Few World War II video games are as gripping and brutal as Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway. Expert storytelling merged with bloody and intense first person shooting keeps you pushing through the narrative and empathizing with its grizzled soldiers, who repeatedly trudge through the Nazi war machine armed with such weapons as the M1 Garand and M9 Bazooka. Commanding squads adds depth to the action, and the impressive graphics, which include gorgeous fire effects, sprawling environments and an action cam that highlights the gore, further immerses you within the game's war torn world. Your guys occasionally act stupid, the final stage is lackluster and multiplayer is your standard squad versus squad affair, but Hell's Highway is the most cinematic WWII game on the market and worth the 10-15 hours to complete.
Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway is a World War II-themed first person shooter that details the events American soldiers faced in the failed Operation Market-Garden. As Sgt. Baker, you command squads of soldiers deep into Nazi territory experiencing the horrors of war, such as the loss of loved ones and graphic dismemberment, something most WWII games lack. It's by no means perfect, but the gripping story and frenzied combat make it the most cinematic and virtual look at the world's greatest war.
We knew Hell's Highway was unique the moment we heard its dramatic theme music, which is not unlike Saving Private Ryan's haunting soundtrack. Simply put, this game succeeds because its developer, Gearbox Software, went where no video game company has gone, delivering a horrific slice of WWII usually reserved for movies and documentaries. A character plunges his combat knife through an enemy's throat, blood splatters against walls, charred bodies sail through the air and victims get torn apart. Meanwhile, Americans and Germans scream in their native tongues, planes crash into buildings and ceilings collapse. You'll score nasty looking headshots, watch rockets rip through buildings and strap explosive charges on tanks.
Amidst this action lies a human element that is by far one of Hell's Highway's most impressive features. All of the story's characters have depth. They're flawed, they freak out and break down, which makes losing one of them painful. Sure, the game has all of the usual WWII trappings, such as levels that let you control tanks and fire a plethora of weapons, like the M1 Garand, M1A1 Thompson and even the M9 Bazooka. That's expected, but it's the story, and not necessarily the shooting (which is quite good) that captured our attentions. When someone died, we felt horrible.
Although death is inevitable for the scripted characters, you'll go into battle with up to three squads of soldiers, and the decisions you make will determine whether they go home alive or inside of a body bag. Like previous Brothers in Arms games, you can send them anywhere within a level's confines. Do nothing and they'll automatically take cover and engage the enemy. Issue specific commands, and you can have your bazooka team destroy a machine gun nest while your assault team flanks an enemy outpost.
This works for the most part, but it's by no means perfect. Although your guys have minds of their own, some of them snap to cover and don't leave until you order them to. Other times, they'll stand out in the open or refuse to leave a tank that's about to blow up in four seconds, resulting in a casualty, making us feel more like babysitters than commanders.
There's also an annoying glitch where you'll shoot a Nazi but the bullet never reaches its target because he's behind cover. This, despite having a clear shot at his helmet or arm. You could throw a grenade or hit him with a bazooka, but for whatever reason, enemies will often survive unless they're on top of the blast.
In addition, Hell's Highway's levels are a tease. You're shown these large, sprawling environments with churches, stores and houses, but most of it sits behind barbed wire or other obstructions, so despite playing within an enormous map, there's never more than two ways to go. That's not to say the game doesn't look good. Detailed buildings, a hospital level that reminds us of Sega's Condemned games, realistic fire and thunderous explosive effects, combined with powerful emotions from its characters make Brothers in Arms one of best looking WWII games you'll play. It's just not as open as we'd like.
We're also upset with its mission design. At first, we happily busted tanks and 88 mm guns, at least until we realized that's all we did. Aside from a few objectives that stray from the norm, Brothers in Arms sends you on the same exact missions where you must destroy four 88 mm guns or three tanks. It's cool the first few hours. By the eighth, we just wanted the game to end.
When it did, we scoffed at the final two levels, which feel exactly like the first few. They're so anti-climatic and average that they left us empty, as if our weekend spent killing evil Germans was for nothing. Plus, it ends on a cliffhanger, and that leaves Brothers in Arms a bit disappointing.
Multiplayer is a whole other issue. It's not bad, just mind-numbingly average. Up to 20 players wage war across a series of maps, the goal to defend your territory or capture someone else's. The ability to choose from one of three roles (Tank Crew, Specialist or Squad Leader) is good, but unless you're with friends, most of your crew will split up and go off on their own. That is, if you have the patience to wait for a match. It takes several minutes to hop into a game.
In its defense, Brothers in Arms' story, shooting and squad-based mechanics are good enough to overcome these issues, making it one of the most immersive WWII games we've played. The story mode isn't long, but the writing and visuals are so good that it's impossible to not feel something for the pain its characters experience. Hell's Highway is one of the few quality games that we never saw coming, and we recommend that you experience it.
Reader Comments (1)
I'm not sure where the 'sends you on the same exact missions where you must destroy four 88 mm guns or three tanks.' comes from, because I'm at Black Friday (near the end, only a few more chapters), and I only remember three Chapters that ended with 'kill the 88's' (the first being Chapter 2: Five-Oh-Sink, where the final area might as well be called a boss fight against an 88 (which you've been chasing down the whole damn mission as it keeps MOVING), followed by Written in Stone involving killing two at the end, and then even later, it's a tacked-on end-bit of Operation Garden where you drive around a tank to blow up a whole bunch of 88's), and absolutely NO Tank-killing objectives. Most of the game is spent clearing areas of Germans as you reach a locational objective, as far as I've seen. Maybe the tank-killing missions are at the end? Then again, I'm playing the PC version, so maybe they made it not as repetitive. Far as I've played, though, the 'take out the 88s' objectives have been spread out enough (only at the end o*****iven mission/chapter) that I really don't notice a repetitive pattern. Good review, though...