Brothers In Arms: Hell's Highway

**Due to having no Xbox Live connection, this review is of the single player campaign only**

Both Brothers In Arms: Road to Hill 30 and its follow up Earned in Blood served as an antidote to the Medal of Honours and Call of Dutys of the world by offering players a more tactical, realistic and gritty World War 2 experience. Featuring the same familiar squad based combat, Hell’s Highway builds on the reputation garnered by the first two titles whilst bringing the franchise up to date with a smattering of new features.

Players will once again assume the role of Sergeant Matt Baker and command the men of the 502nd Parachute Regiment on the road to Berlin. Battle weary and emotionally exhausted from past triumphs and losses you’re now expected to fight as part of Operation Market Garden in the Netherlands, a historically notorious missstep for Allied forces that ultimately led to eventual defeat and retreat.

Just like in the previous instalments of the series the core gameplay of Hell’s Highway revolves around finding cover - both non destructible and destructible - and digging in for dear life. Thankfully, you’re not on your own.

For the majority of the game you’ll be in command of two teams; a Base of Fire team and an Assault team, although the more specialised MG Team and Bazooka Team will crop up at various points during the campaign to lend a more robust helping hand. It’s then up to you and your men to suppress and pin down the enemy long enough to manoeuvre to a flanking position and engage them.

It’s a simple system that works brilliantly thanks to great level design and excellent all-round AI. Every battle you engage in feels organic and unscripted and it genuinely feels like you’re dictating the course of events with your actions. Move to a flanking position and you’ll see the enemy react accordingly, move either yourself or your team mates into a vulnerable position and your adversaries will soon take advantage. The level design keeps fights fresh but at the same time familiar and because of this you’ll never feel overwhelmed or out of options, even during the more frantic battles.

A new cover and health system help bring the game more in line with other Next-Gen titles like Gears of War and Rainbow Six: Vegas. A tap of LB will see Baker dig-in to nearby cover and enter a 3rd person view. From here you’ll be able issue orders and lay down fire at the enemy. The health system is essentially regenerative - peek out of cover for too long and the screen will turn increasingly red until Baker either ducks back into safety or gets shot.

It’s blatantly derivative but at the same time it certainly serves to keep the fighting fast paced and exciting and because of the tactical and squad based nature of the gameplay Hell’s Highway never really seems like a cheap knock-off or clone of another game.

The “Situational Awareness” system of the past has been ditched in favour of a more stripped down map - bring it up with a tap of the Back button and you’ll be able to plan attacks and keep track of enemy units with ease.

It’s through this same map that you’ll be able to scout for the many Reconnaissance Points scattered around the level. Once activated, the player will be allowed access to “classified files” which tell bigger story of operation Market Garden and put the exploits of you and your squad into context. The Reconnaissance Points make up half of the collectibles to be found within Hell’s Highway. The other half you’ll have to search for yourself through sheer trial and error. They come in the shape of “Kilroys” - Allied graffiti hidden throughout each level.

Very occasionally the player will find themselves either alone, or in a tank. When working alone, the game takes on the feel of a more traditional FPS whilst still retaining its core gameplay. It works fine for the most part, but you’ll be itching to get back to your squad before long.

The sections in which you control a tank are by far and away the low point of Hell’s Highway. Tacked on, frustrating and cumbersome, you’ll find these segments the only point where your controller may well end up through the TV screen. Mercifully however, these sections are over relatively quickly.

In terms of visuals the game treads a strange line. One minute you’ll be faced with the lush green fields and clear blue skies of the Netherlands, you’ll be struck by the realism of the environments and appreciate the fine details visible on individual squad mates. When your Bazooka team successfully takes out a snipers nest you’ll be sure to allow yourself a grin as the brickwork goes flying. Very occasionally though the game perhaps looks a little ugly and there is sometimes a dubious feeling that a final layer of graphical polish is missing. During the (admittedly well presented) cut-scenes in particular it’s quite apparent that Hell’s Highway isn’t taking full advantage of Unreal Engine 3 with textures sometimes looking flat and lifeless. The frame rate of the game also suffers somewhat during some of the more lively skirmishes you‘ll find yourself in.

However, these are minor gripes and what you’re ultimately left with are graphics that are at worst functional and at best quite pretty with some nice attention to detail thrown in for good measure.

The game carries over its penchant for detail with some strong sound design throughout. Nearby explosions will deafen you, temporarily drowning out any other battlefield noises and bullets will fly overhead or rip up the cover you're hiding behind. Little things like this really help bolster the palpable sense of realism and grit that runs through the game.

Despite the successes of Hell’s Highway outweighing the failures, there are a few other small grumbles to be found within it’s 10-12 hour play time. It would have been nice to see a more forgiving checkpoint system - after all it only serves to sour enthusiasm when you find yourself transported back by 15-20 minutes because of one lucky Nazi bullet.

The new “Action Cam” feels squarely at odds with the sombre feel of the game in general. Score a headshot or an accurate grenade throw and you’ll cut to a slow-mo, close-up view of proceeding events in graphically bloody detail. It feels a little over the top for a series that so often seems to ruminate on the horrors of war via its gameplay and storyline.

Lastly, newcomers may feel a little late to the party when confronted with the story - a “Previously on Brothers in Arms” feature does little to shed light on the events preceding the latest instalment and it’s likely players will at least initially feel somewhat confused by what is ultimately turns out to be quite a complex and enjoyable plot.

All in all, Hell’s Highway provides a unique, challenging and well executed World War 2 game that while borrowing various things from other titles only does so in order to heighten the players experience of its brilliantly realised core gameplay. Occasionally, it will stumble a little, but like Sergeant Matt Baker and the men of the 502nd Parachute Regiment, it’ll pick itself up, dig in, and get the job done.

8/10