towards their deaths into MG42 fire, while the commissar only steps back a little and just stands there waving his comrades to the direction of the mass atrack. Sgt. Puskov sees this as a waste of perfectly good men and tells Sokolov that there is another way around that has little resistance. After taking out the German machine guns, Sgt. Puskov then tells Sokolov that he is surpirsed that he's (Sokolov) still alive, presuming that he may have had a lot of subordinates that just died after joining him. Sgt. Puskov then leads Sokolov and another two men with a machine gun through a house with German troops. After clearing the building of German soldiers the other two men then assembled the machine gun and laid down fire on German troops, soon the gunner is killed and Sokolov is orderd to take his position and continue to lay down fire. Some time later Sgt Puskov suddenly pushes away Sokolov from the machine gun and says "German sniper! Look out comrade!" Before getting killed by a sniper, sacrificing himself. Right at that instant a female Soviet sniper, named Tanya Pavlovna shoots the German sniper saying that she has 'been hunting that bastard all day'. She sends Sokolov on a mission to round up fellow comrades and take out three pillboxes and lead his comrades to capture a German bunker by taking down the Nazi flag and raising the Soviet flag in its place. After the mission is completed, Sokolov becomes Pavelovna's spotter as the two work to harass the Germans. This is where she teaches him that he can use the noise of the battleground to his advantage by using the loud sounds to silence the guns noise itself, she also tells him the importance of relocation and to always try to shoot the officers first. The game then switches over to Pavelovna. After taking out some German squads and a Panzer IV with a little help from a mine carrying sapper, Pavelovna and Sokolov are then visited by a frantic soviet soldier who tells them that they need help from the Germans from overrunning a tractor factory which was converted to produce Soviet tanks. Pavelovna and Sokolov then followed the soldier and see a German tank rip apart a couple of Soviet squads to pieces. This prompts The squad to use the sewage system to bypass the German tank only to discover that the sewers were not only crawling with Soviet soldiers who get separated from their main group, but the sewers were also infested with Germans patrolling the area. After finally getting out of the sewers Pavelovna and Sokolov then help defend a tractor factory that has been converted to the role of manufacturing T-34s. Upon successfully defending the factory, a tank crew, led by Nikolai Badanov, arrives to man the tank just as a Panzer IV advances on the factory. Sokolov and Pavelovna escape the factory on top of a T-34. The player assumes the role of Nikolai Badanov next. Nikolai stops at General Belov's headquarters after fighting through pockets of German resistance. The tank then gets into engine trouble and is forced to stop for repairs, unfortunately the smoke from the engine attracted Germans and made the repairs much more difficult now with bullets flying around. Pavelovna then goes up inside a tall building and provided sniper fire while Sokolov and Nikolai with his other tank crew defend the tank and its repairer. Suddenly a Panzer IV appears and shoots at the building where Pavelovna was providing sniper fire, collapsing the building entombing Pavelovna in the process. After the tank is finished repairing Nikolai then destroys the Panzer IV in an act of revenge. The tank then arrives at General Belov's position. General Belov then told them that they needed Nikolai and his tank to take a radio and deliver it to a team of spotters whose radio had been damaged. Without radio contact, the Soviet artillery has not been receiving target coordinates. At that instant a wounded Pavelovna is being carried inside with a concerned Sokolov comforting her from the pain as medics mend her injuries. Badanov's task is to recapture the ruins of Red Square, arrive at the Stalingrad train station, break through to the team, and deliver the radio. After clearing the station of German squads, Badanov then gives the radio to the spotters. The spotters then relayed the German tank positions to the radio letting General Belov to finally destroy the German force by rockets. Afterward, Badanov is involved in the Russian assault on a German airfield at Tatsinskaya. This attack is codenamed Operation Little Saturn. At first the operation was kept secret but word got out and the German's at the airfield made a frantic evacuation. But even though the element of surprise was lost, there was still more fun to be had, says Nikolai. He fights through the heavily defended barracks and supply areas. Nikolai and other T-34s proceed to the airstrip to destroy German aircraft. Upon destroying the airfield they meet up with more Soviets to assault the German headquarter's air traffic control.

