A Tribute To – Call of Duty Finest Hour

I remember when I first saw the commercial on T.V.. The airplane crashing into the building and debris showering the soldiers fighting on the ground below really amazed me. Too bad it never actually took place at anytime during the game, not even during the C.G. animation in between levels. But that never had any type of impact on just how amazing and far ahead of its time this game really was.

Call of Duty Finest Hour was a game that actually showed character in the way that it was developed. Easter Eggs, Secret Rooms, Crazy Babies and model airplanes flying around, The UFO and who could ever forget the Hookah…

This was the first game that I played multiplayer online with my XBOX. I became fairly good because I would live in this game, (I mean really) wake up and play capture the flag on The Village until I fell asleep on the couch at night. It was awesome being able to play against a real person online and because the game was so simple made it very addicting to me.

Then I discovered the joys of team killing. Come on now I know everybody has done it… Remember that there were no gamertags about the heads of other players, so trying to find the person who shot you was nearly impossible. I would shoot one of my team mates and run behind another unsuspecting player, using him as a shield to absorb any bullets coming my way. When my human shield (well, polygon crafted virtual character) would get hit, of course he would return fire at the person shooting at him, creating this mass confusion of team killing. This of course would impact the game completely. While our team is busy shooting each other in a blind hysteria of revenge, the other team is scoring by capturing our flag. It was great… 😛

Then I discovered glitches… Uh Ohhhh, I am not claiming that I discovered any glitches in particular on COD Finest Hour 😉 what I am saying is that I discovered the world of glitching because of this game. First it was the simple glitch of jumping out of the map at The Square. Then it grew to getting into a wall at the map The Vault and shooting across the map, through walls and buildings… Finally I mastered the technique of turning invisible and flying through walls. But the most important thing to me about glitching was discovering an entire new world that nobody else had access to. To have the ability to see the actual mapping of the graphics and how the layers would intermingle, creating the stage for the game. I was hooked and I had to learn more about glitches, graphics and what would actually make the gun fire when your pulled the trigger on the controller. It opened up an entire world for me and in a way, this game changed my life.

What really made this game so good was the people that played it. Not only could you just play the game, but you could sit there and talk to people from all over the world. I remember how clans and groups started forming and The Village became the place only the key players of the game would gather to discuss world events, or gossip about other players. The Elder players, and please excuse me if I forget anybody: Funkymuscles, Tourquoise Shark, Deadly Heather, GiJerry78, Fighter Pilot, TakeoverBug, SSzero, CrazyRazor, DayJob, DocHurt and how could I forget my old buddy Preditor122. Yeah, we had some great games and kicked a lot of virtual ass.

Yes, those were the good ole days. I enjoyed gaming much more then because this game was simple and uncontrollably addictive.