A brand new World War II first-person shooter answering to the suitably heroic sounding name Hour of Victory will be exclusively joining the Xbox 360 ranks this summer.

Recruited by Midway and developed by nFusion, Hour of Victory is promising a few new features to make sure that it's distinguishable from a certain other shooter that serves on the frontlines of the Second World War.

nFusion's not-so-secret weapon is the ability for players to take charge of three different characters - British Commando, US Army Ranger and Covert Ops specialist - within each skirmish.

As well as each soldier type bringing their own strengths to battle, which in-turn affects how objectives are best accomplished; it also affords a trio of different perspectives for every mission.

We'll be jumping the sandbags soon for our own hands-on with this new Call of Duty challenger but, until then, check out some other key Hour of Victory features as revealed in the February issue of Official Xbox 360 Magazine:

• The British Commando adopts a run-and-gun approach; the US Army Ranger is a sniper specialist and is more mobile, allowing him to reach areas inaccessible to the other characters; the Covert Ops guy can pick locks and move and kill silently
• Each character has its own point of view and is responsible for a subsection of each level
• Players can change characters at rally points
• Open-ended level maps will allow for multiple ways to tackle objectives
• Players will take part in three campaigns, spanning 1942 to 1945
• Campaigns take place in North Africa, the Bavarian Alps and Berlin
• A regenerating health system is used in favor of med kits
• Players will be able to control vehicles (tanks and jeeps confirmed) and gun emplacements (anti-air guns confirmed)
• The developer hopes that players will be able to control any vehicle they encounter in a level
• AI Allies and enemies will work in teams dynamically (flank, fall back, stand ground), take cover and blind fire
• Enemy squads will all have a commanding officer that issue orders. Eliminate the CO and the group's morale will drop, improving the chances that they will retreat
• Will feature authentic WWII weapons, vehicles, equipment, uniforms and locations

January 23, 2007