North Africa[link]

The British campaign follows Edward Carlyle. Carlyle embarks on a night raid in Matmata to destroy a German fuel depot. The commando team, a squad of more than five soldiers led by Sergeant Starkey manage to destroy a radio post defended by a much larger German force. After that, the squad will most likely end up with only Starkey, Carlyle, Pvt. Locke, and a volunteer native, Yuseff. Even Though Locke and Yuseff are not part of main characters, they do not die. After that Starkey then takes his remaining squad to take out a generator and in this level Locke and Yuseff will be killed if left to die. After taking out the generator, by shooting bullets at it or a simple knock by the end of a gun, Starkey then leads his remaining team (Most likely by now only Carlyle) through the town, using Sticky bombs and teller mines that are found along the way to take out German armor. Starkey then leads his squad to a fuel depot while being given covering fire by two friendly jeeps, equipped with machine guns. After the Matmata raid, a jeep picks up Starkey and Carlyle, presumably one of the two jeeps who gave covering fire to Starkey's team. As they refuel in the desert, a German shoots the machine gunner. Carlyle then shoots the sniper and waits for Starkey to refuel the jeep while German forces slowly pour in by their side. Carlyle quickly mans the .50 caliber machine gun to shoot at the German vehicles, aircraft and soldiers as Starkey drives around the desesrt. A Stuka drops a bomb that separates Starkey and Carlyle. They are thrust into a battle for an unnamed Roman fortress, Carlyle is able to destroy the German entrance. This stops the seemingly endless waves of further German reinforcements and silences the MG42s. He then rescues Sgt. Dehart, who was trapped on the roof of a German stronghold. After being rescued, Dehart tells Carlyle that a cartographer is being held by German forces, who has vital information. He also claims to know a way to outflank Rommel through the desert. Carlyle finishes off the remaining Germans and rescues the cartographer and finds Starkey jokingly say "Hey, Carlyle, were you just going to leave me out there?" before laughing to join them.

Western front[link]

The American missions see the player control Chuck Walker, a sergeant in the American 1st Infantry Division. The first three missions concentrate on the capture of Aachen. Walker and his friend and fellow squad member (he is a corporal at the time) Benny Church are promoted for their service in Aachen. Walker and Church are than promoted to Lieutenant and sergeant. After capturing Aachen, the story shifts focus to M4 Sherman tank commander Sam Rivers, a young African-American who has been made sergeant for his commitment and bravery. After successfully helping to fend off Germans around the town of Tillet.The player returns to take control of the newly promoted Lieutenant Walker, as said before. Walker's new mission is to infiltrate the city of Remagen and scout the status of a bridge that is rumored to be left standing over the Rhine. After finding the bridge, Walker and most of whats left of his squad fight their way to a house, that is infested with Germans, and destroy two king tiger tanks. Walker then teams up with Rivers. They along with their squad protect Rivers' tanks (one tank is equipped with a scoop) and escort it to the bridge. However upon reaching the bridge, a huge hole in the ground prevents the tanks from moving on. A helpful hint is that a Browning 30.cal can be found behind the Sherman scoop tank. After a motivational sentiment from their Captain, Frank Kowalski, Walker and Church move into position to take control of the bridge. Unfortunately, this means that Walker and his squad must now capture the bridge alone. Players may find difficulty in crossing to the other side of the bridge for the only way to go inside is to take out 6 MG 42s defending the line and the players current weapons cannot take out the German nest for it is too far for pin-point accuracy, the only way is to pick up a German sniper gun in left side of the bridge which is usually found at the middle of the bridge. After taking out pockets of German resistance and going through the bridge's tower systems (For the only unlocked tower is not the one with the Flakvierling but is just another way to make the level longer and more challenging) Walker operates the Flakvierling anti-aircraft gun on top of a tower and fends off the counterattacking German Stukas after crossing the bridge, though Walker can choose a MG 42 for better firepower and fast mobility, but it can only attack at what's in front and beside him. They rebuff the aerial threat and Walker hangs the US flag over the tower and waves the tank column in.The only surviving members of Walkers squad are: Lt.Walker, Sgt.Church, Cpt. Kowalski, and Pvt.Coen.

Reception[link]

Finest Hour received mixed reviews. IGN states that despite its portrayal of a good shooter, it is still stuck between realism and over-the-top antics. The graphics have been critiqued as being very ordinary along with the effects being disappointing. The sound was also found to be out of sync in some areas of the game. Finest Hour is considered to have fallen short of the high benchmark set by its PC counterpart.

