For those who don’t know what purgatory is, it’s the supposed middle ground between heaven and hell – you’re not that good of a person to go to heaven but you’re not that bad either to deserve to go to hell. So instead, you're stuck in a half-assed place called "purgatory" (or limbo).

Bro. in Arms HH is exactly like that – it’s certainly not a bad game since there are enough good things to keep you playing, but there’s just one too many shortcomings to make it a truly great game.

GOOD: Detailed and involved storyline. The sound is excellent (especially on 5.1 surround). The graphics are adequate, although in certain stages, it can look quite stunning. Enemy AI is more or less challenging, with notable exceptions (see below). Similarly, friendly AI is acceptable w/the same notable exceptions (see below). It’s kinda’ CoD4 (in terms of overall gameplay intensity) and a little bit of Rainbow 6 Vegas (to the extent you can open fire while taking cover).

BAD: Unless you’ve played prior Bro. in Arms games, the storyline can get confusing and convoluted. Character rendering, esp. in cut scenes, looks dated (almost PS2-like). Animations aren’t always smooth, and in fact, can get quite jerky at times. Both enemy and friendly AI can get very stupid (for e.g. enemies will stand or run in place while getting shot or you're squad will take cover on the WRONG side of the wall). The snapping into cover and firing needs to be further tweaked. Also, it's atually kinda hard to steer your character when he's running (he tends to veer either too much to the right or left so you wind up running past your intended cover).

VERDICT: Overall, a decent game that will tide you over until CoD5 and Killzone 2 comes out. For the casual FPS fan or Callof Duty4 purist, then this game is probably a rental but if you love military games in general (especially if you're a history buff), then this is definitely for you.