Activision enlists Hollywood talent for Call of Duty: Finest Hour

Call of Duty: Finest Hour, the console version of the award-winning PC WWII shooter, is getting a little help from some veterans--show business veterans, that is. Activision has signed top Hollywood talent to provide the voice work, script, and score for the upcoming game, which is scheduled for a November 16 release on the Xbox, PlayStation 2, and GameCube.

Michael Schiffer, screenwriter for the films Crimson Tide and Colors, penned the game’s script, which shows the war from three perspectives--an American, a British, and a Russian one. Michael Giacchino brought his composing skills to Finest Hour by incorporating an 80-piece orchestra and a 50-piece choir into its score. Giacchino is no stranger to scoring WWII video games, because he wrote the music for many of the Medal of Honor games.

Dennis Haysbert of 24 fame will narrate the game, while Brian Johnson of the rock group AC/DC will play the main character in the British campaign. Gamers will remember Haysbert as having voiced Irving Lambert, commando Sam Fisher's boss in Ubisoft’s Splinter Cell series. For his part, Johnson incorporated the experiences of his father, a Sergeant Major of the British Army’s Durham Light Infantry, into his role as a ‘Desert Rat’ in the game.