E3 2011: Brothers in Arms: Furious 4 Impressions
By
Jane Douglas, Section Editor
We're shown a slice of Furious 4's four-player cooperative World War II gunplay.
Brothers in Arms: Furious 4 is one of those games that has us wondering: why call your game a continuation of an established series when it has less in common with that series' previous entries than any number of other games? Or, in the case of Furious 4, Quentin Tarantino's Inglorious Basterds?
The affinity with that film runs deeper than just the comic, theatrically violent announcement trailer. Movie-style presentation and brash, deeply unserious Nazi busting are front and centre all through the demo. By the end, our four disparate Allied heroes are mowing down the Fuhrer's minions with chainsaws, dismembering them with improvised explosive bear traps, and gunning them out of the sky--the ones with rocketeer-like Nazi jetpacks, that is.
A sensitive, historically reverent World War II military sim this game is not. Instead, it's a first-person shooter with optional four-player co-op and endless winks and nudges to an audience which, the game presumes, is tired of straight-faced WWII games. In the demo, the titular Furious 4 are assaulting a German town by night. The four are as notorious in their World War II as the Basterds are in theirs, we're informed by a Wanted ("Gesucht," rather) poster featuring the four heroes' faces.
The town, explains a movie-style narrator, is hosting Nazi revelries: as the four playable characters enter the Bavarian-looking burg, we see fireworks burst over the rooftops, sharing the night sky with a towering Ferris wheel and a zeppelin floating above a distant hill. Here and elsewhere the visuals are high contrast and richly coloured, angling for stylish rather than ultrarealistic--and it works, for the most part, with warmly lit, Nazi-packed taverns and a glittering old-school funfair among the environmental highlights.
We watch as the hulking Montana tears through German baddies with his heavy machine gun, occasionally mixing it up with a hurled one-hit-kill hatchet, while one of his buddies sets about the enemy with a flamethrower. Later in the demo, Montana acquires a chainsaw--the melee reticle is a little smiley face--and adds a grenade to a bear trap to produce an explosive bear trap for use in holding off the enemy during a siege section. In scripted, slow-motion "action moments," of which we see a couple, the four cohorts are brought together to do a breach and clear, for instance, or to commandeer an armoured vehicle and crash it into a Nazi tavern shindig.
Though it may not feel much like the Brothers in Arms series with which players are familiar, those who weren't hoping for more of the same from the series may get a kick out of Furious 4's irreverent bravado. Fans of the earlier games might well be left cold--but there are worse things to be than Inglorious Basterds: The Video Game.
By
Jane Douglas, Section Editor
Jane rejoices in the title of Section Editor, GameSpot UK. Fears: spiders, oblivion.
No. just... no.
[This message was deleted at the request of the original poster]
....maybe worth a look once it hits the $14.99 bin
cant wait until a real Brothers in Arms game comes out ..but until then .. :/
this is brutal....
ha
This game scares me......
Rest assured fans of the more serious entries, Gearbox is still planning to conitnue Baker's story, when they didn't say but it's coming. Announcement trailer had me laughing until the end, especially the Nazi getting the crap-literally-scared out of him.
Day 1 purchase. Looks brilliantly fun and humorous, unlike the boring crap BiA used to be.
Boarderlands: Furious 4 would be appropriate
Matt Baker can wait. THIS GAME LOOKS FUN AS ANYTHING!!!
Listen to all these WW2 die hard fans complaining over something as petty as the title of the game. Any game that has a 4 player co-op feature is worth further looking into. No one complained when Wolfenstine defiled WW2.
whats that noise? its the sound of 2 million allied warriors spinning in their graves. Dont get me wrong, I like killing nazis as mutch as anyone else but at least the original CoDs had a point to them. And if you watch the unlockable content in the earlier BiA, you see Gearbox went out of their way to get everything authentic. This furious 4 is very very lazy. I wonder if Quentin will get a mention in the end game credits?
No thanks are you joking
Seriously, what the F was ubisoft thinking????
