Product Description

Hour of Victory allows you to play a key role in the pivotal and cinematic battles from the European and North African theatres of World War II

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4417 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: Midway Games Ltd
• Released on: 2007-06-28
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• ESRB Rating: Teen
• Platform: Xbox 360
• Dimensions: .26 pounds

Manufacturer's Description
Hour of Victory, available exclusively for Xbox 360, allows you to play a key role in the pivotal and cinematic battles from the European and North African theatres of World War II, using the skills and gameplay style you choose. Sneak into enemy territory as a covert operative, storm the gates as a British Commando, or snipe from afar as an Army Ranger - each character's unique attributes will be needed for the fulfilment of the overall objective. Only with all these skills working closely together will you be able to say that you helped define the Hour of Victory.

Features:
Three Unique POVs - Players can pick from a Covert Operative, specializing in stealth and sabotage; a British Commando specializing in the guns-blazing frontal assault; or an Army Ranger who specializes in sniping and demolitions.

Major Ambrose Taggert, American OSS Operative - Specialty: Infiltration - Taggert specializes in silent kills, as he surprises his enemies with a cold blade before they even hear him. Hiding in the shadows or behind natural cover, Taggert's silent Sten gun helps conceal his location while dealing a deadly blow to the Germans.

Lieutenant William Ross, British SAS Commando - Specialty: Assault - Ross is a strong and dedicated soldier who wastes no time in engaging and destroying the enemy head on. Skillfull in frontal assault, the lieutenant will move objects out of his way if he has to, all the while with guns blazing.

Sergeant Calvin Blackbull, US Army Ranger - Specialty: Sniper - Sergeant Blackbull, also known as "Bull," is calm under pressure, able to hold his breath and take out his target from long range with deadly accuracy. Bull is nimble, able to jump long distances and climb obstacles that might slow other soldiers down.

Full Use of Any Vehicle on the Battlefield - Use any of the vehicles you find on the battlefield to accomplish your mission. From Sherman Tanks to the Axis Tiger Tanks to the Kubelwagons, if you can see it, you can drive it in Hour of Victory.

Cinematic Gameplay - Hour of Victory blends authentic details and realism of World War II with frenetic gameplay. From the JU-88 Bombers in the sky to the Panzers in the streets, Hour of Victory bombards you from all angles.

Online Multiplayer - Online multiplayer over Xbox Live

Experienced Developer and Powerful Engine - Developed using Unreal Engine 3.0 by nFusion, a tight-knit group of developers from New Jersey, whose military shooter experience includes titles such as Deadly Dozen and Line of Sight.

Customer Reviews

The Good and the Bad
The good

Graphics are reasonable

The weapons and physics of the game or good (launch a grenade and germans fly through the air)

The Bad

Gameplay is poor, the idea is sound 3 characters = 3 different ways to play, wrong it really doesn't matter who you play as it makes very little difference in the game.

This is not even fun for ww2 addicts, it contains missions which are just stupid, for example the one were you control a sherman and destroy not one but three tiger tanks!!!!

The AI is not great in fact they are a bit stupid shoot, your gun and the guards all come running other times they just stand there and let u shoot them!

The game is buggy and i do mean buggy it can freeze at any point wether you have playing for an hour or 2 minutes.

Multiplayer is poor really poor for example why have sniper rifles when it is impossible to shoot someone at distant due to the blurry effect that the game creates when you look in the distance, but the reason its so poor is that cod 2 or 3 have this game beat in the multiplayer department and HOV doesn't even come close.

Not good enough in today's market...
Well, despite the reviews on Amazon and the playable demo on XBox Marketplace, I bought it anyway - surely it can't be as bad as all that and I do so love my WWII shooters...
Oh dear, it is that bad - the graphics are pretty pedestrian, the gameplay is clunky at best and it's lacking that certain emotional involement that all decent games seem to have. It's not completely rotten, but it seems to think that cutting wire, climbing ropes or pushing heavy objects (each of which are character dependant) make up for it's shortcomings - they don't and this game deserves to be forgotten very quickly.
It's been consigned to my fading memory already - and I could only be bothered to play the first four or five levels.
Avoid - COD2 or COD3 are far superior products.

Average
Not bad, but not great. I read one review where it was given 2 out of 10, for me that is very harsh. There are some flaws which harm this game. One is the distinct lack of checkpoints. Another is the respawning of enemies, which happens too quickly and can often be seen by the player, which is quite sloppy. Aiming isn't great, and sometimes the crosshair will go it's own way when you want to shoot somewhere else. With the Bren you can't actually see what you're aiming at, which isn't good. And where is the Lee Enfield rifle?!

The gameplay is OK, but not up to the standards of COD2, though not a lot worse than COD3. The AI is a little stupid sometimes, and this is made up for by simply having lots of them! But the guns are good, they sound good and look good. The MP44 is great fun.

I think WW2 fans like myself will like this game, but for everyone else you might want to rent rather than buy.