The game deserves high marks for attention to detail, historical accuracy and overall production values that are apparent from the very beginning. The opening is enough to entice even the most jaded WWII aficionado. Players start off immediately with the mounting of the Normandy invasion, with a short history lesson that includes classic black and white photos from that historic day. Next begins a sequence that is straight from the first battle scene in the movie Saving Private Ryan – riding ashore in those boats.

Suddenly there are explosions; G.I.s start leaping over the side and into the cold Atlantic. At that point, the player is granted control.

For my money, that’s a great way to start a game. Bullets are whizzing over your head, tearing up the sand around you, and generally causing damage. The noise is intense, especially the bombs that are blasting out craters big enough to hide in. Every once in awhile a guy crouched at the bottom of one of those holes gets a direct hit. You can’t stand up too long in the open, or the German guns will find you. War really is hell.

In a way, the great opening almost works against the rest of the game. Once you’ve passed through Rommel’s beach toys and reached the dry sand, life is good. The required tactics are quickly learned, and the game drops enough hints to keep the action going nicely. It becomes another great shooter, basically. But what a superb intro!

My first instinct was to ratchet up the difficulty and have another go at that beach level. Finally, when that was out of my system, it was back to the game. But my heart wasn’t in it, and I didn’t get as much enjoyment securing the bunkers and chasing individual Germans.

Not that it isn’t really good, because it is. You’d have to be a professional nitpicker to find a lot of flaws with MOH:F. It’s an excellent PS/2 rendition of the assault at Normandy, but after you clear those missions, you might be a bit disappointed. If so, keep in mind the authentic weapons, the range of uniforms on your opponents, and look for other reminders that this isn’t just a rip-off game. It’s deep and well researched.

So, as they say, your mileage may vary.

In addition to that gripe about the game having a bipolar disorder, with its good half and it’s not so good half, I thought this game really kind of exposed the age in the Sony PS/2 technology. Comparing it with a PC, or even an XBox, is almost unfair.

For example, in the introduction, the landing craft are just moving boxes, with no attempt to show a bow wake. Compare that with the incredible graphics in the XBox game Bloodwake, and you’ll see that in a lot of ways, the PS/2 is getting a little long in the tooth. Maybe that’s heresy, I don’t know. But clearly, more pixels would be better.

Having said that, in fairness, the lighting was bright and attractive, and shadows, shading, and textures were well done.

The gameplay has good hints and is intuitive enough, but there are still places to get stuck. Early on, after the beach assault and a bangalore job, I cleaned out a bunker, prepped it for air attack, and tried to go hide while the bombs fell. I tried and I tried and I died many times before I was finally able to find a happy place while the concrete was crumbling. That was annoying, to have to jet through the whole structure so many times in a row. I hate not being able to save whenever I want, but there’s no sense flogging that dead horse again.

After awhile I was clearly in need of the Prima Strategy Guide, so I happily picked one up. Even with the guide in hand, it was challenging to keep going forward. I was able to cruise through many levels, usually in a nice linear bolt. Other places feature the repetitive sequence so familiar to this genre: get stuck, solve a nasty spot and move on, to get stuck somewhere else. There were parts I liked, but it wasn’t the same as storming the beaches at Normandy.

Your mileage may improve, however, especially if you’re a big fan of the MOH series. The men twitch and die in satisfying ways, and since they’re Nazis, they need to go! Sniping a protruding helmet, elbow or knee is enormously gratifying, especially where there’s no room for error. The game’s aiming mechanism isn’t all that great, but you get the hang of it, and there is a realistic reason for making the barrel jump with each shot.

I know I’m swimming against the tide of other reviewers, who have gushed and raved about this title. The early praise for the game has been mostly positive -- I’ve seen some pretty impressive scores, and many were calling it a “Game of the Year” candidate. I can see why, but I don’t buy it.

One major strike against the game is that there’s no multiplayer. That means it isn’t going to be a big party favorite. Who wants to sit down and watch, waiting for an entire room to get a turn? You’re not going to be re-enacting Band of Brothers, that’s for sure. On the other hand, the PC game WWII Online is going to own that space for a long time to come anyway, so maybe why bother? Still, it’s curiously missing, and for that reason alone, I can’t recommend a perfect score.

But thanks to its gripping representation of valorous men who fought that day, it’s definitely a winner. A lot of players have already liked this game, and it’s a good bet that you will too.