They failed with the name of the game. Brothers in Arms???????? Not even similar to BiA games.
wow what a way to f@ck up a great titile...rename it to Furious Dumbfools or whatever, but dont screw up the Brothers in arms titles with this joke
This had better be a joke. What a way to ***** all over the corpse of WWII games that actually dealt with the war with respect and really gave a damn about the timeline and the real people that were there and fought for, among other things, our right to make snarky comments on a form of communication that hadn't even been invented in the 1940's without being shot by the Gestapo. If you're going to make a crazy game, great, awesome. I'm all up for some fun cartoony violence, blowing someone's head off and then running around in a circle for five seconds giggling. But not this mangled parody of a great series. TF2 is brilliant fun. BIA: TF2 is ridiculous. What is it with Ubisoft and annoying their customers every chance they get? It'll probably have that accursed always-on DRM as well. Not that that matters to me this time round. I'm as likely to buy this as I am a game about riding pretty horses and combing their hair. Jesus Christ, I thought at least Gearbox had more sense than Ubi. And the trailer is about a funny as a hammer in the face. Its known as 'Trying to hard.' FAIL. And hopefully the most time-delayed April Fool's EVER.
What? You mean there are still Brothers in Arms fans? xD Nah, but they shouldn't use the Brothers in Arms brand, since its not a Brothers in Arms game. Its Inglorious Basterds: The Game. And that is f@%king sweet.
lol...this is just a re-skinned Borderlands. No thanks
i cnt bellieve they've made these decisions this is not fans wanted and I don't think alot of new comers will find this appealing either did know one in the studio step back and looked game and thought "hmmm you know this maybe rather stupid"
Ubisoft+Gearbox=Inglorious Retards. Furious=All the Brothers in Arms fan community. Ubi please check all the comments,including game critics websites. This game will be an epic fail if you don't change this proposed crap for a real Brothers in Arms sequel.
what? what? WHY? I loved the original BIAs! (lol... bias... haha) How can they simply be rid of the original style altogether? It's a fan disservice!
This is not BiA at all and I hate Quentin Tarantino and his gore.
They should have made a game like their old preview gameplay videos of Hells Highway and made it the next real Brothers in Arms game
Screw this - Give me next chapter of Matt Baker's story.
They shouldn't have used the Brothers in Arms name. Although this game looks fun, it tarnishes the good name.
Lets just wait and see, but i reckon this wil be a blast!
I thought the game looked promising...until i saw the Brothers in Arms title at the end....wheres the snow Leggit?
Looks like the waste excreted from a cow's anus.
Yeah.....no. It's Borderlands in World War 2, and it doesn't fit with the Brothers In Arms series - you have a reverent, accurate series on the one hand, and...this. I suspect this is a joke, and they may release proper details of the actual Brothers In Arms game at a later date....at least I'm hoping so.
@mikees1 The whole dailymail article is off. The real-life group of commandos you stated seems to be stated in the article "We are angry at the inglorious basterds, for portraying us in a movie, and than making characters that have absolutely nothing in common with who we are or what we did."- it's what they are basically saying. The truth is- the only thing they have in common is they are Jewish, British commandos doing covert operations against Nazi's in WWII. That's it. Your assertion is that Tarentino is ripping off a historical event, and changing it do to an inherent bias towards America. If you don't like fictional historical epics, that is fine. But making such broad accusations of Nationalist bias towards America in Tarentino's film is character assassination. Besides, the commandos are in no way, shape or form portrayed as good guys in the film. Its meant to be an ironic reversal of what group is on the receiving end of the atrocities. The british commandos in the article said they were offended by the potrayal, because it was so innaccurate to the true story. The truth is, the portrayal of them was so off, because it wasn't based on them, or inspired by them at all.
@mikees1 I never asserted the inglorious bastards was based on a real event in the American military. Inglorious Bastards may well have been influenced by a British unit- but the story never purported to even be slightly based on anything. Did you see the ending of Inglorious Bastards? Its quite obvious that the movie made it a point to throw out historical accuracy in favor of Tarentino's style. This game appears to be equally based on the Filthy Thirteen, or at least the stories surrounding them. The Mohawk is as straightforward a reference as you get. Also, if the film was in any way based on a British unit, it isn't a "Rip-off" just because it has inherent similarities. I garauntee you can find that every single element of the movie, at least in some way, shadows an event that happened in World War II.
