Brothers In Arms : Hell’s Highway
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Yet another popular first person shooter has hit the shelves in the shape of Brothers In Arms : Hells Highway. See how it compares to other recent releases, and how it will stand up against those due for release in the coming weeks.
If you are a fan of the first person shooter genre, you will know a little about Brothers In Arms as a series already, as the previous two titles, Road to Hill 30 and Earned In Blood, established themselves firmly as frontrunners of the genre despite intense competition from other titles.
However, the previous titles weren’t without their flaws, and unfortunately the same can be said once again about Hells Highway though they will go un-noticed on most occasions throughout the game. Thankfully these flaws do not really apply to the actual gameplay itself, and the game remains an intense shooter with accessible controls and addictive gameplay for you to engross yourself within.
Sergeant Matt Baker and his team, with the memory of their fallen brothers in previous encounters, welcome new recruits into their ranks and set off to face more dangerous challenges, this time in the Netherlands. You are tasked with Operation Market Garden, an ambitious but apparently doomed mission. The plot again chooses to focus largely on the bonds created by the soldiers between themselves as they battle on through the game, rather than just a hell for leather shootout title with no meaning behind it other than causing total carnage and leaving a trail of bodies in your wake.
Throughout the game you will be interrupted, in a way, by some graphically problematic cut-scenes, which despite their problems do a good job of explaining the current situation that you find yourself in and will offer you an insight into the mind frame of those around you that form your team. You will find yourself developing a connection of your own with each character, leaving you with a strong desire to ensure they remain alive and well, and feeling a sense of loss if they don’t. You will throughout the game experience europhobia alongside characters, and misery as they pass on.
To understand some of the cut-scenes fully you will need a good knowledge of the previous titles and the characters in them such as Garnett, Leggett and Allen. If you don’t have this knowledge, the cut-scenes in Brothers In Arms Hells Highway will at times only confuse you rather than offering you any useful insight which can benefit you now or later in your campaign. The game does offer a brief history of events which occurred in the previous titles, but it does not go into nearly enough detail to bring new players of the series up to scratch as far as understand all the cut-scenes is concerned.
In terms of gameplay, Brothers In Arms Hells Highway gives you a deeply rewarding experience should you manage to master the control system, which can at times be a little complex, but once mastered it will come to you effortlessly and you will soon find yourself advancing with great tactical skill, picking off enemy patrols and taking strongholds as you move forward. The tutorial does a decent job of explaining everything to you, but there is so much you can do that you are bound to forget one or two things to begin with, but simply referring to the manual will refresh your memory in no time.
Ultimately success depends on you and your ability to give tactically-suffice commands to your team, sending them where they will be of most benefit to you or telling them exactly what to do, such as lay down some cover fire on an enemy position to keep it clear for you to move others forward, or indeed to move forward yourself. If you seem to be a little stuck for ideas, your squad will from time to time shout advice out to you, and between them they will pull their weight in terms of taking out the enemy numbers as they are all highly capable soldiers in their own right, with or without your supervision.
As you progress you will be given the responsibility of controlling additional units, including machine gunners and bazooka units - both of which bring a new dimension to your attacking capabilities and allow you to progress through new types of enemy standings such as towers and trenched fields.
An action-camera has been brought into Hells Highway to highlight particularly impressive shots. This can actually prove annoying and intrusive, but every so often it will bring a new viewpoint to a headshot which looks so good that you will find yourself sitting back looking proudly on, or jumping around punching the air with basking in your own glory.
Despite the graphical problems with some of the cut-scenes throughout the game, Brothers In Arms Hells Highway is a living, breathing game world full of rich detail in both the characters and the environments they battle within. The excellent audio track that accompanies the game adds to the sense of realism, as everything has unique sounds, right down to each individual weapon. As you take cover you will hear explosions nearby, bullets cracking into what you’re ducking behind and whistling by your head, and fences splitting into pieces as they’re stuck close by.
Multiplayer action will give you a nice, fun break from the seriousness of the single player campaign as you battle on one of many maps available to you - with upto 19 other soldiers battling with you. Typically you will take a certain role within your team which can limit your abilities, as you rely on your team mates to assist you with their own unique abilities too - making Brothers In Arms Hells Highway a true team-game when it comes to the online play.
Brothers In Arms Hells Highway ultimately proves itself, in the face of the adversity thrown up by minor graphical hitches in single player modes, a fantastic war game experience with hours of addictive, furocious battle gameplay with a strong replayability factor. Certainly a game worth buying for fans of the series and the genre, but perhaps not for the younger more casual gamers who may struggle to stay interested given the vast array of commands needed to progress through the game at decent pace.
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