A step forward for Brothers In Arms series? I'm not so sure about that... But hey, it's insanely fun and brutal!
But soon after the release of Road To Hill 30, things started to go wrong for Brothers In Arms series. I'm not sure why, but the good old proverb "just because you made one masterpiece doesn't mean everything you touch is going to turn into gold" has never been more true for anyone then it was for guys at Gearbox Software. Shortly after Road To Hill 30 we got Brothers In Arms: Earned In Blood. Naturally, I hated it. Not because they weren't even trying to hide the fact that it was a hastily done, half-baked mission pack that exists purely to milk some more money from Brothers in Arms fans. Not because of the vomit-in-the-mouth punishing difficulty. But because they not only failed to expand and improve the series, it all took a long step backwards due to crappy A.I. and some broken gameplay.
So I took a huge interest in the very first promising Brothers In Arms title after Earned In Blood fiasco. Can Hell's Highway redeem the series and set it back on track? Well, that's what we're here to find out...
Once again, we get a chance to spend some time with old friends from the previous games. You play as Matt Baker, a quiet, mild-mannered squad leader of American paratroopers. You lead a squad of your fellow men from 101st Airborne, the famous "Screaming Eagles" through war-torn Europe, using the best system of squad commands in any video game ever created. For those of you who are not familiar with the series, a simple press of a button commands you men to take a certain position and defend it. Pointing towards the enemy and pressing the same button again makes them unload their guns like crazy, pinning the enemy down with supressing fire. Which then allows you and your men to maneuver into better position in order to take them out. It all works wonderfully simple, leaving you more time to think about your tactics and fighting the enemy, instead of fighting the controls (take notes, ArmA). You can easily command two or three squads this way, always knowing exactly where they are and what they're doing. They're also pretty smart, like trained soldiers ought to be, so there's never any need to babysit them (again, take notes, ArmA).
Baker has lead his men through some nasty encounters in the previous games, and has proven himself more then a few times. However, all those battles took their toll on him, as we are about to find out. This time, Baker and his men are on their way to Holland, with a mission to re-open "hell's highway" in a failed Allied operation Market Garden. You will see a lot of familiar faces along the way, and even some new ones (which are even more memorable). From the very beginning, we are treated with a deliciously awesome cutsceenes, showing us what happened with "Baker's Dozen" so far (conveniently denying the fact that Earned In Blood ever took place). It feels like watching an Oscar-winning war movie, rather then cutsceenes from a video game, and it was the main reason why I pushed on so hard to beat this game. Voice acting and animations are so wonderfully done, it's almost like you're watching real soldiers.
Also, many characters are given more background, some previously unexplained aspects of the story are finally clear, and everyone is starting to show signs of combat fatigue. They argue, they scream at each other, they're kind of superstitious in a way soldiers often are, they tease their youngest recruits... For example, corporal Corrion gets all pissed off when he gets passed on for a promotion. Despite the fact that he may not be the best person for a job, he treats Baker like he personally betrayed him. Or when the new recruit Franky runs away from his squad to rescue a girl he kissed the day before. Something an impressionable teenager who lied about his age so he could join the army could actually do in those circumstances. It makes an otherwise shallow characters deeper and more believable.
That's all great and super. But what about the graphics? Well, I kind of expected the graphics to make a step forward. Which they did, in a certain way. It took a step forward, but only a tiny one. You can see more details on your characters and vehicles, but the environments look kind of... well, the same. You can destroy some obstacles, even demolish some cover spots, but not very much. It simply feels stupid to obliterate a wooden fence with machine gun fire, only to find an impenetrable fortress behind a hay stack. A lot of the game is completely scripted, and it lets you blow stuff up only on certain spots where the programmers deemed it convenient for some reason. All in all, I'm not really impressed. Compared to other games available in 2008, Hell's Highway doesn't only look outdated, it looks amateurish. They really dropped the ball there...
OK, move on to the gameplay... Normally, I would put gameplay on the number one spot of my priorities, but this time it's different. You see, graphics and gameplay are connected in Hell's Highway. How? Well, think of it this way... Brothers in Arms is trying to be as realistic as possible, with great attention to real time squad tactics and strategy. And since the game's engine doesn't let you blow stuff up with cool explosions, make holes in the walls, and tear down the buildings with artillery strikes and bazookas, that severely limits your options.
Obvious, indestructible cover spots might've worked great in 2005 because of the novelty of it, but it also meant there was a real danger of game becoming repetitive. If the graphics took a step forward by 2008 (and they damn well should've), by now we could've had a fully destructible environments that would open up a whole new chapter of tactics. And that's why I'm so pissed off about the lack of it. Not because I want better looking shadows and muzzle flash, but because I want to choose between sniping that machine gunner in the window, burning the house with a flamethrower, or blowing the whole damn thing up with satchel charges. I can't help but feel it was a huge missed opportunity.
