Call of Duty: Finest Hour (PS2, Xbox)

(Herald rating * * *)

Here we go again, once more into the breach. The glut of game titles based on World War II makes me wonder just how far the genre has to go before it's tapped out.

The latest title to be added to the pile is Call of Duty: Finest Hour, which taps the rich vein that war has been for the gaming industry. While contemporary games like console game Splinter Cell have more fantastic settings and weapons, there's something about the greatest conflict of the 20th century that keeps game developers dreaming up scenarios based on true Allies versus Axis battles.

If you've had any experience of these first-person shooters you'll slot right into character with Call of Duty.

The game is played out across three scenarios — with the Russian army at Stalingrad, the British in North Africa and the Americans pushing east towards Aachen in Germany. This at least presents some diversity of settings as opposed to rival titles, which focus on one theatre of war.

The opening scene finds you crossing the frigid Volga river to join other Russian soldiers in suicidal counter-attacks on German forces besieging Stalingrad. You're not even equipped with a gun to begin with, told instead to take the rifle of the nearest comrade to be killed in combat. The game has an air of authenticity about it that mirrors Medal of Honor's richness of detail. It comes as little surprise that some of the developers who made Medal of Honor also worked on Call of Duty.

Each mission starts with a history lesson that employs real footage and solemn narration.

Then it's into the action, taking out pill boxes, the enemy grey shirts and armoured vehicles. Unlike other games, in this you are accompanied much of the time by a squadron of soldiers who are controlled by artifical intelligence. Turn around in the thick of battle and you'll find them laying down covering fire — and their lives — for the common good.

The weapons — rifles, machine guns and grenades – will be familiar and using them is by and large easy to master.

The sound is worthy of note. From the outset you are confronted by an overwhelming wall of noise — constant machine-gun fire, screaming soldiers and the blast of mortars.

Some of the missions are difficult and require you to re-do large chunks of the mission if you die — which you will do, often.

The German soldiers die like characters in a Sam Peckinpah movie, staggering in slow motion before keeling over, letting you pump dozens of needless rounds into them first. This becomes an annoying attribute, especially as you battle your way through missions where ammo is thin on the ground.

An important element of Call of Duty is the online multi-player capability, which lets you team up with other players to complete "capture the flag" missions or more straightforward death matches.

War-buff that I am, I've pretty much stomached all the World War II games I can. But Call of Duty is up there with the better ones. Only true enthusiasts of the genre or those who missed Medal of Honor should rush out for this one.

Price: $100