@LtReviews Actually the Inglorious Basterds was another American rip off and retelling of an actual event, mostly stolen from the British, though transfered to American protaganists. In the same way U571 distorted the capture of the Enigma encryption devise from a German U boat by the American Navy (When in reality it was the Royal Navy who captured it) the Inglorious Basterds was a direct rip off and retelling of two British units during WWII, SIG (Special interogation Group) & 3 Troop Royal Marines Commando (Winston Churchill named them X-Troop), both were Jewish manned (but British led) both had forrays into German held areas prior to D-Day. As with all hollywood films it was felt that changing the story to feature Americans was the best result. Don't ask me why? I like history in its unaltered form so hollywood historical epics are the last thing i watch. If you want to see for yourself just type "British/Jewish commandos" into any search engine. Or follow this link http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1186731/The-real-Inglourious-Basterds-Why-Britains-secret-Jewish-commandos-far-heroic-Nazi-scalpers-Tarantinos-new-film.html.
I will play this by ear. I prefer the original BIA games though.
maybe the briefs of al the latest games contains "nazis, zombies, aliens, mutants" they're selling us always the same resource (FPS) with the same brief, it`s no so bad but really they can try harder.
This game appears to be great I'll follow it
this looks like inglorious basterds .....hell why not make a parody out of BIA, if it's that count me in .......... this game looks fun stop whining
This rocks !!!!!!!!!!
I guess the aim is for "Furious 4" to be to Brothers in Arms what Bad Company was for Battlefield... but at least the latter two were fairly similar. I don't see how this game will elevate the Brothers in Arms brand.
Borderlands set in a WWII world.....zzzzzz
This...this looks terrible. Did they really run out of ideas so that they have to make this god awful thing. If they are going to make this game than at least remove the Brothers in Arms name, because this isn't that game, it's some sort of parody.
... ... ... h..u...h?
the game might be fun. I don't like when they package totaly new games, with compleatly different feel, under the same name as an established franchise it has little in common with. Doing that is just a marketing ploy to get the fans of the older game/s to play the new one. It works though so i can't hold it against them.
funny !!
This "new, unique" idea here about a squad killing Nazis in a whimsical is just Wolfenstein with a dash of Quentin Tarantino - hardly new and unique. So there are lots of video games like this??? I think not. It is nothing like Wolfenstein. Wolfenstein was about the paranormal side of WW2. Unless something crops up in later trailers, I am not seeing paranormal enemies here, just aliens. Looks like they are just trying to have some fun a little like in Left 4 Dead series and Team Fortress 2, but without being the same. I still think (and yes I am a huge fan of BIA) that this has potential and is unique. The only reason noone would get this is because, and I say this like I have before, that people always complain about wanting something new, but never buy it. They always get the same ol same ol, which doesnt bother me because it juts has to be fun.
This looks like it could be fun. I am a huge fan of the sereis and want to see the end of Bakers tale, but something new can't hurt either, just not sure they should have used the Brothers in Arms name as it is attached to WW2 not only in the video game, but in documentary on TV as well. As for people again complaining about too many WW2 games, where do u get that from. There more games like Counter Strike, Modern Warfare, Battelfield, and all of those Tom Clancy games that WW2 games arent even close, but everyone wants all of those types of games. Or you want to shoot up aliens all the time which again has been done more than WW2 games. Me personally, I don't care what the game is about as long as it is fun. And this looks like it could be fun.
Just terrible, the should remove the Brothers in Arms moniker.
Congratz Ubisoft. You just ruined an epic series with the best WW2 story. I'm so... dissapointed. What were you thinking. This game might be nice, but it should not be called BiA. BiA = Baker's story. That awesome squad that amazed me with their stories. This is... pathetic. @metaltorn. Do you have any real reason to believe so? Or it's just your desire?
@punk950 [quote="You"]I love how 90% of the people in the comments would rather have more WWII shooters than new, unique ideas. You are the reason why the industry is going to s***. [/quote]
The Brothers in Arms series' main attraction was its story, based on actual after-action accounts that emphasized the humanity of the soldiers who partook in World War II.
This "new, unique" idea here about a squad killing Nazis in a whimsical is just Wolfenstein with a dash of Quentin Tarantino - hardly new and unique.
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Brothers in Arms: Furious 4
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- Publisher(s): Ubisoft
- Developer(s): Gearbox Software
- Genre: Action
- Release: Q2 2012 (US) »
- ESRB: M
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