However, the most obvious changes are with the control scheme. Even tough you still use your WASD keys to move, this time you play less like Brothers In Arms and more like Gears Of War. In order to take cover, you can't simply crouch behind a cover spot. Oh no, you have to press "take cover" button, after which the camers shifts from first person to third person perspective. You can then pop your head up and shoot using a little crosshair instead of your iron sights. It baffles me why you can't simply crouch behind the cover like in the previous games. If you do that here, you'll soak up more bullets then bad guys in "Die Hard" movies for some reason. Somehow, moving your character a few milimeters towards the cover makes all the difference. Even if your enemies are shooting from a position where they have no chance of hitting you, you'll be a bullet magnet until you press "take cover, dammit!". I guess Germans are really fond of their magic bullets...
The truth is, this new cover system isn't so bad as it might seem at first to hardcore fans like me. It would be great if you could actually choose between Gears Of War style and classic Brothers In Arms style, but nevertheless, I find out this new cover system often gives you a far better view of the situation, and more freedom of movement. After all, real life soldiers have a far wider field of view then any computer monitor. And they have far more freedom of movement, and can do things that no keyboard and mouse would ever let you do. So it kind of makes it fair to give the players a break. It makes controling your character far more pleasant and fluid then the stiff WASD doctrine. The trouble is, these new controls just about kill the entire immersiveness in this game. In Road To Hill 30, we had mud, dust and blood splatters on the camera, we had camera shaking when a grenade strikes nearby... It made you feel like you're really there, in the line of fire, rather then playing a game. In Hell's Highway, you never really feel like YOU ARE Matt Baker, you feel like you're PLAYING with the action figure of Matt Baker. So we have an eternal struggle between more practical controls and camera angles and immersion. Kind of a tough call...
One more important thing they changed from previous titles was something that even Earned In Blood managed to improve - the situational awareness view. You see, it's a useful little tool that (again, with a simple press of a button) displays the entire level where the battle takes place completely in 3D. You can zoom, rotate the camera, even shift between friendly and enemy units to see what's their status. An immensely helpful tool (are you taking notes, ArmA and Operation Flashpoint?), and incredibly simple to use. Well, now it has been replaced with a s****y map that doesn't help you at all. The A.I. of your men is still superb, and they fight aggressively and effectively. Unfortunately, your enemies aren't what they used to be. They maneuver very little, almost not at all, and they sometimes just stand waiting for you to shoot them. Or they take cover behind a fence that isn't there anymore. In Road To Hill 30 we had enemies that would maneuver and change their tactics depending on your actions. They didn't want to die, and they tried hard to put one in your skull whenever they had a chance. They often attacked in large groups, with all the support they could get. They used machine guns and mortars in a way that the Germans actually used them in real life, during the invasion of Normandy. You could actually FEEL the difference between fighting raw recruits and elite SS troops, or Fallschirmjager.
In Hell's Highway, they're just standing where the programmers put them, waiting for you to get a drop on them.
However, all of this doens't have to mean that the game isn't fun.
Even tough some things have taken a step backwards, a lot of issues from previous games have been fixed. Weapons are balanced a lot more realistically, and Allied weapons are now extremely fun to use. Hell's Highway takes brutality to a whole new level, with blood splattering and heads exploding everywhere. Close quarters combat is really a treat, believe me. My favorite parts of the game were the ones where I had to clean houses, room by room, with my trusted Tommy gun, cutting Jerries in half with hails of .45 caliber bullets. I made such a bloody mess, I still smile when I think of it. My only regret is not being able to massacre their corpses afterwards. Seriously, after encountering a sniper or a hidden machine gunner, I tried very hard to empty a magazine into his face, with no result. I wanted even the rats eating those bastards' remains to know how I feel about snipers.
Does that make me a bad person...?
Aaaaanyhow, during the course of your murderous rampage, you'll get a chance to drive a tank, snipe from a rooftop, plant explosives... Also, feel free to help yourself with any German weapons you can find. There are tons of guns for you here, both German and Allied. The game also encourages you to try different ways to reach your objective, and doesn't really hold your hand like you were a kid on a leash. This time you can command machine gun teams and bazooka teams, in addition to your standard units. I find the machine guns most useful, versatile tool for supressing the enemy and ambushing them. Bazooka teams are also useful, but unfortunately, since you can't actually blow up everything you see, their use is pretty limited. Difficulty has been boosted up quite a bit, to be honest. One shot can mean death for both you and your men, but the screen turns red every time an enemy gets a drop on you, meaning it's time to take cover. And when your men die at least you know it's because you made a mistake, and not their crappy A.I. and pathfinding issues. As always, checkpoints are here to make your life easier, which is great in my opinion. It stops you from killing the game by quicksaving every 2 seconds.
All in all, this is an extremely fun game to play, with plenty of memorable moments and characters. Superb story, acting, sound effects, superb controls, awesome weapons... it's such a shame it didn't break any new ground or expand upon the revolutionary Brothers In Arms concept. As fun as it may be, it simply could've been much more. It's a perfect blend between military simulation and run-n-gun shooter, but unfortunately, the series isn't going any steps forward this way. I'd say it's running around in circles, unsure of where it should go. I give it a very, very solid 7.5, almost 8.0. Let's hope the next game in the series earns at least 9.0.