2 years ago
Brothers in Arms Hell's Highway is the latest installment by Ubisoft and Gearbox Software for Brothers in Arms military/war game franchise.
In this latest edition, gamers rejoin 101st Airborne squad leader Matt Baker. He and his squad have been assigned to capture several bridges and the Dutch city of Eindhoven early on in Operation Market Garden (I would have chosen a much better name had it been left up to me). And almost instantly, gamers are introduced to the massive violence and gore that more than warrants this game its "mature" rating. Limbs are torn off and innards burst onto the ground at such a rate that Kill Bill looks like children's programming. That being said, I'm sure World War II wasn't exactly a family-friendly affair.
Gameplay wise, there are a number of things that are more-or-less typical of this genre of game that have proved successful time and time again through the previous Brothers in Arms games. One thing that stands out, though, is how open-ended the missions seem to be. Tactics can really play out in the various battles and skirmishes throughout the game and are often the difference between defeating your enemies and the grey-matter that resides in your head from relocating to the ground. And thank goodness this is only a video game, because players will die. A lot. The AI is tough and adaptive, making use of any and all advantages given by the player. And while no AI is perfect, Brother in Arms' is darn good.
The game's pace isn't quite as up-and-get'em as previous titles and veterans of the series might yawn here and there since not every second of the game is used for in-your-face warfare. The graphics are terrific, however, and that might be enough for those select gamers to overlook the time spent traversing a few generic fields and paths or the few been-there-done-that missions.
One problem that plagues Brothers in Arms is the lack of a save-where-you-are option. Rather, Ubisoft went the path of save points; which would be fine and dandy if they weren't so spaced out. Another issue is the lack of co-op support, but the single player game is overall so good that it shouldn't be much of an issue unless a player REALLY wants to do multiplayer.
Brothers in Arms Hell's Highway is a really good, albeit graphic game which should have war-gamers salivating and glued to their Xbox 360. Even Randy Pitchford, President of Gearbox Software, knew he had a winner before the game even came out.
"Brothers In Arms Hell's Highway has turned out to be the most authentic, intense and action-oriented recreation of true history ever offered as interactive entertainment," he said, "We know that many fans have been anticipating this day where our commitment to quality has finally led us to deliver the immersive story-driven, squad combat focused, next-generation vision of authentic warfare in Brothers in Arms Hell's Highway."
Brothers In Arms: Hell's Highway is rated "M" for Mature by the ESRB and the Game Guys are grading it a solid "B".
News10/KXTV