External links[link]

• Official website
• Call of Duty: Finest Hour at the Internet Movie Database

Finest hour may refer to:

• This was their finest hour – 1940 speech by Winston Churchill
• The Finest Hours, a 1964 documentary based on the above speech
• Their Finest Hour - the second volume of Sir Winston Churchill's history of World War II
• Finest Hour – Japan-only 1989 arcade game by Namco
• Their Finest Hour (1989 video game) - air combat video game by Lucasfilm Games
• Call of Duty: Finest Hour – first-person shooter for the Xbox, PlayStation 2 and GameCube by Spark Unlimited
• The Finest Hour (film) – 1991 war-drama film
• Finest Hour (band) - an American Indie Rock band
• Finest Hour - an album by comedian Patton Oswalt

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Call of Duty is a first-person and third-person shooter video game series franchise. The series began on the PC, and later expanded to consoles and handhelds. Several spin-off games have also been released. The earlier games in the series are set primarily in World War II; starting with Modern Warfare, set in modern times, the series has shifted focus away from World War II. Modern Warfare was followed by Modern Warfare 2, set in modern times, and Black Ops, set during the Cold War. Modern Warfare 3, also set in modern times (as the name suggests) was released on 8 November 2011.

The Call of Duty games are published and owned by Activision and published for Apple OS X by Aspyr Media. Most have been developed primarily by Infinity Ward and Treyarch; some games have been developed by Gray Matter Interactive, Spark Unlimited, Pi Studios, Amaze Entertainment, Rebellion Developments, and n-Space. The games use a variety of engines, including the id Tech 3, the Treyarch NGL, and the IW 5.0. Other products in the franchise include a line of action figures designed by Plan-B Toys, a card game created by Upper Deck, and a comic book mini-series published by WildStorm.

As of November 27, 2009, Call Of Duty games had sold 55 million copies for $3 billion in revenue.^[1] A 2010 Q3 earnings call from Activision confirmed that the eighth installment of the franchise – a FPS – was currently in development by Sledgehammer Games and Raven Software and due for release "during the back half of 2011". This has been revealed to be Infinity Ward's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, with the latter developers co-developing multiplayer.^[2]

As of February 9, 2012 there are 40 million monthly active players across all of the Call of Duty titles, with 7 million Call of Duty: Elite users and 1.5 million paying annual members.^[3]

Main series[link]

id:blue value:rgb(0,0,0)
id:red value:rgb(0.9,0.05,0.05)

bar:Games anchor:till color:black width:17 textcolor:blue align:left fontsize:S mark:(line, green) shift:($dx,-4)
from:start till:end
at:10/29/2003 text:"Call of Duty"
at:10/25/2005 text:"Call of Duty 2"
at:11/07/2006 text:"Call of Duty 3"
at:11/07/2007 text:"Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare"
at:11/11/2008 text:"Call of Duty: World at War"
at:11/10/2009 text:"Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2"
at:11/09/2010 text:"Call of Duty: Black Ops"
at:11/08/2011 text:"Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3"
at:11/13/2012 text:"Call of Duty: Black Ops II"

Original trilogy[link]

[edit] Call of Duty

Call of Duty is a video game based on the Quake III Arena engine (id Tech 3), and was released on October 29, 2003. The game was developed by Infinity Ward and published by Activision. The game simulates the infantry and combined arms warfare of World War II.^[4] Call of Duty was accompanied in September 2004 by an expansion pack, Call of Duty: United Offensive, which was also produced by Activision, but developed by Gray Matter Interactive with contributions from Pi Studios. The game follows the American paratroopers, British paratroopers and the Red army. The Mac OS X version of the game was ported by Aspyr Media. In late 2004, the N-Gage version was developed by Nokia and published by Activision. Other versions were released for PC, including Collector's Edition (with soundtrack and strategy guide), Game of the Year Edition (includes game updates), and the Deluxe Edition (which contains the United Offensive expansion and soundtrack; in Europe the soundtrack was not included). Since November 12, 2007, Call of Duty and its sequels have been available for purchase via Valve's content delivery platform, Steam.^[5]

[edit] Call of Duty 2

Call of Duty 2 is a first-person shooter video game and sequel to the critically acclaimed game Call of Duty. It was developed by Infinity Ward and published by Activision. The game is set during World War II and is experienced through the perspectives of soldiers in the Red Army, British Army and United States Army. It was released on October 25, 2005 for PC, June 13, 2006 for Mac OS X and November 15, 2005 for the Xbox 360. Other versions were made for mobile phones, Pocket PCs, and Smartphones.

[edit] Call of Duty 3

Call of Duty 3 is a World War II first-person shooter and the third installment in the Call of Duty video game series. Released on November 7, 2006, the game was developed by Treyarch, and was the first major installment in the Call of Duty series not to be developed by Infinity Ward. It was released on the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Wii, Xbox, and Xbox 360.^[6] Call of Duty 3 follows the American, Canadian, British, French Resistance and Polish armies after D-Day in the Falaise Gap.

