Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway [Impressions]
October 26th, 2008
While waiting for the release of Fable II this week, a title I’ve been anticipating for many months, I took the opportunity to play through the Brothers in Arms: Hells Highway demo. An historical tactical first person shooter based on the events that occurred during Operation Market Garden, an allied airborne invasion that saw two American divisions and one British division dropped behind enemy lines in the Netherlands with the aim of securing key military bridges.
The WWII historical theme may be getting a bit too close to overstaying its welcome since the market became saturated with sub-par historical shooters, but there’s no denying that as a back drop for a story it’s one of the richest veins a developer can tap into. And, if handled correctly, can still deliver a meaningful FPS.
I’ve never played a Brothers in Arms game before but I definitely get the impression that this is a more tactical shooter than say Call of Duty. Playing the role of squad leader Matt Baker of the 101st Airborne Division, you’re in command of a fire team which you can order around the battlefield to provide suppressive fire support. Suppression of enemy forces is in fact the key to game, and whenever an enemy soldier is in cover a small round dial appears above their head to indicate how “suppressed” they are; the aim is to ensure the dial is completely grey, thus making life easier for yourself as you approach their flanks.
The game actually feels a bit like a hybrid between a first and a third person shooter as you’re able to take cover, a.k.a “dig in”, behind objects, and even shoot from behind cover - popping out to the left or right to unleash a couple of rounds and throw grenades at the enemy. On these occasions the camera switches to a third person view, but as soon as you leave cover it will automatically switch back to a first person perspective. The system actually works really well and is perfectly suited to this game.
Ordering your squad around is an easy and intuitive experience. Simply by pulling the left trigger you’re able to point at locations or enemies and your team will intelligently know how best to perform the task at hand. It certainly makes a change from the more familiar gung-ho tactics I generally adopt.
Brothers in Arms: Hells Highway employs the now quite common Unreal III engine, and because of this it certainly looks fine, if not outstanding. However, there are some standout moments, particularly when you score a head-shot or other notable kill and the camera automatically zooms in on the action to show the whole dismembering grisly affair in slow motion. I don’t actually believe it’s glorifying death, but it does serve as a reminder on how horrific war actually is.
As the game concentrates on small unit tactics then it’s imperative that the enemy artificial intelligence is at least half decent. Fortunately I found that to be the case with troopers moving between cover while advancing and even falling back when compromised.
There are a few minor quibbles - mainly the fact that I couldn’t order my team into buildings and had to clear them out manually. Overall though I was quite impressed by Brothers in Arms: Hells Highway and it’s certainly a game I’ll consider looking into in the future.