[edit] Modern Warfare series

[edit] Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is the fourth installment of the main series, and was developed by Infinity Ward. It is the first game in the series not to be set during World War II, as well as the first to receive a Mature rating from the ESRB (except for the Nintendo DS version, which was rated Teen). The game was released for Microsoft Windows, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 on November 7, 2007. Download and retail versions for Mac OS X were released by Aspyr in September 2008. As of May 2009, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare has sold over 13 million copies.^[7]

[edit] Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2^[8] is the sixth installment of the main series. It was developed by Infinity Ward and published by Activision.^[9] Activision Blizzard officially announced Modern Warfare 2 on February 11, 2009.^[10][11] The game was released worldwide on November 10, 2009, for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Windows.^[8] A Nintendo DS iteration of the game, titled Call of Duty: Modern Warfare: Mobilized, was released alongside the game and the Wii port of Call of Duty : Modern Warfare.^[12][13] Modern Warfare 2 is the direct sequel to Call of Duty 4 and continues the same storyline, taking place five years after the first game and featuring several returning characters including Captain Price and "Soap" MacTavish.^[14]

[edit] Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is a first-person shooter video game. It is the eighth installment of the Call of Duty series and the third installment of the Modern Warfare series. Due to a legal dispute between the game's publisher Activision and the former co-executives of Infinity Ward – which caused several lay-offs and departures within the company^[15] – Sledgehammer Games assisted in the development of the game, while Raven Software was brought in to make cosmetic changes to the menus of the game.^[16] The game was said to have been in development since only two weeks after the release of their previous game, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.^[16] Sledgehammer was aiming for a "bug free" first outing in the Call of Duty franchise, and had also set a goal for Metacritic review scores above 95 percent.^[17] On May 12, 2011 on the official YouTube page for the Call of Duty franchise, four teasers were released entitled: America, England, France and Germany, indicating possible location for the game. The "e" in each name was stylised in the trailers with a Modern Warfare stylised number "3".

[edit] Black Ops series

[edit] Call of Duty: World at War

Call of Duty: World at War developed by Treyarch is the fifth installment of the main series, and returns to the World War II setting of earlier titles.^[18] On June 9, 2008, it was confirmed that the game would be titled Call of Duty: World at War and would be set in the Pacific theater and Eastern front of World War II. The game uses the same proprietary game engine as Call of Duty 4. Call of Duty: World at War was released for the PC, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360 consoles and the Nintendo DS handheld in North America on November 11, 2008, and November 14, 2008 in Europe. As of June 2009, Call of Duty: World at War has sold over 11 million copies.^[19]

[edit] Call of Duty: Black Ops

Call of Duty: Black Ops^[20] is a 2010 first-person shooter video game^[21] developed by Treyarch and published by Activision for release on November 9, 2010.^[22] Officially announced on April 30, 2010, the game is the seventh installment of the Call of Duty series, the third game in the series to be developed by Treyarch, and the first game to take place during the Cold War and partially in the Vietnam War. It was initially only available for pre-order on PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3; however, Activison later confirmed that it would also be released for the Nintendo Wii as well as the Nintendo DS.^[23]

[edit] Call of Duty: Black Ops II

Activision CEO Bobby Kotick stated on November 8, 2011 that Call of Duty 9 (working title) was in development for a 2012 release.^[24]The game was confirmed by Activision during its fourth-quarter earnings call on February 9, 2012.^[25] On the 23rd April it was announced the new title will be announced 1st May during the basketball playoffs on TNT. ^[26] The game was revealed as Call of Duty: Black Ops II when the official site went live on May 1, 2012. ^[27][28] Black Ops II is the first game in the Call of Duty franchise to have a completely futuristic setting and feature future warfare technology.

Upcoming[link]

Before being switched to become the co-developers of Modern Warfare 3, Sledgehammer Games were already working on a Call of Duty game. This game was announced before Modern Warfare 3 and after Black Ops, however, no details were released. The game was said to be an action-adventure first-person shooter video game. A Call of Duty massively multiplayer online game was also rumored to be in development.^[29] Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg later stated that Modern Warfare 3 was not the same title as Sledgehammer Games' action-adventure Call of Duty game. When asked if the action-adventure game was also in development, Hirshberg then stated that the Sledgehammer team was fully focused on Modern Warfare 3 and that their own title had been put on hold.^[30]

Canceled Call of Duty titles[link]

Call of Duty: Devil's Brigade[link]

Call of Duty: Devil's Brigade was a canceled first-person shooter for the Xbox 360 which was developed by Underground Entertainment. The game was set in World War II mainly focusing on Italy.^[31]

Expansions[link]

[edit] Call of Duty: United Offensive